You don’t have to buy expensive structures for your allotment plot! In fact, making your own structures for crops can be really fun and very inexpensive. I like to use branches and sticks that I’ve found around my allotment site and have been very successful in creating productive and easy structures for your crops.
Wire, twine and a good pair of scissors are definitely a necessity when making easy structures. other than that, you can find everything you need for free. Here are some easy ideas to help inspire you in your structure building journey!
EASY STRUCTURES FOR YOUR CROPS
This is an easy structure and works great for crops like peas and beans. Made using bamboo canes, you simply create triangles by digging canes in and crossing them over, then attach a cane horizontally across the top to hold it steady. The coloured balls make it easy to throw netting over to protect crops from pests without tearing the netting on the bamboo canes.
Here’s a smaller example of the structure. It can be adapted to any space and thats part of the beauty of making your own structures using whatever you can find, they can be made exactly to size!
Archways will forever be my favourite structure to grow over. Peas, beans, pumpkins, squashes and sweetpeas all grow amazingly over archways. This one is an old polytunnel frame that I’ve wrapped in garden mesh to provide more for the plants to cling onto.
This is a fairly effective structure. The trick it to dig in the horizontal sticks as deep as possible to provide good support. You can then create the diagonal structure using more canes. This is a more gradual structure, perfect for growing things like cucumbers and sweet potato plants.
Or of course instead of canes you could just prop up an old pallet. This would provide enough lift to keep crops like cucumbers or squashes off the ground and away from pests. The only thing I’ve found with using a pallet is that slugs and snails love hiding under the wood so you will require regular checks to keep them away!
This is a very simple structure, good for peas or climbing beans. It’s all about digging those canes as far into the ground as you can in order to create a good solid base. Then I’ve used twine to create something for crops to climb up and wrap themselves around. If you tie the bottom of the twine to a long pole and let it hang, the twine will always remain taut.
The classic teepee is always a winner for crop support. This one is being used to hold up my sweet pea flowers and makes such a beautiful display as well as providing them with the much needed support they require. I love being able to sit inside and smell the gorgeous flowers. Teepees are so simple to make and are structurally sound.
Hope these structures provide you with some inspiration for easy structures for your crops!
