Bamboo Trellis

Dear Theresa,
Here's that bamboo trellis I was telling you about. I went the easy route and used twist-ties (bought by the roll) instead of the more labor-intensive wire-and-plier method. As a result you can see the green ties, but you save time (this baby took me 30 minutes to pull off).

First, I measured the wall that I wanted to attach the trellis to. Laying out three bamboo poles as the perimeter made it easy to see the shape. Next, I placed my poles within the frame, snipping off sections that went above the top.

Then to the hard part. For a bit of exercise I squatted while tying the bamboo poles together (and I'm still aching from it)! I cut 5-6" pieces of twist-tie and looped it firmly at each junction, front and back. Since I did this by hand and wasn't too picky about my angles, it went fairly quickly.

Soon, my sweet peas (and eventually beans come summer) will completely overwhelm the trellis, but I can enjoy its look for now.

For great ideas and techniques for bamboo structures, visit bamboocraft.net. My next project will be obelisks for tomatoes, made in a more traditional (i.e., nix the twist-ties, unless I get lazy again) method. Here's a fence posted in their gallery that I would love to duplicate someday.