How to turn winter prunings into DIY plant supports

Winter is the season that many of us do some tree pruning and we’re also looking ahead to spring and planning what to grow. When you’ve completed your winter pruning, why not save some branches to make a rustic garden support or trellis? It will look great and you can customise to suit your own space. Making these now will get you well ahead for when you need them in the spring.

Supports and trellis can do lots of jobs in your garden. You can fix them to a sunny wall or fence for a climbing plant, position them at the edge of a raised bed for squash or courgettes to grow vertically or provide a support for peas and beans.

Making your own trellis or support is easy and can save you money too. You can use most branches but if they are too thin they may break with the weight of the plant. Gather your branches and experiment with the layout on the ground. Once you’re happy use natural twine to tie together. You can try arches if you have some freshly cut willow which bends easily. Wigwam supports only need a few longer lengths, hazel is great for this, then tie together at the top. You can get creative, especially if you have some willow branches that can be woven around the upright poles.

When you make your own trellis with branches from your garden or the surrounding area, you know exactly where the materials have come from. Eventually your trellis will simply biodegrade. Then it can be recycled into the natural ecosystem.

Give it a try and don’t worry how it looks as long as it works for the plants. At Ravenscraig Walled Garden we even tried one using old bike wheels from Lang Toun Cycles!

Carol Sidey, Project Manager, Greener Kirkcaldy

Find out more about making your garden climate-friendly. Check out our top tips guide and look out for workshops and events.