Gardening is much like raising a kid. You bring home a fragile newborn and then one day you suddenly realise how big she has become! The seeds that you plant in your garden soon give out tiny sprouts and then there they are – tall trees, beautiful vines, and plants bearing their best blooms. You know it is the time to bask in the glory of creating something so beautiful, but the gardener inside you knows that it is also the time to use some garden plant supports.
The first question that may come to your mind is why you need a garden plant support? Well, the reasons are many. To begin with, a garden plant support helps to conserve space, helps the plants stay within limited space and boundary, keeps fruits, vegetables, and foliage off the ground, and helps to maintain a tidy appearance of the garden.
The list of such benefits is pretty long, but there are other important aspects as well. From the gardening perspective, a garden plant support lifts up fruits and exposes it to the sunshine, which in turn helps it ripen. Also, it helps to circulate the air and dry off leaves and thus maintain a healthier condition in the garden.
A garden plant support is mandatory especially if you have top-heavy plants and/or if you live in a windy location. However, if you are using plant support or garden borders, specimen plants, and other areas specifically meant for beautification, you should be extra cautious about which garden plant support you choose. In all these instances, the plant support should be as unobtrusive as possible. The main idea is to give the plants the support they need without taking away from their beauty.
Although your own unique situation and requirement would decide which garden plant support would be best for you, the various types include stakes, cages, hoops, trellises, walls, and fences. The basic trick is to choose a support that is sturdy. Since it is nearly impossible to guess how heavy a tomato-laden plant would finally be in the future, it is better to use a strong support right from the beginning.
Match your garden plant support to the nature and requirement of the specific plant but also consider yourself. In other words, choose a support that lets you tend to the plants and pick the mature fruits with ease.
