Building Projects for Backyard Farmers and Home Gardeners

Building Projects for Backyard Farmers and Home Gardeners: A Guide to 21 Handmade Structures for Homegrown Harvests Another great book by Chris Gleason! There are easy to follow construction plans with step

Chris Gleason's latest book is a treasure trove of inspiration and advice for any backyard gardener, but what makes it especially cool is that it's rooted right here in our community. Interspersed among the more than 20 projects are profiles of local characters

For those who think their backyard is just too small for a vegetable garden, Salt Lake City author Chris Gleason has two words: Grow up. Vertical gardening, as the name implies, uses trellises, racks, ladders and other small structures so plants grow up, rather than out, which consumes valuable space. Chris Gleason of Salt Lake City explains how to build seven vertical gardening projects in his new DIY book, Building Projects for Backyard Farmers and Home Gardeners ($19.95, Fox Chapel Publishing) Project includes: Bean leaner Lean a trellis against a wall or fence. Plant beans at its base. The beans will climb the trellis as they grow. Grapevine ladder Use a ladder to encourage upward growth of grapevines. Make sure the ladder is sturdy as grapevines can become quite heavy. Pea trellis Create an upright trellis with chicken wire, mesh, lattice or twine for pea plants to climb. Potato planter Build a wooden box around a cluster of potato plants. As they grow, cover the plants with mulch and straw. Potatoes will continue to set below the exposed foliage. Squash ramp Similar to the bean leaner. Create a ramp using vertical posts and sturdy mesh. As the squash plants grow, the vines will climb the ramp and keep vegetables off the ground. Tiered lettuce rack Create a rack with tiered shelves, (top racks are set back, bottom shelves set forward.) Fill several shallow plastic containers (from the dollar store) with soil and sow lettuce seeds. Place the containers on the tiered shelves, which will allow for even sun exposure. Tomato wall Create a trellis by setting two vertical posts securely at either end of a row of tomato plants. Stretch chicken wire, concrete mesh, lattice or twine between the two posts. Be sure to select "indeterminate" tomato varieties such as Better Boys, Big Beef or Early Girls. Determinate tomatoes don't climb. Plants that can be grown vertically: Beans Cantaloupes Cucumbers Grapes Honeydew melons Hops Tomatoes Peas Potatoes Pumpkins* Squash Watermelon* Zucchini *Large fruit will need extra support Plants with vines, such as peas, beans and grapes, are obvious choices for vertical gardening, said Gleason, in his new DIY book: Building Projects of Backyard Farmers and Home Gardeners ($19.95, Fox Chapel Publishing). But unexpected plants, such as squash, cucumbers, and tomatoes, can be trained to grow vertically, creating unique landscape features in the process. "Last year, we grew tomatoes up to seven feet high," Gleason said during a recent interview. "This year I want to go higher and do a sort of tunnel that my daughter can walk through." Gleason, his wife

Gleason (Art of the Chicken Coop: A Fun and Essential Guide to Housing Your Peeps) calls on his own days as a farm kid in upstate New York and his urban gardening experience to guide the novice as well as the experienced gardener looking for new horticultural methods (rainwater system, above

So many great projects I've gardened for a number of years now and have had chickens for three years as well. We are always looking for projects to make things nicer on our little suburban homestead. Mr. Gleason's book is a wealth of great ideas and has twenty