Growing Watermelon Upright Using Hay Twine

FINALLY, I have FINALLY found a use for hay twine!!! Lo, all these seven years of owning goats and wishing there was a use for the hay twine which builds up in piles around the goat yard... I looked through dh's pile of "stuff" and found some rails which were just the right size to put into the garden, insert up into the chicken wire at the top to keep the rails in position, and then push into the ground just a few inches.


Next I tied the hay twine horizontally from one rail to the next. There were six holes in the rails, so I fed the hay twine into the holes and pulled taut at the rail on the other side and tied a knot.

Then I tied twine just around the rail itself, in between those ones actually within a hole.

After I finished all the horizontal pieces, I started at the bottom and going vertically tied a knot into each horizontal piece of twine. All the way up, I tied a knot onto each horizontal piece. I am so excited about this! My great idea to put the watermelon right next to the garden "wall" so it could grow up the chicken wire wasn't working out too good because the watermelon's growing tips kept insisting on feeding itself right out of the garden. If it hadn't been for the sunflower bed in front that is still protected with chicken wire, the growing tips would surely have been eaten by birds or other critters.

After I finished tying everything, I fed the watermelon vines up through the hay twine.

The tallest one was about 2 feet long!

I am so excited about this idea. It took 22 pieces of hay twine to build this one, and that's 7 bales of hay worth of hay twine. Now if I just put together about 10,000 more of these I'll have used up all the hay twine that's lying all over the yard. ;-)

Until next time.