Garden Staking
What is garden 'staking'?
Garden staking refers to supporting a plant. We can use heavily branched dead branches, we can use hoops or rings, or we can crisscross bamboo stakes. Anything that we are using to help support a plant, to keep it from toppling in the wind.
What is 'pea staking'?
Pea-staking is when we're using heavily branched, or dead branches to have plants grow up besides. So when plants are very small we can place the pea-staking in, the plant then grows around it, and hides the staking material which is used for support. It's a plant that's already growing in the garden and is fairly developed in it's lifecycle, so we can take the pea-staking and use it as a prop right underneath the plant to lift that plant up off of neighboring perennials or annuals.
When is the best time to stake my flowering plants?
Ideally we wouldn't want to stake when the plant is about a third of its mature height, or after the first flash of growth. Too often we stake late, after the plants have started to mature and a flower storm comes through. Plants have already toppled over and we pull them up - I call it ‘choking staking.' We've got them stretched up, and little flower heads are just dangling there. That's too late. That's one of the problems with staking, that you really need to do it early. This means that staking material is evident in the garden early on.
What should I use to stake my plants?
I prefer to use natural materials; items such as branches from dead limbs, heavily branched branches from trees or shrubs, you can use bamboo, or anything else that looks natural. I really prefer people not use some of the artificial looking staking material. Actually I prefer people to prune the plants prior to flowering in an effort to reduce their height and eliminate the need for staking all together.
