3 Green Garden Stake Tricks You Need to Know
Do you use green garden stakes in your vegetable or flower garden beds to stake plants?
I do and and it’s my MOST asked question here on the blog, on my YouTube Channel and my socials like TikTok and Instagram.
If you use green garden stakes as much as I do, they can look a little unsightly, am I right?
I’ve got a little trick that will help make them look so much cuter in the garden, keep you safer while working in the garden, AND keep pests away.
Wait until you see how those boring green garden stakes look now and how does more than just staking plants!
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Staking Garden Plants
For most of my gardening career, I’ve worked with low-maintenance plants and flowers that did not need much from me in terms of time and energy.
They’ve been relatively pest and disease-free.
And haven’t required a lot of staking.
Over the last few years, I’ve paid more attention to the garden and adding THESE as stake supports for my peonies, dahlias, delphiniums and bearded irises.
If you followed along with my seed starting journey last year, most of the flowers I grew required some sort of staking.
The flowers grew very tall and the blooms were quite heavy, so they needed a little extra help to grow upright.
When my new cut flower garden by the shed grew and bloomed at a rapid rate, I started staking my seedlings with green garden stakes like THESE.
Why I Started Using Green Garden Stakes in My Cottage Garden
Since I hadn’t worked with many of the flowers I started from seed before last year, I wasn’t sure how best to stake my plants.
Looking back, I probably should have used trellis netting like THIS in that garden but was way too late setting that up.
Which was a mistake on my part.
When I layed out that new garden with stepping stone paths, I created small rectangular pockets for the seedlings to grow.
It would have been perfect with the trellis netting.
I didn’t think the grow-through hoops that I love would work well for this space, so I opted to use 4-foot green garden stakes that I loosely tied twine around in a grid to keep my plants upright.
This method has worked well with some plants, and not so well with others.
I decided not to do it this way in my new cottage garden this year and wound up going with my grow through plant supports.
3 Green Garden Stake Tips You Need to Know!
That said, I still use green garden stakes with my tomatoes, sunflowers and other types of tall singular stalk-type plants, as well as to help with pest control.
Say what?
Yes!
Wait until you hear how useful green garden stakes are aside from staking plants!!!
Green Garden Stake Tip #1 – Safety First
When using 4 or even 5-foot green garden stakes in the beds, the supports are at eye level.
Which can be very dangerous when working in the beds.
Since the garden stakes are green, there is potential to poke your eye out while working.
To help the eye see the green garden stakes, add a topper that is more visible like these small terracotta pots.
They look totally adorable but more importantly, help the eye see the green garden stakes so you don’t poke an eye out!
It’s a great safety tip and should be used when working with THESE types of garden stakes that do not have any bright coloring or safety device attached.
I’ve found this method very useful.
It looks a little strange at first while the plants are still growing.
Green Garden Stake Tip #2 – Terra Cotta Pots Add Visual Interest
But once garden plants and flowers are fully grown, the green garden stakes with the clay pots look adorable!
They create more visual interest, adds a little dimension, and provokes conversation.
They add some cottage charm to the garden, don’t you agree?
Green Garden Safety Tip #3 – Pest Control Gardening Hack
I love a garden idea that does double duty, don’t you?
Here’s a great way to control pests in the garden.
Do you have earwig damage in your garden too?
They can wreak serious havoc on foliage.
Ugh and they were all over my zinnia plants last year.
Oh and I found a few on my lettuce too when we were harvesting.
Did you know that a simple modification of this clay pot trick can also work to collect earwigs for disposal?
Yes!
Wait until you see how easy it is to protect your plants without chemicals using those cute litte gray pots and green garden stakes!
Supplies Needed to Make an Earwig Hotel
- Green Garden Stakes
- 3″ or 4″ terra cotta pots
- Newspaper or straw
How to Make an Earwig Hotel
- Use 3 or 4″ terra cotta pot like THESE.
- Turn the pot upside down and stuff it with straw or newspaper. (This mimics a plant environment for the earwig).
- Hang the pot upside down on each stake.
- Earwigs will find the pots and hide, so empty it every day or so.
Isn’t that a neat tip?
It works so well too!
Collect the earwigs then get rid of them.
I’m totally doing this in my vegetable garden because they were all over my lettuce this year.
Have you ever tried this method of pest control before?
Let me know what you think in the comments below.
I’m so glad you dropped by today!
Happy Gardening!
Looking for Ways to Grow a Healthy Garden?
If you want to grow a garden that is beautiful, healthy and full of plants and flowers, it starts with good healthy soil.
It is so important to manage weeds and keep up on it throughout the growing season, because weeds zap nutrients away from garden plants and can quickly take over a bed before you know it.
But in addition to managing weeds, it is so important to improve the health of your garden soil both when you start a new garden, as well as over time.
One of the best ways to improve the soil, is to make your own compost.
It’s less expensive than purchasing from the garden nursery, is very easy to do, and I’ve got a great recipe for it.
In addition to making homemade compost, gather all those leaves in fall and early spring to make leaf mold to improve the health of your garden soil too.
Looking for More Flower Garden Ideas?
Here are more cut flower gardening and cottage garden tips, tricks, and inspiration.
- 5 Quick Ways to Grow a Cottage Garden
- How My Cottage Garden Grew in 2021
- Cut Flower Gardening for Beginners
- The Complete Guide to Roses Care
- The Basics of Hydrangea Care
- Everblooming Cottage Garden Design Ideas
- The Secret to Growing an Everblooming Cottage Garden
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