Help Your Climbing Plants Thrive By Repurposing Your Old Patio Table

Climbing plants offer an enjoyable aesthetic to your backyard. Flowers clinging to trellises make for a great privacy screen, and vegetables hanging from vines make it easy to pick your dinner ingredients without having to bend over. But even the simplest DIY garden trellises can require a bit of time and labor to build, and lot of people prefer to spend their weekends doing something other than picking out wood at the local hardware store. However, there is a solution if you need a new structure to support your climbing plants. Just repurpose some of that old, worn-out patio furniture. For those looking to plant more crops in their backyard, this is one of several great ways to maximize your outdoor garden space on a budget.

For this project, you're going to want to pick an old table. Look for something that has enough open gaps for plants to climb through. If you have a glass table, just remove the glass and use the mount. Metal tables seem to work best for this type of project because they won't rot in your garden, and they're often perforated.

Once you've selected your piece of furniture, it's time to pick out a plant. There are several types of popular climbing flowers to choose from. Wisteria hangs down weepily with bright purple buds, and honeysuckle will offer a sweet scent in the spring. But you don't just need to limit it to climbing plants. Dahlia bulbs, which can get heavy, will rest on the iron rails of your recycled patio table.

The process of repurposing an old patio table is so simple that it will probably only take a matter of minutes. First, pick out a spot in your garden where you plan to grow your climbing plants. Then, place your table over that spot. As plants spring up from the ground, they should wrap around the legs of the table for support and climb upward.

You may experience some trouble when your plants start to grow vegetables. As the vegetables get heavier, they can drag down the plant. As your tomato or cucumber plants climb the table legs, you can tie string around the vines, attaching them to the legs of the table. This also works well with woody stalked flowers like sunflowers and bougainvillea. If you don't have any string, there's a zip tie hack that will serve a similar purpose. Just make sure you don't tie them too tight because that could inhibit their growth or cut off the flow of nutrients.

You can also repurpose other household items. Use the frame for a patio umbrella by removing it from its pole and opening it enough for plants to climb. Fence gates, particularly from chain link fences, are also great for climbing plants. Or you can repurpose an old mattress to create a quirky yet perfect DIY trellis.