So...I decided I liked how it looked and embarked on figuring out how to accomplish this look. I decided that I needed to use fishing line or a clear netting or something becuase I didn't want the "trellis" to be visable from far away, and hoped it wouldn't look too bad close up either. I search high and low for netting made out of fishing line or monofiliment. I coudln't find anything at a reasonable cost (read this to mean CHEAP).

Soo.....I sat down and planned. :) This is what I ended up with and how we made our fishing line Trellis. It cost a total of $5.00 at the most, and I have tons of fishing line left over...anyone here wanna go fishing? *laugh*

Here is the drawn plan. The top picture is what the pattern of the fishing line looks like. The lower picture with colors shows you the different peices of fishing line that were used.

As you can see the entire project took 4 long peices of fishing line. We layed out a peice on the ground down the stairs to see what length we needed and then trippled it to account for the peices of line that were going to hang down and secure this main peice over the beams of my balcony. We then attached three peices of fishing line along the main fishing line. The way we attached these peices of fishing line is by threading ferrules (see picture below) along the main peice of fishing line and then threading these three lines through those ferrules. In order to keep these three lines in place you squeeze the ferrules (aluminum metal peices) with pliers to make the space in the inside so tight that the fishing line can't move back and forth anymore. It's really just an alternative to making knots...becuase tieing knots in fishing line isn't easy and can get confusing with really long clear fishing line. *laugh*

Here is a picture of what ferrules look like..although in real life they are much smaller (about the size of a fingernail). Also, if you look at my diagram above of the balcony they are represented by the small black rectangles.

As to how I attached the fishing line to the bottom by the stairs, I screwed eye screws into the wood of the stairs at the very edge behind the pots. They are small and didn't cause that big of a hole (I doubt anyone will ever notice) and I just tied the fishing line to the eye screws once we raised the entire thing so that it was taught and stayed in place.

I hope that any of this made sense..if it didn't....forget I wrote this. *laugh* Here are some pictures of what the trellis looks like right now with morning glories growing up it :)

I hope I haven't confused anyone! :) I just wanted to share my crazy trellis. LOL

-Kelly

Judith

I want to make a trellis like this for my peas. But I have other things to fix first.

'dillo

If you can't find ferrules you can use split-sinkers.
They can be picked up when you get the fishing line.

Ric

Split-sinkers...what are those ric? I picked up the fishing line at walmart for like $2.50 and the ferrules I got at Lowes for $1.50 or something. I already had the ferrules actually though because I use them with my Kodak job..to help display cameras securly in stores. LOL I just used what I had so I didn't have to spend any more money ehhe :) (because you know $3.00 bucks is really pushing my upper limit! lol j/k)

Anyways.....if any of you guys make one make sure to take pictures! :) ehhe

-Kelly

-Kelly

Ric

I totally plan to copy it ;-).....glad you don't mind!
Madpetunia

Great idea. I am inspired by this. My clematis has extended past it's trellis. Thinking it might be cool to string it along the wall somehow.

Keep us posted on the progress!

They just took out two trees from my back yard. Those were the only two trees :( but now I do have sun and perhaps can do a bit of gardening.

Since they took out the trees now all I have to look at is the ugly wall of the business next door. With their permission, I just planted morning glories along their chain link fence. Now I am going to adapt your fishing line trellis to the building itself. Not quite sure how yet.
The building is metal the bottom 1/2 is blue and top 1/2 is white. There are some windows so I think I will anchor the trellis with some sort of stake into the ground and take those at an angle to the window and somehow link them to the window edge. Hmmmmmmm.
Thanks for the great idea.

Susan

-Jamie sue

As to the fishing line trellis I will take some pictures this weekend and share the update pictures soon :). I've got LOTS of foliage growth but no flowers. :( AND in the past two days I've got these annoying white little like gnats that have decided to attack the vines....where when I touch them they fly around crazy. And now the leaves are turning yellow. LOL Oh boy sounds like I've got lots of garden headaches. I guess this is what happens when life takes over and you don't have as much time to spend in the garden and baby things..or even just water things! lol

-Kelly

I thought this was such a beautiful idea and would love to know how it's working out, pitfalls, things you might do different next time or if it's something you would never touch again.

Donna

when I read about the fishing line trellis idea I just knew that was what I needed for my front porch.

If you'd like to see pics click on the link below.
it was already afternoon and most of the morning glories were closed but you'll get the idea.

Susan

jeribelle

i like your idea.

Jackie/STROBE

For the purple Hyas, I thought some others might have some innovative ideas other than the one I came up with. Due to our severe high risk of termites here in the deep south, we do not put anything wood anywhere near a foundation of a house, including treated wood for trellises up against the house. Trust me, even treated wood will become infested with termites in no time, if it is in contact with the ground, as evidenced by a treated lumber playset the former owner's children played on here.

Anyhow, I took plastic milk jugs and filled close to full with water, allowing a bit of air space for expansion/contraction. I buried them in the sandy soil, where I wanted my fishing line to be, all but the handles. Those were where I anchored my fishing line, and they are totally covered and invisible, with Hyas vine.

These are on either side of the overhead garage door. Now...how for this gal with orthopedic problems to anchor the tops...I just looped the fishing line over the light fixtures mounted on either side of the door. I figured a bit of judicious leaf removal would be easy, should they totally cover the lights. The vines look fabulous, and I have no danger of termites from my setup. I figure the fishing line is fairly strong, and should hold up fine for a season. When the vines get nasty looking, all I have to do is snip a couple of lines, and throw the whole bunch in the trash, and re-string next year.

jeribelle

Jeribelle,

thanks for the great idea. I use old milk/water gallon jugs planted in the garden to slowly "water" the plants but I would have never thought of using them to anchor my fishing line trellis.

thanks!!

Susan

I loved your idea for the fishing line. My apartment has a brick wall where I'm planning my garden just crying out for adornment. I'm going to use fishing line & brick clips to make trellises for my flowers & veggies. Without your post, I would never have come up with the idea. :-)

Thanks,
Sonja

P.S. How did you imbed your pics like that? All I've figured out to do was put a URL link in my post.

Anyway this trellis is in a shade spot, receiving just 2 hrs sunlight insummer. The jasmine grew but it didn´t had any flowers ( well, some but very very few ), so I will try scented peas...does Morning Glorys tolerate shade? do you have the latin name ofthis plant?

Ines

But I was thinking of you, and how if I were a cleverer, thriftier balconeer, I wouldn't need Lee Valley!

Zabby

The fishing line runs in overlapping concentric pyramids, and makes for an interesting design even before the plants started up them.

All in all, the whole project cost me about $15.

I'm adding a link below to a gallery... some of it's hard to see, because fishing line is clear :0)

They continue to grow, and branch out... seems like every day I'm training two or three additional vines up the string... some of them have 3 or 4 each! I'm definately going to have add more fishing line next season!

At any rate, I've got some new pics... some of them of the little fountain that I have now added fish and plants too :0) But mostly morning glories! The top link in the following page (2004 - 07-01 - Balcony) are the latest pictures...

Hope you are all enjoying the summer and having fantastic success with your lovelies!

I'm planning a twist this year though... I'm thinking of using white christmas lights along with the fishing line... nice glow on warm summer nights... have to make sure I add some moonflowers to the mix!

Big word of advice... if you're going to embark on a large scale fishing line or christmas light trellis... talk to the building owners ahead of time and make sure they don't have any major projects scheduled that will affect you, or devise a system that is not connected to the building in any way and can be moved...

After hundreds of hours (and dollars) getting the balcony together (I think one of my best years yet) and getting some really nice vines going (trellis was about half full), The Management informs us that they are completely refurbishing the balconies this summer... stripping, patch/repair, painting (including the railing that the trellis was anchored on).

So I had the heart-wretching duty of having to rip out huge amounts of vining plants and take down all my hard-worked lights (not to mention my pond, the low-voltage lighting, take up the carpeting, etc). I have to arrange a ballet with maintainence over the rest of the plants, because they think I should be able to just drag everything off the balcony into the apartment (and leave it there for a month or two)... despite the fact that plants need sunshine (and protection from the 3 kitties I share my home with).

I'm quite despondent over the whole fiasco and am now considering moving up my house-buying plans, all because no one thought it would be a reasonably good idea to let folks know we were going to have major maintainence on the balconies BEFORE the season started. Sigh.

Thanks for letting me vent :0)

So far they've cut chunks out of the edge face (covering everything in dust in the process) and started patching in the new concrete... so everything is jammed up against the inside to give them room for that. I dread to think what happens on the next stage when everything has to come in (I can't get away with moving stuff side to side for that part). They think they'll be done by the end of august or middle of september... fun! Grrrr.

It's such a mess that I really can't even sit out on the balcony in the evenings... I think I should get a discount on the rent for losing the use of 2 "rooms" of my apartment! LOL