The Quick Trellis Hack You Can Do With A Simple Dollar Tree Item

We all know climbing plants need trellises to thrive. Whether you've made DIY trellises for your vegetable garden or love the vibrant spread of color from flowering creepers, providing something for them to ascend is essential. However, it can take some time for them to get with the program and attach themselves to the trellis. Holding them in place temporarily until they establish tendrils to support themselves can be a challenge. Tying them is time-consuming and can damage the stem if left too tight for too long, but there is a better way: clothespins!

For gardening convenience, use Dollar Tree Crafter's Square Wooden Clothespins to hold your climbers in place. Regular sized clothespins are great for trellises made from thin materials, such as wire. Pin from behind the trellis, as the flat part of it will grip well while the hole holds the stem without crushing it. These are suitable for climbers with narrow stems, such as jasmine and plumbago. For plants with broader stems, you can use Dollar Tree's Tool Bench Spring Clamps to loosely secure them.

Clothespins make brilliant temporary plant ties. One of the biggest upsides is that they're easy to find when the plant is nicely attached and it's time to remove them. Regular garden ties are designed to blend in with the greenery, but that means you may forget about removing them. Another plus is that clothespins are reusable, so keep a stash on hand or steal some from the clothesline to use in the garden.  

If you find the wooden laundry clothespin hack works for you, you can get even more use from your fasteners by labeling or color-coding them according to how fast the different types of plants outgrow the need for clothespins. For example, use red clothespins for when you've planted something that grows at the rate of Jack's beanstalk and mellow blue for the slow and steady growers. It's easy to tell which you should be removing first.

When you consider the climbing plants you should grow on your property, you'll notice a wide variation in the thickness of their stems. For example, training climbing plants on a wood fence without causing damage is a bit more challenging, as your clothespins won't be able to hook onto the thicker slats. For cases like this, you can switch Dollar Tree departments and find their Adult Sized Square Claw Clips. These hair accessories have strong teeth and a spacious grip, which may work for attaching thicker plants to thicker types of trellises. 

What about delicate climbers that have emerged from the soil? Thinner stems, such as those from a sweet pea seedling, can be gently trained to grip onto a trellis using tiny Dollar Tree Butterfly and Flower Hair Clips. These tiny clips add a sweet touch of whimsy but are also highly practical for skinny stems that need help staying upright.