Various grids are often used in raised beds - for example, to keep voles and other unwanted rodents out of the bed or to provide a stable structure around climbing plants. There are different solutions and optimal grids for both tasks.
Which types of trellis are used in raised beds?
In the raised bed, wire mesh is used to prevent voles and trellis for climbing plants. Vole wire should be tightly meshed and hot-dip galvanized, while trellises should be made of sturdy materials such as wood, bamboo or structural steel mats to provide secure support for the plants.
Which wire against voles?
Voles and other rodents feel very comfortable in raised beds and quickly use them as a hiding place or even a home. Therefore, you should definitely not forget the vole wire, which is inserted between the soil and the lowest layer. The close-meshed wire - the mesh size must not exceed one and a half centimeters - is also hot-dip galvanized to protect against corrosion. You place a piece cut to size directly on the floor, with the edges bent upwards about 15 centimeters along the inner walls. Secure the wire well to the interior walls so that no gaps - which could be used as loopholes - remain. There are special wire meshes commercially available for raised beds (so-called “rodent meshes”), but also rabbit orChick wire (€14.00 at Amazon) provides good service.
Trellis for raised beds
Many types of vegetables develop long shoots that easily bend under the weight of their fruit. Tomatoes, eggplants or peppers should therefore be supported with sturdy wooden or bamboo sticks. Others, such as peas, climb up trellises or poles using leaf tendrils. The fruits of pumpkins, cucumbers and zucchini, on the other hand, are much less susceptible to rot if the plants can climb up on a climbing aid.
Secure hold is important
Always attach trellises and climbing aids so that they give the plants stable support and do not hinder the necessary care work such as watering and harvesting. Grids, bars, trellises and poles that are not properly attached do not provide the plants with proper support and are therefore useless. It is therefore best to screw large climbing trellises made of wood or metal to a side wall from the inside before filling the raised bed.
Stable trellises for fruit plants
For fruit vegetables with heavy fruits - such as pumpkins, cucumbers and zucchini - tunnel-shaped curved steel mats are very suitable for climbing. But a piece of mesh wire cut to size and fixed between sturdy wooden slats can also be used as a trellis. Ready-made raised bed kits with wooden trellises are available commercially, which can be used as a useful or ornamental plant bed.
Tip
If you fill in drainage made of gravel or gravel as the bottom layer, you can do without the rodent grille.
