Let your climbers come up and play with this rustic DIY rope trellis for all your indoor and outdoor explorer plants. You can create this trellis using upcycled materials lying around at home, or go totally eco-friendly with organic materials scavenged from the garden. Enjoy all the benefits of trellis growing and get the most from your curious creepers this summer.

A trellis gives you the edge

When planting edibles and decorative plants against a supportive trellis, you:

1. Save space by going vertical and neaten up your garden’s appearance.
2. Are able to home more indoor plants and grow more food in less space with easy-peasy harvesting.
3. Grow clean, ‘normal looking’ produce, instead of odd shapes splashed with dirt.
4. Reduce disease and insect damage by improving air circulation around plants and also by keeping foliage off the ground where soil-borne diseases can quickly spread.
5. Make it easier for pollinators to access flowers.
6. Experiment and play with architecture, landscaping, and visually intriguing décor.
7. Grow healthier plants with increased exposure to indoor lighting or outdoor sunlight.
8. Are able to prune and apply fertiliser much easier than if plants were on the ground.
9. Equip your plants with better support to withstand strong winds and rainfall.
10. Cover up baren walls and fences, and create your own indoor living walls.

Inquisitive indoor climbers

Here’s a list of five fabulous indoor creepers and climbers for inspiration.

1. Heartleaf philodendron (Philodendron hederaceum)
2. Pothos (Caution: toxic to cats, dogs, and children if ingested)
3. Wax flowers (Hoya carnosa)
4. Creeping fig (Ficus pumila)
5. Maidenhair vine (Muehlenbeckia complexa)

Edible outdoor explorers

Plant and sow these scrumptious edibles on a trellis and maximise your harvest.

1. Beans
2. Peas
3. Tomatoes
4. Melons
5. Summer squash

Available in pots, seedling trays and seed packets from your GCA Garden Centre.

Begin your trellis assembly

You will need:

• At least 5 sticks from the garden or 5 store-bought wooden rods
• Some harvested fresh and pliable vines, or some bought twine
• A nail and hammer

*Top tip: If you’re going organic, try collecting an interesting variety of sticks to give your trellis the ultimate rustic and raw look.

When life gives us manure, gardeners make compost! As such, Life is a Garden would like to invite all green fingers to welcome 2021 as The Great Reset – a time to reconnect with our home space, a chance to grow food and deepen our connection with nature, an opportunity to shape remote working environments, and the ideal excuse to expand outdoor entertainment areas. Here are the top trends for the year to inspire you and help support adjusted lifestyles at home. Let Mother Nature work her magic to lift those spirits and make every space a place for life to shine!

Trendy colours that celebrate life

The Pantone colour of the year is grey and yellow: grey representing fortitude and yellow symbolising happiness. Together, these colours send a message of positivity, supported by a solid foundation (grey) upon which to build joy (yellow). Cultivate resilience and hope by planting these beauties below:

Sun in your pocket

• Yellow canna lily: full sun in beds or containers, bold and bright, frost-sensitive.
• Alstromeria (Inca lily): full sun or semi-shade, good cut-flowers, needs winter munching.
• Anigozanthos bush bonanza: full sun or semi-shade with bright, golden-yellow flowers.
• Marigolds: full sun or semi-shade, drought-tolerant, attracts butterflies, repels pests.
• Sundial yellow portulaca: full sun annual, fine-textured foliage, low ground-hugger.
• Yellow capsicum: a full sun veggie, sprout seeds indoors in spring.
• Cape honeysuckle: full sun or semi-shade, attractive ornamental shrub, good for hedges.
• Snapdragons: full sun for beds or containers, gorgeous horizontally-growing blooms.

Grey for greatness

• Senecio cineraria, or silver dust: create contrast with this fine, low-growing sub-shrub.
• Senecio Angel Wings: robust in size with an angelic silver/grey sheen, an absolute stunner!
• Dichondra silverfalls: drought, frost, and salt-hardy for full sun spots in beds and pots.
• Lamium: grow best in partial/full shade to avoid scorching the leaves of these pretties.