If you are wondering what livestock panels have to do with a successful backyard vegetable garden, the answer may surprise you. While livestock panels can vary a bit in design, gauge, and size, each one is basically an individual, easily movable panel made of sturdy wire that can be used to to make temporary fencing repairs, build animal pens, or even be used as a temporary gate to restrict animal movement in a farm or ranch setting.
But some of the qualities that livestock panels offer, such as being inexpensive, lightweight, and easy to work with, can also make them perfect for the backyard garden. If you would like to get more from your vegetable-growing efforts this year, here are three ways in which livestock panels can help you succeed.
Livestock panels can help you get more space.
The small size of many suburban backyards can make it very difficult to carve out the space needed for a vegetable garden. This is especially true when the garden will include vegetables that climb, such as pole beans and peas. By using livestock panels supported by a couple of steel t-posts to make a trellis, gardeners can train these plants to grow upwards while carefully supported by the livestock panel trellis and reduce the amount of ground space they will require.
Livestock panels can help you get more shade for tender vegetables.
Full sun, especially in the areas where summer temperatures are regularly in the triple digits, can damage tender plants, like squash and cucumbers. Gardeners in these areas often must create some type of structure to help protect the growing vegetables from being damaged by the heat of direct sunshine. Livestock panels can be a better choice because they can be bent into an arch that will allow the developing squash and cucumber vines to climb the arch while the tender young vegetables can drop down into the cooler, shaded area of the arch and find protection from the sun.
Livestock panels can help you get more garden time.
Short growing seasons can be a real problem for backyard gardeners. If chilly soil or early fall frost dates limit what you can grow in your garden, you can use livestock panels to build a hoop house structure, cover it with plastic, and use it much like a greenhouse for both early- and late-season gardening efforts.
To learn more about livestock panels, including available sizes, visit an agricultural equipment and supply store in your area, such as Big Springs Equipment.