The stuff Monty used is reinforcing rod as used in concrete flooring and retaining walls. You might find it in some proper builders merchants, not places like Homebase, but more likely from a steel stockholder.
Put 'reinforcing rod' and your location into a search and it will show local suppliers.
The stuff I buy is sold as reinforcing rod and comes in various thicknesses starting at 5mm which is cold bendable but going to 1cm and more which aren't. It rusts quietly so is unobtrusive at first and then invisible as the plants grow.
I have my own bolt cutters but the staff are also happy to cut the rods in two for me to get them in the car. It comes in 5m lengths and is in the sales yard next to all the sheets of 5m x 2m metal grid which I use as trellis now - doesn't rot, doesn't collapse under the weight of happy clems or heavy pumpkins and can be cut to size with my bolt cutters..
Vendée - 20kms from Atlantic coast.
"The price good men (and women) pay for indifference to public affairs is to be ruled by evil men (and women)."
Sounds good, I have a local supplier that will cut it for me. Any idea what sort of length each piece should be to make a suitable height for delphiniums? Bear in mind I'm going to have to get them in the car.
I just cut ours in two Sandy and then bend them. That makes enough "leg" to push into the soil and hold up my echinops which get tall. You can work it out though - 20 to 30 cms for each leg to go in the ground and another 50 to 80cms for the bent part which goes round the plants (depends on size of clump and tree trunk for bending) and then the height you want times 2.
Vendée - 20kms from Atlantic coast.
"The price good men (and women) pay for indifference to public affairs is to be ruled by evil men (and women)."
Posts
The stuff Monty used is reinforcing rod as used in concrete flooring and retaining walls. You might find it in some proper builders merchants, not places like Homebase, but more likely from a steel stockholder.
Put 'reinforcing rod' and your location into a search and it will show local suppliers.
The stuff I buy is sold as reinforcing rod and comes in various thicknesses starting at 5mm which is cold bendable but going to 1cm and more which aren't. It rusts quietly so is unobtrusive at first and then invisible as the plants grow.
I have my own bolt cutters but the staff are also happy to cut the rods in two for me to get them in the car. It comes in 5m lengths and is in the sales yard next to all the sheets of 5m x 2m metal grid which I use as trellis now - doesn't rot, doesn't collapse under the weight of happy clems or heavy pumpkins and can be cut to size with my bolt cutters..
Sounds good, I have a local supplier that will cut it for me. Any idea what sort of length each piece should be to make a suitable height for delphiniums? Bear in mind I'm going to have to get them in the car.
I just cut ours in two Sandy and then bend them. That makes enough "leg" to push into the soil and hold up my echinops which get tall. You can work it out though - 20 to 30 cms for each leg to go in the ground and another 50 to 80cms for the bent part which goes round the plants (depends on size of clump and tree trunk for bending) and then the height you want times 2.
Thanks obelixx for the calculation I needed.