Staking

What staking means

Staking is simply giving a plant something firm to lean on. As a stem grows tall, or a plant gets heavy with leaves, flowers or fruit, it can no longer hold itself upright. A cane, post or framework takes the weight, keeps the plant off the soil, and lets air and light reach all of it. Done in good time, staking is the difference between a plant that crops well and one you find flattened after a windy night.

Common types of support

Different plants want different supports, but most jobs come down to a handful of options:

• Single canes. A bamboo cane pushed in beside the stem, with the plant tied in as it climbs. Ideal for cordon tomatoes, dahlias and tall single-stem plants. For an indoor-trained tomato, this pairs with cordon growing and regular side-shooting.
• Wigwams. Five or six canes pushed into a circle and tied together at the top like a tepee. The classic support for runner beans, French beans and sweet peas, which twine up the canes on their own.
• Post-and-wire. Sturdy posts at each end of a row with horizontal wires strained between them. Used for cordon and espalier fruit, raspberries and step-over apples, where you tie growth to the wires as it develops.
• Pea sticks and netting. Twiggy hazel prunings or plastic-coated netting that peas and shorter climbers scramble through without tying.

Which crops need it

Climbing beans are the obvious ones — runner and climbing French beans grab a support and shoot skyward, so the wigwam or canes go in before, or as, you sow. Indoor-type (cordon) tomatoes, peas, cucumbers, sweet peas and tall flowers such as dahlias and delphiniums all benefit too. Many top-heavy plants want a stake purely against wind — tall members of the brassica family, such as sprouts and kale, rock loose in a gale and crop poorly once their roots are disturbed.

The golden rule is to stake early. Pushing a cane in beside an established plant risks spearing the roots, and a stem that has already flopped rarely straightens. Get the support in at sowing or planting time, while the soil is soft and the plant is small. Keeping the main growing tip in check by pinching out can also reduce how top-heavy a plant becomes.

Tying in with soft twine

To attach a plant to its support, "tie in" with soft garden twine — jute or a soft string, never thin wire or anything that cuts. Loop the twine around the support first, then make a loose figure-of-eight around the stem so there's a little slack. The stem needs room to thicken without being throttled, and a gentle loop won't bruise it.

Check your ties every couple of weeks through the growing season and add fresh ones higher up as the plant climbs. By autumn, untie, compost the spent stems, and store dry canes under cover for next year. For more on supports for climbing crops, see our guide to growing beans.