The ties that bind
To be honest, if you’re really going to get into gardening you’re going to end up tying lots of shit up. Think of all those indeterminate tomatoes, climbing beans, grape vines, climbing roses, Hardenbergias, sweet peas, snow peas, fruiting vines - the list goes on and it's hard to stop.
Tying is annoying but a fact of life, so best to embrace it. But you have to have stuff to do it with ... and usually this means buying stuff - lots of expensive plastic stuff. I hate it.
So I treat this as a small but worthwhile opportunity to move towards renewable & recycled sources.
An obvious first-choice candidate – something in occasional use already – is old clothes. Shirts, pants, T-shirts and even socks: they all reach the end of their life at home, and while donating to second-hand stores is great some items are beyond salvation due to holes, stains, tears and marks.
T-shirts & other cotton-based clothes make particularly good ties. They are easy to cut with scissors or a Stanley knife into strips, and a cinch to work with as the fabric knots well & is hard to break. The strips outlast most annual plants in their growing season - which can be a hassle when pulling a plant down!
An underrated source of ties is plant material itself. Several climbers lend themselves well to this purpose, eg Hardenbergia and Kennedia. I have a native Black Coral Pea (Kennedia nigricans) growing rampant up a carport post into the roof gutters.
Kennedia nigricans - the native Triffid Vine* - taking a solid hold of my roof gutter
(*not its real name)
The vines make excellent twine-like material & would be strong enough to make rafts with. What better motivation to cut it back? Go for the older rather than younger lengths, as they are more robust. Prunings could do with 1-2 days out in the open to make them softer & less brittle.
Most native reeds & rushes break too easily, however I’ve had success with Spiny-head Mat-rush (Lomandra longifolia) aged for one day, and some of the Juncus rushes. Juncus kraussii (Sea Rush) is excellent. Native to a wide stretch of coastal Australia and common in the Adelaide Hills, I have read that Aboriginal people used the stems & leaves to make string, fishing line, woven rugs and baskets.
Juncus kraussii - great native rush & good tying material
Finally (and this is not a frontline tip) I have had a crack at using long, ripped-up stolons of Kikuyu and Couch as ties, trimmed of all side growth. They too work best after 1-2 days out in the open to give them that wilted, pliable texture. They can be hard to tie into knots, but God it feels good to take common invasive lawn grasses & put them to good use!
There are other options. A bit of trial & error to find new material can be fun. What are some of your nifty reinventions?
