Nick Bailey’s simple guide to putting wire supports on a wall
This simple method will last a lifetime
Climbing plants unquestionably make a huge impact in the garden but without the right support they can turn into tumbling torrents of tangled stems. All too often when I’ve taken on a new garden I find beautiful plants bereft of the space or support they need. This regularly leads to the ‘disembowelled mattress’ look, as the late great plantsman Christopher Lloyd once described top-heavy clematis as having!
Ensuring a well-fanned out plant, which is clothed to the ground with both foliage and flowers, calls for correct pruning, but just as importantly the correct structures for them to grow up. I’ve tried and tested a few approaches over the years and the one I return to time and again is simple and only requires straining wire, expanding rawl bolts (with an eye) and marine eye bolts. They’re all available from www.screwfix.com and other hardware suppliers. There are many styles and looks which can be achieved using this method but the basic approach is this:
Step 1 Identify the wall you want to add wire plant supports to and ensure there are no services such as electricity buried in the bricks.
Step 2 Decide on whether to opt for vertical or horizontal wiring. The horizontal approach works for most climbers but some true twining species, such as thunbergia, appreciate vertical wires to climb up.
Step 3 Using a spirit level, mark two vertical lines in chalk or pencil at the extremities of the area you intend to wire, extending the lines to the height you’re aiming for. Then measure up from the lowest course of bricks, marking the chalk vertical line at 20cm (8in) intervals. Drill holes at these intervals using a masonry bit the same size and depth as your expanding rawl bolts.
Step 4 Slot the rawl bolts into the holes and tighten them by inserting a skinny screwdriver through the eye and tightening until they’re solid and the eye of the rawl bolt is vertical. Next, cut your straining wire to around 20cm (8in) longer than the wall width you’re wiring.
Step 5 Insert the marine eye bolts into the rawl bolt eyes, then bend the cut straining wire on one end to make a hook. Slot this through the marine eye bolt on one side of the wall and wrap the wire around itself to make it secure. Fully loosen the opposing marine eye bolt and attach the wire. Now comes the clever-ish bit! Using a spanner, tighten the marine eye bolts at both sides of the wiring. This now provides you with very tensioned wire which can be tightened in future should the plant stretch it out. The method is simple, sustainable and will last a lifetime.