Most people don’t talk much about twine. But there is so much to know. For one thing, when looking for the ultimate garden twine for the garden, the key word should be “biodegradable”. Some twine contains nylon for extra strength, but it simply won’t break down in the compost pile at the end of the season. But it’s up to you to choose natural or “garden green”, which to my mind, doesn’t really match the foliage.
Garden twine is top of my list of the most essential garden tools, ever. I use it like others use duct tape: in 100 ways. And this time of year with garden design jobs, I use a lot of it. Once we have the design settled on paper, stakes are placed around the borders and the beds and paths are marked out. Twine is wrapped around the stakes to stage a walk through just to see how it feels and looks from all angles. I call this method “playing house”, because it reminds me of when I was a child and set up imaginary living spaces and bedrooms in the woods behind my house.
I also use twine to trellis peas, lash together bamboo poles beans, wrap tomato stakes, hang garden tools, and encourage climbing vines. This summer, I have plans to weave a spiders web over my back deck to grow morning glories, and will tie up the daffodils leaves once they’ve finished blooming.
Yesterday, I ran out of twine just as I was marking out an area for a large 50′ X 25 school garden. Luckily, the soil was still soft and I found a sharp stick to create the lines instead so we could visualize the space. After class, I drove straight to the hardware store to restock. Looking at all the options, I realized that its easy to get confused by too much choice. I reached for the same all natural jute that I’ve been buying for years, yet instead of one small ball, I splurged on the largest spool I could find: 890 feet of biodegradable, natural jute twine, made in New York State, and the best part: it cost just $8.00. Now that’s the best deal in town.
