Remember how I planted too many seeds and ended up with lots and lots of tomato and pepper seedlings? I figured out a way to fit most of the little plants into the existing garden plots. Now I’m facing the challenge of supports.

My favorite spiral stakes are no longer available anywhere in my town. I had to settle for something else. I didn’t want to spend too much on the stakes at any store, especially since most were plastic. Plastic! Chuck tried to talk me into using a very narrow PVC pipe cut to the length I wanted. He thought I could paint them in polka dots like our deck chairs. I resisted. Cute in the end, maybe, but eco-friendly — not.

I bought True Value Hardware’s entire stock of straight, colorful stakes. I’ll use gentle ties made from tee-shirts to keep the stems aligned and attached to their supports. However, I still didn’t have enough. True Value also had bamboo stakes. They were long, at least five feet long, and they came six in a package instead of costing my a bundle just for one. Bamboo might not last more than one season, but it’s more pleasing to the eye and less toxic to the planet than any of the plastic options.

There you have it, readers. What do you think? Have you seen my favorite spiral stakes anywhere? I’ll make a road trip, within reason, if you find them.

Colorful - I call it Garden Art.