Growing Climbing Plants with Spiraclimb

What makes Spiraclimb so special? A few things really. Firstly, there's no other product like it (at least in the UK). Spiraclimb's inventor, Steven Kaak, had what was essentially a simple idea but, like many such ideas, implimenting it was less simple. It took a specialised firm in the UK to produce Spiraclimb to Steven's exacting standards. It has since sold more than 100,000 worldwide!

Spiraclimb is a galvanised metal spiral that clips over each end of a garden cane. Your climbers can be trained around the spiral, rather than straight up, to create a topiary shape that is attractive, well supported and compact.

Under the right conditions, Spiraclimb will support 3m lateral growth from a 1m garden cane. The advantage of this is that you can now grow climbing plants wherever you choose, in patio tubs, your conservatory, courtyard garden or even as the centerpiece of a flowerbed.

OK, everyone claims their product is easy to use! All I can say to reassure you is, firstly, that the above quote was from a garden centre manager whose time is pretty valuable and, secondly, I've used Spiraclimb myself so am speaking from first hand experience!

The difference between any kind of trellis work and spiraclimb is the process by which you attach the plant to the support. Trellises typically require ties of some kind to encourage the plant to stay close enough to attach itself.

Spiraclimb is a slender wire held in "mid-air" away from the upright cane. Therefore, as your plant grows, you twist it around the Spiraclimb. That's it! No ties, no nothing. As the plant puts out new growth, its twisted onto the support so that it Spira-climbs up the cane to the top (and thence back down again if its still growing!).

Best results are obtained by growing climbers on Spiraclimb from the start, but if (as I had to do recently) you buy a climber that has been established on an upright, simply begin training it around the Spiraclimb from part-way up the length rather than the base. The lower part will fill in with foliage when the growth ravels back down from the top. Alternatively, you can plant out around the bottom of the climber with colourful bedding to distract the eye.

However, assuming a "best case" scenario where you grow from cuttings or seeds, growth can be trained from an early stage to fill the entire spiraclimb support.

A few key advantages of this style are that you have a circular feature that looks good from any angle. Rather than "straggling out" your climber appears compact and leafy, with a dense floral display. Best of all, the plant is strong, well supported and able to take the odd "blustery day" in its stride.

You can see above some common examples of Spiraclimb favourites (Clematis Rubens Montana, Clematis "Pixie" and Ivy)

But that's the tip of the iceberg! You can grow all manner of plants on a Spiraclimb including some nice indoor varieties.

My mission for 2008 is to grow veg on a Spiraclimb! I'm told that Tomato plants love them - I'm letting someone else prove that for now (I'm not a big fan of tomatoes!)but I've just this very week planted two eager runner bean plants at the base of a Spiraclimb and I intend to train them up and see what happens!

This is a pretty good case study for Spiraclimb - I've planted the runner beans in a decent sized patio tub as I don't have room for a trellis. In a tub, they can be positioned out in the open away from the wall where they get sun for most of the day. I rotate the pot a little each day as they climb up to encourage them along the support.

Come July/August I expect to be dining on home'grown veg!

To aid pollination I have planted the adjacent large pot with sweet pea seeds who have a Spiraclimb of their own. Whether I can train these unruly rapid-climbers into a neat spriral remains to be seen. Rest assured pics will follow!

The Spiraclimb website has been receiving a few upgrades recently and as a result the range of options available to gardeners has been extended.

We now offer Spiraclimb in boxes of 1, 2, 3 and 6. The 6 box is currently available at a Special Offer Price of just £25 to UK customers.

We have also developed new deals for distributing Spiraclimb wholesale for retail outlets in the UK and overseas as well as a same day dispatch service for website mail order companies.

NEW for 2010!

Spiraclimb have now become official suppliers for the National Trust. We very much hope that we will be making Spiraclimb available through many of the National Trust shops and plant centres from march next year.

Inspired to try Spiraclimb for yourself? You can order direct from the Spiraclimb website at "www.spiraclimb.co.uk"
The latest innovation from the Spiraclimb website is that they offer INTERNATIONAL ORDERING direct from their own website to anywhere! Wherever you are, Spiraclimb can now be a feature of your garden.

Uk orders
International orders

On this site you will also find suggestions of plant species to grow on your Spiraclimb indoors and in the garden.

For any Canadian readers, your "local" online supplier is "Lee Valley Tools".

!! NEW US OUTLET !! Logees have this month become Spiraclimb stockists. The first batch of Spiraclimb are on their way to Logees at time of writing. Contact them direct for US purchases or alternatively use our international order form on the Spiraclimb website.

Happy growing!

EXTRA SPIRACLIMB VALUE!

At this moment with currency changes Spiraclimb has become cheaper for our overseas customers, particularly those in the Eurozone but also in the US. Take advantage of this by ordering your Spiraclimb now for growing next season's climbers.

As mentioned above, I decided to try growing a couple of runner bean plants on a Spiraclimb from a medium sized patio pot. In the interests of fairness I also planted some conventionally supported beans against a fence mounted trellis.

At the time of writing (27th June) I have the first red flowers showing on my beans and they have circled the Spiraclimb twice, with fresh growth sprouting daily.

By comparison, my conventional beans seem to be a bit slow off the mark and two have been completely destroyed by slugs. It appears that the specialist compost for pots and tubs agrees well with the beans. My weekly few drops of Miracle Gro seem to be more effective in the pot than at the base of the stem of my garden planted beans too.

The difference between 100% potting compost and well conditioned garden soil may account for my Spiraclimb beans' initial headstart but the protection afforded by being grown in a pot from the slugs and snails was a bonus I must admit I had not foreseen!

Many gardeners will join me in agreeing that there are few sights quite so disheartening as the slime-covered bare stalks of your lovingly cultivated seedlings! By growing in a pot on my patio I am bringing a splash of lush green foliage, a dab of red flower and eventually some darn tasty beans to my garden without the slugs getting a look in (and if they turn up I can easily deal with them).

Of course I still have to deal with caterpillars and greenfly no doubt but the early signs of my veg-growing experiment are promising. When my digi camera decides to function as advertised, pictures of my success will be posted! Watch this space.