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Message: [QUOTE="Oliver Buckle, post: 227407, member: 12649"] I am all in favour of using string rather than wire or plastic ties in the garden if it is a natural material, like hemp or jute. There are three knots which will deal with almost any situation. To join on to a stake use the clove hitch. Make a loop in the string and put it over the stake with the loose end down, repeat this twice. As a sailor once told me "Three clove hitches will hold the Queen Mary if the rope is strong enough." The half hitch is good if you don't have a free end to drop over, take the line around what you are tying to and then over and under the line going in and up through the gap between it and what you are tying to. Again three hitches is as strong as the line. The reef knot, do the first part of a shoelace bow, right over left, then do it the other way, left over right, and pull it down. It is always the same end goes over, so you can make the knot with the loose end from a ball of string, and if you don't pull it tight the first time you can make a loose loop to hold a plant to a stake without cutting into it. Of course there are are all sorts of complicated knots, but I find these three simple ones will do everything I need in the garden, hold firmly, and look neat and tidy. [/QUOTE]