Arbor Day

Arbor Day came a bit late on the farm this year. Oh sure, we've planted our fair share of trees to do our part and will continue to expand our orchards, but this was a different sort of Arbor Day.

Once again referring to our list of goals for 2018, we put one up to a vote and our readers chose the "vine trellis". Technically what we meant was an arbor as it incorporates a trellis and creates a tunnel-like passageway of climbing plants. Yes...that is what we meant!

So construction began...

The cleared/scraped land that we started on

We had an area off to the west side of the house which we'd had clear-cut of all trees during the timber harvest back in 2016. I used the tractor to scrape the half closest to the house which is where Neta will build/create her "Goat Garden" (so named as it will be out in front of the old Goat Barn). There are still spots that aren't scraped completely smooth due to the old pine stumps, but as they rot over the next few years, we'll be able to scrape those out and create a smooth area for expansion of the garden.

If there is a truck AND a tractor in the picture, you know real work is getting done.

The spot that Neta and I picked out lines up with the kitchen windows so when you are looking out, it will look directly down the arbor which will eventually end with a bench and a bush/shrub of some sort to create a nice backdrop.

The construction itself was pretty simple: Ten - 10 foot 4x4s (5 on each side, buried 2 feet deep) spaced 8 feet apart, with a span of 8 foot 2x6s down the sides and across the width.

The first side is done.
The picture is crooked, not the arbor.

Even though Neta offered to help me, she was busy with her own work which included tending to the vegetable garden and our several flower gardens along with plenty of other chores involving growing things. So with that in mind and not wanting to call her from across the farm every few minutes to help me hold a heavy board in place, I figured out a helper of my own.

Clamps were my best friend

And when you run out of clamps...use a screw to hold things in place
while you climb the ladder on the other side. 

Once all of the sides were complete, I doubled the 2x6s across the span and added some old curved bows that we found in our big barn, which were probably used for a hoop house at one time.

We finished off the bows and added fencing down the sides up to the bottom of the cross pieces. This will allow the vine to have something to grow on.

The (mostly) finished product.

The vine that we chose (after Neta's research) is Star Jasmine (aka Confederate Jasmine). It blooms star-shaped flowers all spring and summer long that are very fragrant. The other thing we liked about it is that it's evergreen so we won't have a dead, brown vine hanging on the arbor in the winter months.

We'll plant the vine between each of the posts along the sides.

Some of the Star Jasmine we plan to plant.

I noted that the arbor is "mostly" finished. We still plan to add some fencing to the top to help support the vine when it is tall enough, but that will come later. And of course we still need to plant the vines, which will probably happen this coming weekend.

Soon (in several years) to be a fragrant and scenic tunnel of Star Jasmine vines.
Note the difference between this picture and the first one. One week of rain and
suddenly the farm goes from dust to greenery.

So that wraps up another project! On to the next one...

Careful What You Wish For!

Back in the winter I was complaining to Neta about all of the vegetation growing around the edge of the front pond. I told her I wish we could have a drought so the water level would drop enough to allow me to clear some of the large bushes and trees that were growing at the bottom of the bank.

All last year and through this past winter our ponds were both at capacity. Our front pond (and island), which is on our list to clean up (Item #9), contains a lot of scrubby bushes and trees; wax myrtles, maples and other overgrowth. We also have a few bald cypress trees growing up from and around the pond which we're keeping, but the scrubby stuff has become overgrown and needs to go.

From this past winter, but you get the idea.

As I mentioned, the vegetation that we want to get rid of all seems to grow right at or just below the water's edge. To even get within an arm's reach requires stomping through swampy, thick muddy areas. A couple of tree/bushes in particular were especially troublesome as they had large, multiple trunks and grew about 2-3 feet off the bank, so not easy to reach with the chainsaw. And so I wished and dreamed of drought.

Wish granted... Let me just say that Mother Nature hears our messages and seems to take them VERY literally. I didn't want it coupled with 90 degree days and brown and dying lawns, but I guess I wasn't specific enough. I'll be a little clearer with my next wish.

A clover patch in our yard

But the silver lining is...a clean bank along the pond.

It looks so much younger, like when your Dad shaves his beard.

Those stumps/roots will still sprout continuously and keep me on my toes with the brush cutter.

The clearing of all of this actually took place over the course of several months. I cut back what I could reach, hauled it away and waited for the water level to keep dropping. I had the last group of bushes cut back to just short stumps and waited. They put out a lot of new growth that I couldn't reach for a while, but this past weekend, on the hottest weather we've had, I managed to get it cut down to the current water line.

One particular bush required me to climb down the bank, stand on some cypress knees and cut out about a dozen or more underwater branches while Neta held them above the water for me with a boat hook. Ingenuity!

You can see from the pictures how far down the water level is. The lack of rain is real as we are about 9 inches below normal for the year, though lots of storms are forecast for this week. Neta has not been happy with my wishes as we have a vegetable garden and lots of new fruit trees and flowers to now keep watered regularly due to the lack of measurable rain.

Mission Accomplished!

Now that we have that job crossed off the list I would like to ask Mother Nature to bring back the rain. Normal amounts. Enough to green up the grass and keep the gardens and fruit trees happy, but not enough to require the construction of an Ark. That project is NOT on our list.