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...