As
the garden is just plugging along doing its late summer thing, there’s not much
to write about. So, I’m going to go back in time almost a year and tell a tale
of recycling.
 |
It
used to be a pool, now it’s an arbor.
|
As
I’ve detailed in previous posts, my Shaker garden was created almost entirely
with materials salvaged from an old pool that was in the backyard. The only
things we had to purchase were plastic to line the plywood and soil for the
raised bed. Extras like mesh netting to keep the rabbits out and all the nails,
screws and other fasteners were repurposed from previous projects. There was
quite a bit of wood left over from the pool after the garden was built.
 |
| Still
some wood waiting for another project. |
My
husband was able to make work benches in the basement and the garage from
pieces of the pool. He also made a wonderful grape arbor. Behind the garage
there is a pair of grapevines. They were just growing on the ground and
climbing the nearby trees when we first moved in. So last October he decided to
make an arbor for them. He took some of the longer boards from the pool and
made four uprights and a top frame. He then used his circular saw and a chisel to
make notches for the crossbeams on the top of the arbor.
He
then dug four holes at the back corner of our garage and we worked together to
square the thing up. The vines themselves were more toward the center back of
the garage so once the arbor was set he guided them to the nearest upright.
Then we waited through the long winter until spring when the dormant vines woke
up again. The vines must have liked the arbor. By the middle of June, they had
crested the top and began winding their way through the crossbeams.
 |
| First
grapevine buds of the spring. |
 |
Little
leave and grapes in early May.
|
 |
| Look
at those vines go! |
We
let the vines grow with little care. We tucked them up into the arbor
occasionally but otherwise did nothing special to them. We found that Japanese
beetles really liked the grape leaves. Since we had no plans for the vines and
the beetles seemed content with the leaves rather than chewing up other plants
around the place, we let them go. The leaves are a nice shape for dolmas,
though. I’ll have to get on them next year before the insects do.
 |
| Japanese
beetles are destructive but rather pretty. |
The
grapes themselves are nothing special. If we really wanted grapes to eat or
make into jelly or whatnot, we would probably pull out the vines and plant
different ones. As it is now, the vine is more of a decorative thing and I like
it that way.
 |
| Past-ripe grapes. |
 |
| A
lovely sight from my back porch. |
 |
| And
the birds like it too! |
