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I was just about to order some more dirt to build another 10 beds when Betsy
put her foot down and said .. "Not until I get an arbor to the front garden.
So I went in search of plans and in an old issue of Fine Gardening Magazine, I
found a great article on how to build a simple arbor. This was a really easy job
... although I STRONGLY reccomend that you do this on a nice, cool fall day and
not on a 90deg day as I did.
The one shown here can be done easily in one day ... I took 2 days since I
used concrete mix in the holes and wanted it to set properly.
Tools Needed:
Drill, Saw, Square, 3" galvanized decking screws, shovel, post hole digger,
carpenter's level
Materials ( you can use any wood ... we chose to use plain old treated wood
and are planning on letting it age to the normal grey color that this wood obtains
).
(4) 2" x 4" x 8'
(2) 4" x 4" x 10'
(2) 2" x 6" x 8' .... cut in half to give (4) 2"x6"x4'
(4) 2" x 6" x 6' .. note these are for the cross beams on the top ..
when we finished we like the looks of just two insead of four but that's up to
you.
I ripped an extra 2x4 down to 1/2" thick strips for the decorative cross
pieces but you can use what ever size here that you would want.
(8-10) bags of concrete mix
| Take the all of the 2x6 pieces and cut a taper on each end. I
used an angle set for this but you could easily use the cutoff from the first
piece as the template to mark all of the other cuts. |
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| Take the (4) 2x6x6' pieces and two at a time, clamp them together. Use a scrap
piece of 2x4 to mark the first "lap joint" then lay it on it's side
to mark the edge of the next one. |
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Using multiple saw cuts, a hammer and chisel, clean out these lap joints. You
will get set of joints that are spaced the width of the 4x4 apart.
Do this on both ends of all (4) of the 2x6x6 pieces.
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Now build each of the "sides" by laying down the 4x4 with the 2x4's
on either side.
Mount the 2x6x4' pieces across the top on either side of the 2x4's and the
4x4
Use a scrap piece of 2x4 around 6" up from the bottom of the 2x4's to
secure the spacing at the bottom. Use screws so that this piece can be removed
later
Check to insure that the top is square to the sides.
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| Dig 3 holes .. the center one being around 36" deep and the two side
ones being around 12" deep. Pour around 6" of dry concrete mix into
the bottoms of the holes. Set one side in place and insure that it is vertically
level using BOTH sides of the 4x4. Pour a enough concrete mix into the holes to
just hold it in place. Re-check for vertical and then finish pouring in the rest
of the mix until the holes are filled and slightly mounded around the posts. Re-check
for vertical. Now, using a hose, VERY SLOWLY allow water to dribble into each
hold until the concrete mix is full saturated. Go pour yourself some wine and
come back the next day. |
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The next day ..... dig 3 more holes for the 2nd side. Pour concrete mix into
the bottom of the holes, put the 2nd side in place. Using the notched cross pieces
.. with the out side notch on each end over the two bottom braces, position the
bottom of the 2nd side so that it is parallel to the first one. Then, using a
ladder, put them in place across the top and recheck and re-adjust the bottom
with a level. You will need to check both across the top of the cross pieces and
the vertical sides to get it both level and vertical. Once you have done this
( having checked several times) pour in the rest of the concrete mix and wet it
down like you did for the first side. Once things are completely dry, screw or
toenail the top pieces onto the side units. At this point you can remove the braces
at the bottom.
Now pour some more wine, stand back and fully admire your work.
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| We took this wisteria and pruned it severly. Now it looks like
this ... we like the sweeping lines that the trunk will form as we train the main
growth over the new arbor |
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| And here's the finished product ... now I can scratch one more thing off of
Betsy's "honey-do" list !!! |
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| 5/16/99 .. we trimmed the wisteria to give interesting shape with only the
bare limbs .. created kind of a "windswept" look. The branches are nicely
winding their way thru the Arbor |
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| 4/19/00 ... this spring yield the biggest bloom yet. right after the bloom
we will be continuing to prune the runners that are going in the wrong direction.
Also prunning off all of the runners from the main branches on the left side so
that we can continue to develop this wind swept shape that we are working towards. |
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Here is a sketch of the plans ......... we never said we were draftsmen !!!!!!!!!
... With these pics and this sketch you should be able to build the thing but
if your want to read the entire article (and see nice clean drawings) you can
find this in Fine Gardening - Sept-October 1996 issue.
Click Here for the Sketch
and then use your browser's BACK key to return here
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