Ann the Arbor

The title does not refer to the town in Michigan but rather my new arbor that I am going to name Ann. She is a beauty. Last week I told you that I would let you know what Douglas was up to while I was planting the garden. Well, here she is. Meet Ann the Arbor. I love how she frames the cherry tree.

It has been my plan for several years to make a path to the front door from the sidewalk. That is why I left a gap when I built the second garden along the sidewalk last fall. My idea was to build a wooden arbor that looked something like this one. We even went so far as to go to Home Depot to look for the wood. However, I wanted to make it out of cedar or teak, and they did not have any. We postponed the project, and I am so glad that we did.

Three weeks ago I took Kahlua for a walk and passed a pile of metal fencing that I thought could be made into an arbor. I asked Douglas to bring it home for me. He was not happy with the idea of bringing it home and even less thrilled with the idea of using it to make an arbor. However, I prevailed.

On Mother’s Day Sunday, while I was planting the garden, he began to assemble the arbor. You can see how glad he was to be working on it. Kahlua did not show much interest in my project either.

I would have been happy to use one panel on each side and lay one across the top. There were eight total, and Douglas was determined that if he was going to use any he was going to use them all. I think that he was trying to avoid me cooking up another plan for the remaining panels had there been any.

The holes were already there and made it easy to assemble. It was just a matter of bolting them together. Once, he had four pairs, he brought them to the front yard. The gardens were the perfect width. It was as though we had built the gardens specifically for this arbor.

Next, he drilled holes and attached the pieces that go across the top. He is still planning to cut the last two bars down to lay perpendicularly across the top. In fact, that is why I waited a week before posting this. I thought that he would do it last weekend. However, I went to Long Island, and he spent Saturday at work and Sunday on his bike and mowing and never finished the arbor. I am not sure when it will be done, but those pieces are not very important until the grapes grow up there. I will update you when and if it ever gets done.

I was privileged with the digging of the holes, since I had finished the garden. I suppose Douglas did not think I had done enough digging for the day. Once we had everything lined up and level, he drilled holes for the bolts that would connect the two pairs in the middle, and I secured the bolts. You can tell it was starting to get dark by that time.

It was dusk by the time we finished. I was ready to plant the grapes, but Douglas was done. The next day, I put them in and took pictures. The grapes on the right are purple and the ones on the left are white. They are both seedless varieties, and I look forward to our first harvest. How many years do you think it will be before we get grapes?

In the past week and a half several people have stopped their cars or while walking past to tell me how much they like the new arbor. I am thrilled with it, and the price makes it even better. This arbor on Amazon is the closest one that I could find. Once Douglas puts the pieces on top it will look even more similar, but I like ours better. This one is $239.99. I spent just over $30 on bolts, nuts and lock washers. We only used half of them. Since the rest came from the trash we acquired our new arbor for $15 and some sweat equity. I challenge you to beat that price!

Happy Homemaking!