Dreaming of arbors and trellises

I got to have my fun in my garden yesterday. It is such an amazing feeling to be able to call it my own. To not have to worry about whether I can actually plant directly in the ground due to land lords. To only be limited by the space my house is on, both the land area itself, as well as vertically.

I have all of these wonderful ideas bouncing around in my head. My garden is ever evolving into something magickal.

Last night I decided I would not buy trellises and arbors (Aside from the $12 metal one I already got for the front yard) Instead, I will be building my own.
We need to prune the maple tree out back this Autumn, and I am hoping the branches I get end up making about 2 sturdy arbors. One for the three grape vines and one for my pumpkin and squash patch.

I want to make trellises for my beans, peas, cucumbers, small squash, etc, that have yet to be planted.

I have never constructed anything quite like this before. I had planned to purchase lumber at some point to build the arbors, but once I saw the ones made from branches, I fell in love. I have no idea what I am getting myself into but I can’t wait to give it a try.

Here are some of the inspirational photos I found on pinterest.












It is wonderful seeing our dreams become a reality. That being said, today will be focused on cabinets and wall outlets today. Cabinets are going back up tomorrow, so the base of the top ones need to be glazed and clear coated by then. I can finish doors, drawers, and the other lower half later.. Thankfully I think I only have 2 uppers to glaze, then I need to clear coat them all. If I have time, I will get to priming the pantry, which isn’t easily moved due to size… or get to painting other cabinet drawers and doors. As much as I am loving the cabinets, and love that I can do this to them, I am so ready to be done with them.

I just want to play in the garden all day, though this time with better protection from the sun. I got my first sunburn in years yesterday. Thankfully it is already turning into a tan. There is not really much more that can be done in the garden right now though. I planted everything I could.

I will say I love the reaction I get when I tell people how many tomato plants I planted, and that each are completely different varieties. My comment to it is “Well yea, it may seem like a lot, but the guy I got it from had like 56 varieties growing, and many of each type… So it is not really that many” I swear I am not a crazy tomato lady haha.

In any case, it will provide a good crop and I can actually get to some canning this year. I will create a masterfully delicious spaghetti sauce one of these days from scratch to go with my teriyaki garlic meatballs. Sounds weird I know, but they hold so much more flavor than traditional meat balls. I would share the recipe, though I don’t have exact measurements. I just know what goes into making them, and eyeball the amount of ingredients I need. Unless you cook like I do, or unless I could give an estimation, you would most likely not create quite the same thing. I cook with teriyaki and soy sauce all the time, but it is very easy to over do it with those if you do not know what you like.

Anyways, off to get coffee, get dressed, and get a jump on house things. Hope everyone is enjoying my posts.

Tomato planting and grape vines

We started the day off by tilling up a approximately 6ft wide by 12 ft long section of the slope for the tomato rows.

The slope was tilled with a shovel and manual tiller to get the ground workable. The spot is the area near where the chair is in this photo.

There are two spots that were free of weeds mostly and this one got the best sun. The other bare spot closer to the far right corner of the photo will eventually have corn.

So we tilled the ground, then we also dug 11 individual spots for each tomato plant 20 in apart from each other. I put a little of the bagged gardening soil in around the tomato plants and then filled further with the soil that was already there. We quickly learned that we actually have some really good top soil from what my tests are showing. Not to mention it already has a lot of nitrogen in it from what we were seeing from water tests.

I decided to rotate the colors so I would not end up with one all red and one all yellow and green..
Here is how my tomato rows are laid out from back to front. * indicates that it is an heirloom variety. I have both Heirloom and Hybrid in my garden.

                            *Orange Strawberry
*Speckled Roma                                      Mint Julep
*Gold Nugget                                          Sun Sugar
Sweet 100                                             *Gardeners Delight
Yellow Brandy Master (Brandywine)      *Brandywine
*Wapsipinicon                                        *Green Zebra


I also felt money would be wasted on tomato cages. I also felt it would look too unnatural to use the metal cages. I always liked the look of using branches for support. It feels more old world and a better alternative for my Green Witchy side.

    

I used two fairly tall branches with each one. I would have preferred three, but I was running out of branches funny enough. I tied the tops of them with gardening wire. If my plants get too large, and need more support, I can always swap the branches out with longer ones later.

Most of them are already fruiting.



I plan to save seeds from the heirloom varieties. I would save seeds from the hybrid ones, but who knows what would end up growing from them.

I also splurged, with my husbands pleading for us to buy some grape vines. We both love grapes and the look of grape vines. He also very much wants me to try my hand at making wine with our own grapes someday. While we cannot have quite the vineyard he has always wanted, we did get 3 grape vine starts. We got white, red, and concord blue. all of which are seedless.



I will be putting up some kind of trellis for them to climb up here soon. They are in large pots right now until I figure out the exact design for the trellis or arbor and can put them in a more permanent home they can grow into. They will most likely be in this general area due to the sun exposure.


A look at my yard

This is just kind of a brief look at the space before anything has been done with it. As noted above, the white chair is where the tomato rows are currently. That short, almost barely noticeable chain link fence at the bottom of the slope, is also where I plan to plant my mini orchard of fruit trees using the Espalier “trained to grow like a fence” method. 



The maple tree is quite large and mature. It will need some pruning here later this year. The right corner of the shed is where I put the grape vine starts. That fence line will most likely become my berry/fruit bush corner. I was going to put in some thornless raspberry starts but the person selling them ran out and now all I can find are thorny ones. I don’t want thorns if I have raspberries or blackberries.


This is the area to the left of the shed in the above photo. I plan to build a trellis that comes off the shed and will become my hanging squash and pumpkin patch. I may also rotate it out with melons.

This is the left side of the slope, which is behind the shop that is not pictured really, except in the first photo you can see it a little. Here I am thinking about making shelved planters but I have yet to decide.

I plan to use permaculture techniques where I can. I want my garden to be cohesive yet not overly typical garden/farm row design. I want to use new ideas and create a garden that is as self sustaining as possible once established. My garden will be quite enchanted once I am finished with it.

Right now I am kind of just keeping my eyes open for things I can recycle/reuse in the garden. It is amazing how expensive super cheap material items can be for a garden. I am sticking to a low cost budget and won’t result to spending hundreds on small things that cost almost nothing to make yourself. Used stores are my friend as are natural resources i.e the branches for the tomato cages. If you think about it, someone on Craigslist was selling them for $8 a piece… x that by 11 and there you have already easily spent $88 on some wire basically. I think that is absolutely nuts. So I saved $88 by using natural materials I found in my yard. Basically what I am saying is that “essentials” for growing certain things, don’t have to be bought from big stores, or even used at all depending on the growing method. Think outside the chain store box haha.