Sunday, May 8, 2011

A Grape Weekend

Well, the weather was too nice to hunker in the basement, so we worked on some outdoor projects.

We came home one day last fall to see our grape arbor - which we had made by weaving and tying saplings about 5 years ago - fallen down in the back yard. We trashily propped it up with a bunch of 2x2s we had hanging around. Last weekend when we started cleaning up for spring, we realized it looked pretty damn sad - so I got some 10 foot rebar and we planned a new arbor (loosely based on one Ken made for a friend).

It's simple and it's meant to show the grapes, not the arbor itself. Here it is after he welded it together in the driveway (although I should say he then welded some little step-feet things that made installation really easy and sturdy):

And here it is with the grapes carefully draped over - after it leafs out and is less brittle, we'll mess with the canes some more. Nonetheless, it is decidedly less ghetto than the mess we've had all winter.

Because it's rebar and and arbor, and both words are just fabulous to say in a Maine accent, we're calling it the "Rebarbor" - phonetically, that's "Re-bah-baah".

And elsewhere in the garden, my rhubarb is in Year 3, which means I can basically pick all I want!

And I have always wanted a Magnolia, and saved up a bit so I could go get one - this is the variety "Elizabeth" (creamy yellow flowers), so we put her in the front corner where the big tree was taken out last year. The corner is a bunch of tilled-up soil because we need to mix it up and re-grade the old tree spot a bit. With any luck, grass will come in soon.

I love this tree! I will post pix when the blooms open up - it looks like they might be getting ready to burst!