Building a Bamboo Trellis

We have a  little bamboo patch in the backyard. It's a good and possibly bad thing. If they start taking over the entire yard, then it's a bad thing. If they stay in their own area, I can use them for various purposes. I knew that I wanted to use them to make trellis for growing anything that climbs.  A couple months ago I planted my kiwi vines out in the garden. They have really flourished. This week is spring break, and I knew that I had to take this opportunity to cut down some bamboo and make a trellis for the kiwi vines.

I have the perfect tool for sawing off the bamboo. About four years ago, I bought a Pocket Boy. It's a cute little saw that can easily hurt someone seriously.  It only took seconds to saw off a bamboo stick. I saw off about 20 of them.  One thing to watch out for is getting splinters from the bamboo. They are so fibrous and sharp. I put on some gloves after getting many tiny splinters.  I saw off the top part with the leaves before pounding the bigger ones into the soil. I used some ribbon from old gift wraps to tie the horizontal sticks. They aren't all straight and even, but that's okay. I think they will be functional. Once the kiwi vines wrap around the trellis, you won't be able to see much of the trellis itself anyway.  I will show you how it all looks in a few months.

Planting Snow Peas

I am having a late start on planting this year, and spring seems to be coming early. During the weekend I stopped by American Soil and Stones to get more soil for the vegetable beds. I normally get Ultra Potting Mix or Ultra Bedding Mix, and they are $9 and $8.75 a bag. I decided to look at their price list carefully to see whether they have cheaper mixes. I was surprised to see that they also have "Local Hero Veggie Garden" at $6.50 per bag.  It contains several kinds of compost and chicken manure. That sounded perfect. I got a few bags and even mixed in some Dusty's poop as I filled up my veggie beds.

I wanted to get the snow peas into the ground but I had to figure out where and what they can climb. I have planted them next to the the arbor in the past, but I want to save the arbor for passion fruit. Last year I planted the snow peas in a wine barrel all the way in the back of the farm. I don't want to do that this year because I want to keep all the vegetables in one area for easier access. Besides, I might want to put in another fruit tree at the spot where the wine barrel is. So, I decided to use a piece of left over material from the arbor to make a 5-foot-tall trellis for the snow peas. I know snow peas usually grow much taller, but I can't get to the peas high up anyway. There's no reason to create more work for myself.

It happened to be a very windy day today, so this trellis got blown over several times as I tried to stabilize it. At the end, it stood its ground regardless how hard the wind blew. Now I know it will be safe for the season. It's not the most beautiful thing I have ever put together, but it is functional, sturdy and didn't cost me anything. I can't wait for the snow peas to start climbing on it!

Goodbyes

One last night

Last night I cleared up all the potted plants under the trellis and cut back other plants growing around it. It is now free and clear to go. I wanted to rebuild this beat up trellis for many years, but I realized that I couldn't do it myself. There are simply too many memories around it. There were plenty of smiley family portraits taken around it when it used to be covered with purple Bougainvillea flowers.

After Neal arrived this morning, I went to work in the front garden because I didn't have the heart to watch it coming down. Silly, isn't it? You can imagine that there are all sorts of knickknacks all over the farm because I can't throw them away. Neal noticed the microwave oven sitting in the sun room. He told me that's the oldest microwave he's ever seen! It is over 30 years old but still works well. I continue using the ancient microwave even though there are 3 modern microwaves stacked up in the garage. I am going to be really sad the day it stops working.

Gone!

Later during the day, Joseph came by to dig up the rest of the juniper bush. Just like the trellis, the juniper had been on the property since my family moved in almost 30 years ago. It was difficult to chop it off both physically and mentally for me. I had many flash backs of carefree childhood days while I was cutting it away.

7 feet tall juniper bush that took me 4 days after work to cut it off

at this point I couldn't go any further

Now that it is all cleared up, I plan on planting another fruit tree in there.

with Joseph's help, it is now gone completely

Help Wanted

There comes a time when one must seek for help, and that time has come for me. For the last 6 months, I have been nursing some passion fruit cuttings. It took months for them to root, and now I have 3 glossy green passion fruit plants in green house #2. Before I plant them outside, I need to rebuild the beat up trellis.

Instead of rebuilding it with wood, I would like to use bamboo. I want a more Asian appeal and environmental friendly material. The trickiest part of the project is the big crack on the cement base. You can't really see the crack from the pictures but the crack causes the structure to be slanted which you can see in the next 2 pictures.

My friend Joseph, who just started his own gardening business, came by today to check out the trellis. The project is a little bigger than he anticipated. He said this structure is an arbor not a trellis. Okay. I really wasn't sure what the appropriate name is. Joseph will take on another project instead of Bamboo Trellis project.

On Sunday, Neal, who I met at Permaculture Solstice Convergence, is coming to take a look. I expect more inquiries from Merritt College students once the classes start again next week.