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New trellis

May 26th, 2006 · by map · No Comments

Trellis

I was at home with Ava on Tuesday while she got over a little rough patch. We think she’s been teething. In any case, she seems much happier now.

It was a gorgeous day, so I’d planned to make some headway on a project I’d come up with for the yard. I bought a new clematis for Leah at Hy Vee last weekend, but Hy Vee wanted $22 (US) for a wooden trellis. I don’t think so. I gave my old man a call to see if he could raid his scrap wood pile for a nice long board we could rip to make strips for a trellis, and amazingly enough, he found a great piece of redwood. Perfect.

I had to wait until Ava went down for her nap to begin the build, but I sprang into action as soon as she drifted off. Rather than nail all the strips together, I bound them with some old bailing wire I had lying around. It’ll make a much neater effect against the wood as it rusts and changes color. Wrapping wire around the joints also proved much quieter than hammering a bunch of nails, which may have awakened Ava.

I think the final product turned out pretty nicely. I screwed it to a redwood stake I had in the basement and then planted the clematis at its base, adding a little mulch to help keep the roots cool and moist. I’ve already seen our wrens sitting on top of the trellis and singing away, so it looks like it’s going to get the back yard seal of approval.

Tags: Ava · Outdoors