Arch for vining plants and some pea trellis

The yard is starting to wake up. Early plants, like these chives, are already up and growing. The rest of the yard, though, is still pretty out of it, which means there is some time to finish some big projects.

Last year, we finally had some success with melons, grown along the south side of the garage. We built the two beds on the right (below) last fall to extend this hot zone in the yard a bit. Our plan this spring, was to built an arched trellis between the beds that vining plants could climb. In theory, the fruit (squash, melons) would hang down below the arch into the walkway area.

I bought some steel electrical conduit and fencing and roused Jessica Saturday morning. We needed to get his done before she took off for a summer in Banff. After a bit of an explainer, she put up most of the posts. We then tackled the trickier task of cutting the fencing and installing it over top. 

Skipping past the swearing and grunting stage, the end result was this:

It is a bit hard to see the arch but this picture gives you a better sense of it. We're calling this the gitmo garden, cause we'll be able to gitmo plants in these beds. And also because it looks like a prison. I'll post pictures this summer with it coverd in vines.

With that done, I recruited Jenn to help me string up some plastic pea and bean trellis on Sunday (it was almost +20C!). I decided to do the whole inside of the south fence this year (>100 feet) and had to buy second bit of 50-foot trellis (you can see it unfurled below, sort of). We managed to get it installed without anyone getting too tangled or shirty. 

I've been slowly cleaning up the rest of the garden beds while the soil is still moist and soft and that's the plan for this week. I also got the rain barrels up and seated. If I get time this week, I'll go in search of some onion sets and pea seeds.