Going Up

This winter, I made space.

I thought I’d run out of room–that there was nowhere to go, nowhere to grow new things and expand my garden and life–but then I realized there were ornamentals I could cut down. So I cut those down and worked on mulching the soil. The soil wasn’t very good–and I knew I’d likely have to wait a season before I could plant vegetables in the mulched areas.

You see, skunks and raccoons like to come through the garden in the summertime each year–they dig through mulched areas for bugs and critters, and any little plant is at their grubbing mercy. If I don’t plant anything vulnerable there, then they serve the purpose of turning and aerating the mulch as it composts.  Let’s go with that. Yes. Every setback is an opportunity.

So–I had to find another way to make room. Because there is more than one way to make space. I looked up. And up. And I looked at the plants, stretching their branches and leaves toward the sun.

I would go vertical.

On pinterest, I saw that there are myriad ways to go vertical: bean teepees, lattices, trellises, etc. But I. Wanted. A. Squash. Arch.

I fantasized about a tunnel of green in my garden. With little squashes hanging down from the top in Autumn. And beans in the summertime. Maybe some watermelon with slings keeping them up. I mean, we can all dream.

So I asked my partner for help (he is good with tools and taller than I am–plus it is always good to have help). And I went out and bought cattle fencing, PVC pipe, and fence posts from the hardware store. We already had the twist ties.

This is what you need for a squash arch:

• Cattle Fencing (a big roll of it is nice–it is about 4 feet wide, and depending on how long you want to make your arch tunnel, you will need a multiple of 15 (it’s about 15 feet per section)).
• 1 inch PVC pipe + connectors (each section needs 2ish spans of PVC pipe–you want at least 20 feet for each section–and since noone really sells 20 foot long PVC pipes, you will need to buy a connector for each span).
• PVC pipe cement
• Fence posts (I bought both 4 foot and 6 foot fence posts–the 6 foot fence posts worked better)
• Twist ties (a bunch)

This is how you build a squash arch:

• Figure out where you want your arch to go. You can put it between raised beds. Or, like me, you can put it along a pathway.
• Connect your PVC pipe. You will also need to cement it in with pipe cement.
• Hammer a fence post in. Attach the PVC pipe to the fence posts with twist ties. We attached it with masking tape to hold it in place before we did the twist ties.
• Attach a 15 foot long portion of cattle fencing to the PVC pipe.
• At the edge of that section, hammer in more fence posts.
• Repeat.

We didn’t construct it with much precision–so my directions are general.

Finding space isn’t a specific act, either. You make it how you need to make it. Also–if it doesn’t look perfect, the vines will grow over it, and make it beautiful.

Beauty is in progress.