In today's family blog, Ben builds two arch trellises for our totally out-of-control vegetable garden. If you watched our previous vegetable garden video, you know that we made many mistakes this year, including not properly propping up our tomatoes and climbing vegetables.
Ben has a solution and builds his own DIY trellis. He and I truly are clueless gardeners, but we sure do have fun with our hobby.
The following are the supplies we used for anyone who is interested in building their own arch trellis.
First of all, let's start off with the most important supplies:
His Lordship mug
to go with my Her Ladyship mug
And now that we've gotten the coffee out of the way... Here are the other supplies we used to build the trellis:
Wire Mesh Fence
18 inch stakes These are the stakes Ben used to secure the fencing into the ground.
Wire cutters
Sledge hammer
We plan to document our garden the whole year, so we will definitely update you on the success of the arch trellis. We get heavy winds in the area we live, so I'm curious to see how the trellises hold up. I hope you enjoy the shenanigans in today's video.
Please note: the music used in the video is Dvorak no 12 in F Major Op 96 and Kingdom of Baghk.
News
I posted Natural Home with Jennifer yesterday (instead of Friday) so anyone who is interested can take advantage of Grove Collaborative's fall scented cleaning products. Some people have told me that the mum scent has already sold out, but my favorite, apple cider, is still available. To see my honest review from yesterday (and yes, my daughter had some funny describing words for the pumpkin scent) click here.
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Comment of the Week
On last week's parenting chat, Hana G writes,
"You know it's funny, I still remember my mum saying to me once when I finished making my bed, that out of all of our family, I was the one who made it look the most neat and stylish. To this day, I still remember this comment and really enjoy making my bed every morning :-D (I am 30 now) Affirmations are really powerful!"
Hi Hana, I agree! We really do remember the things we were encouraged in as children. Affirmations for our children are very powerful, indeed.
I hope you enjoyed today's video. Please let me know if you'd like to see more family vlogs from the Connoisseur family.
I would love to know... do you have a kitchen garden? What tips do you have for us clueless gardeners? Thanks for joining us.
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Love the arches! And you husband is so cheerful and happy while putting them up:)
ReplyDeleteReally loved this video. Early morning here in Western Europe and you made my day.
ReplyDeleteBut please, rip out the plant you first thought to be a black berry. It's a poisonous herb, especially for little ones.
You really need to take a close look at what you referred to as a "blackberry" bush! Especially with little ones. It looks like nightshade to me. Very poisonus!
ReplyDeleteHi Jennifer! You definitely inspire me to get out in our garden. The problem we have is the deer eat everything we plant. Our backyard and front yard are woods so we have a lot of wildlife and no fenced in area. Even the squirrels eat our tomatoes. It is so frustrating. Your garden looks so fun and whimsical! I love teaching our children about where their food comes from too. Enjoy your weekend!
ReplyDeleteJennifer,
ReplyDeleteIsn't is wonderful to watch one's husband hard at work on a household project? I love it!
And your son is so adorable. He just melts my heart.
Your mugs are a bit pricey for me, but I found similar ones on Amazon. Thanks!
All the best,
Alexandra
That seems like a clever idea for supporting those tomatoes. I can't wait to see how it works.
ReplyDeleteAs the others have said, I'm not sure that you have a blackberry bush but even if it is a blackberry bush you still may want to take it out before it takes over your yard. I've been fighting one that the previous owners put in for two years and I'm still finding shoots all over the place. Not only are they aggressive they have really nasty thorns and when they are bushed out make the perfect place for snakes to hide...ask me how I know that bit of information. *shudder*
I love how you have captured your husband working, made it fast motion, and added the music. So whimsical and charming like an old film and very Amelie"esque". We never take videos of ourselves, only our kids, but I'm sure our children would be grateful to have memories of their parents even in this way. Even rather mundane gardening can be artistically captured and a beautiful memory. I'm inspired to video my husband chopping and stacking fire wood or mowing the grass and setting it to music now! I know that wasn't the point of this video, but thank you! We could use an arch for our tomatoes too. Maybe next year. The PA growing season us way shorter than the CA! :)
ReplyDeleteRabbits - the bane of suburban gardeners! Have you considered using some of the wire mesh to fence out the fluffy anarchists? We have found that the 1/4 - 1/2 inch plastic mesh (not the netting, but the more rigid fencing material) works well. You can secure it in an upright position with bamboo or cedar pickets, or re-bar posts which will last much longer than the wood pickets. It is only 24 inches high, so adults can easily step over it ..... or it's easy to make a gate of sorts for the kiddos. Blessings!
ReplyDeleteI love how you're diving right into gardening. So many times the best way to figure out what works for you and your area is just to do it and tweak it every year. When we were finally in a house that we could plant a garden, that's what we did. Of course, I researched to the best of my ability, but the best thing I did was to keep a garden journal every year. I noted what we planted (and the variety), where I bought the plants/seeds, if we had pest issues, how well they did, and notes to myself for the next year. For instance, the first year we planted 15 tomato plants and quickly realized that it was WAY too much, even with canning them. We had tomatoes coming out of our ears! The journaling really helped us hone our gardening skills and figure out what did and didn't work for us.
ReplyDeleteAbout your mint...there's an old gardening adage regarding perennials that is so true; the first year they sleep, the second year they creep, the third year they leap. One year at the gardening center I let my son pick out a plant he liked. He chose lemon balm (part of the mint family). I knew nothing about it and planted it in our front flower bed. The first year it stayed a smallish plant. The second year it was quite a bit larger. The third year it started spreading. Everywhere. Curious thing about mint - it can go underneath concrete and come up in other places. It went underneath our driveway and came up in the backyard. Even though we had pulled up that original plant and all the runners we could find, we never did get rid of it. It came up between the slats of our deck, in cracks/seams of the back patio, and anywhere it could find soil. It was a constant battle. So, you may want to think about putting that mint in a container after all. :-)
Enjoy your garden! We moved to Florida a year ago and rented a townhome until we figure out which area we want to settle in. My garden is the thing I miss most. They are one of life's simple luxuries.
I simply love watching you and your husband together on your Vlog and the rest of your family, too, for that matter. Your son is so adorable and I loved the way they both had nice-looking polos on for their casual wear and it just took everything up a notch in daily wear for the gentlemen in your life, even when building, wielding hammers and digging in dirt! I'm reminded of two men from London (a father and son) I saw recently at the Petersen Auto Museum when they were part of our group who took a tour of the museum's "vault" of special cars in the basement. Both men wore nice shorts and polo shirts and they were fit and trim and stood out from the tour group. It wasn't that others in the group wore anything sub-standard (although many were wearing tees or T-shirts; it just seemed appropriate for the summer day and activity.
ReplyDeleteBack to the garden...your arch trellises will be perfect for the meandering vines of fruits and vegetables that grow there. I kept wondering if the wire mesh was going to be sturdy enough to withstand your winds, as you mentioned, and if the wire mesh fencing comes in different grades of strength for sturdier support. The stakes Ben used look really substantial so that should take care of it.
Clueless gardeners? I think not. You two have a lot more knowledge than many of us and it's fun to learn alongside you. It was so cool to see you walk under the finished trellises and what a joyful keepsake for family memories of the "clueless gardeners" working in their garden.
Please be careful of lantana -- the leaves and stems can be highly irritating, and the fruit [resembling berries] is toxic!
ReplyDeleteP.S. Distinctive-Decor.com has the "Ladyship" mug on sale, but the "Lordship" mug is not on sale. As you can see, I am more interested in sipping yummy drinks than in laboring in the yard!
ReplyDeleteWarm best,
Alexandra