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Sometimes the best garden projects start with an impromptu trip to the nursery! In this video, I show how we made a simple, inexpensive, and beautiful grapevine trellis archway in our garden. Watch to see the whole process, from the design to planting the grapevine.
Thanks for watching!
LEARN MORE:
Find the details, measurements, and materials info for this project here:
https://thefruitgrove.com/diy-grape-arbor-build-an-inexpensive-garden-archway-video/
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0:00
You know, in gardening, sometimes things happen that lead you to do a project or plant a plant
0:06
that you weren't planning on. And that is exactly what happened with me and this grape arbor
0:11
So in this video, I'm going to show you exactly how we made this really easy and inexpensive
0:15
grape arbor project. So I did something the other day that I think most gardeners can relate to
0:21
I drove to my local plant nursery, you know, just to kill some time
0:26
And $200 later, I had a car full of plants that I didn't know I needed, including the
0:32
one that I was most excited about, which was this razzmatazz grape vine right here
0:37
And I was so excited to find this because it is a relatively new table grape variety
0:43
that is heat tolerant, disease resistant. It does well in humidity. It grows really vigorously and it's super productive and just apparently really easy
0:51
to care for. And it's one of those things that are really important to me, especially in my very high
0:57
disease pressure, hot, humid climate. So I had to grab it. But of course that meant we had to make something for it to climb on
1:05
And that was really the birth of this grape arbor project. Now we'd already built a fence to enclose our garden area
1:12
That's this black fence behind me. And I'll link to the video that shows how we did that
1:17
But we'd left, of course, an opening to get into the garden area
1:21
And I thought that was going to be the perfect place to put a nice arbor archway for this
1:26
grape vine to climb on. And then of course I wanted it to be really sturdy and last a long time
1:32
It needed to be inexpensive because I had just spent all that money on plants
1:36
And because, you know, you want it to be cost effective. And then I just need it to just last a long time because again, we have all this crazy
1:45
weather and heat and humidity that's rough on wood. Plus we have ants and termites in our sandy soil
1:52
So I really wanted it to last. So that was all the things that went into the design of our grape arbor
1:59
And now I'm going to show you exactly how we made it. Now first, let me explain that when I say we built a grape arbor, I'm talking about
2:14
me and my husband, Greg. Because when it comes to woodworking, he is definitely the expert of the two of us
2:21
So whenever I have a garden project like this, it's sort of like he's the project manager
2:25
and I am his very willing and somewhat able assistant. We came up with a really simple design because we wanted it to be fairly straightforward
2:32
to put together. We used all pressure treated wood because we wanted this to last as long as possible
2:38
And we wanted it to be a little more affordable. So if budget is less of an issue, something like cedar or something like that would work
2:45
really well and be really beautiful. But we stuck with pressure treated wood to just keep it simple and to keep the costs down
2:51
But what we decided to do is have four eight foot tall four by four posts on each corner
2:58
of the trellis. And then across the top of the front and the back is a two by six board with a little curved
3:05
decorative ending that we cut into it. And then to sort of hold that shape together, we have two angled two by sixes
3:13
And it also just makes it look decorative. So this is on the front and the backside of the trellis
3:18
And then we use two by four pieces to put the front and the back of the archway together
3:23
And that's also going to give us something to attach the mesh to. And that's what the grapevine is actually going to be climbing on
3:30
So like I said, the arbor is eight feet tall. But part of that is going to be sunk into the ground
3:36
So it's really closer to seven feet tall by the time we put it in the ground
3:40
But the boards themselves, the posts are eight feet tall. And then they're spaced about five feet apart
3:46
That's the opening. So the entire width of the trellis is longer than five feet
3:52
But the opening part is five feet. And then it's three feet front and back
3:56
So the actual archway part is three feet deep. Once we figured out the design and measurements, the first step was to cut the horizontal two
4:05
by sixes for the very top to the right length. Then I sketched out a template for the curvy decorative part at the end of each of the
4:16
two by sixes. And then Greg traced it onto a scrap piece of wood and cut it out at the bandsaw
4:23
We used the template and traced the curve onto the ends of the two by sixes
4:27
And then we used a jigsaw to cut them out. Now this is optional, but Greg also used a flush trim bit on his router to just smooth
4:39
out the curve as much as he could and then just lightly sanded it down
4:44
Then we attached the two by six to the front two posts
4:48
We laid it out so that the two by six would stick out about eight inches past the post
4:52
on either side. But then the post itself will stick up about two and a half inches above this horizontal
4:59
two by six at the top. Once we had the board in place, we just pre-drilled some holes and then attached it to the post
5:06
with some deck screws. Then we took another two by six board and we figured out what exact angle we wanted
5:17
it to take. These are for the angled sort of support pieces on the corners of the front and back of the trellis
5:24
Here, we've laid it out on the ground so you can see how the pieces fit together
5:28
The angled support pieces will attach to the side of each post but then go behind the two
5:34
by six board at the top. We used pocket screws to attach these angled pieces into the posts and then we screwed
5:45
them into the back of the two by six at the top
5:59
After that, we followed the same procedure to assemble the back part of the trellis
6:03
Once everything was assembled, I then painted the bottom foot or so of each of the posts
6:08
with this black asphalt paint. This was really to protect the wood because pressure treated wood isn't really meant for
6:15
ground contact. So, if I want this trellis to last, then I need to protect it somehow from water, from
6:21
bugs and ants and termites and all the things that might rot the wood
6:27
Asphalt paint was the solution. It was really, really simple to do
6:37
After that, we just wanted to double check and make sure we were happy with the overall
6:41
look, the proportion of everything and the height of the trellis. Now, the height was misleading
6:46
At first, we were a little worried that maybe we'd made it too tall but then we remembered
6:50
oh yeah, we're going to sink it a foot into the ground. So, if you imagine the trellis being about a foot shorter, I think it's going to be just
6:58
the right height for our garden. The next day, we started to figure out the layout and the placement of the arbor in the garden
7:04
So, we decided to set the front and back panels of the trellis in place first and then measure
7:12
and attach them with those horizontal support pieces. Once we had an idea of how we wanted it to sit and we measured everything exactly, we
7:20
could go ahead and start digging those holes. So as usual with these things, right when we start, we hit a couple snags in the way
7:33
of roots that we're having to dig around but especially the pipes that go to our sprinkler system
7:39
So, we may have to adjust the location of where we're digging these holes to set the
7:43
posts just a little bit though. It shouldn't make too big a difference but this is why we take our time
7:48
This is why we allow plenty of time and we don't stress out about a particular timeline
7:53
because these things always come up and we want to do it right
8:03
We used some stakes and string to double check that everything was aligned the way it needed
8:08
to be, that everything was level and then we placed one of the panels in the ground
8:13
so that we could just check the general look and height and make sure we were happy with
8:17
how everything was looking. And then once we were sure we were happy, we went ahead and put some dry cement in the
8:27
holes with the posts and then added some water on top and left it to set overnight
8:33
See how it gets all gooey? It's going to kind of soak in
8:41
Then we did the exact same procedure with the front part of the trellis and we kept
8:45
double checking the height of the base of the post holes to our level string to make
8:50
sure that everything was still aligned and that everything was going to be level
8:54
Once those were set into place and we backfilled all the holes to make sure everything was
8:59
really set, then we double checked the measurements between the posts, cut the 2x4s to size, pre-drilled
9:06
some pocket screws and attached our horizontal supports. We put one in the middle of the top of the trellis between the front and back panels
9:16
and then we put two along each side. Now for the wire mesh
9:21
What we decided to use is what's called often re-mesh and this is the stuff that's, it's
9:27
this very sturdy wire mesh that's put inside concrete to stabilize it
9:32
And it's really easy to find, we just got ours at a hardware store
9:37
It was however rusty when we bought it so I took the time to clean off the rust and
9:42
I decided to paint it to prevent it from rusting again. This re-mesh comes in 3 1⁄2 foot wide pieces and we wanted it to be 3 feet so Greg just
9:54
cut off one of the rows of squares on the end of the mesh and just made sure it was
9:58
nice and smooth so it would be easy to attach. The last step in our assembly was attaching the re-mesh panels to the trellis and to do
10:10
this we just hammered in some wire staples around the mesh to keep it in place and this
10:16
worked perfectly. It worked so well so we're really, really happy with how it turned out
10:23
It's early the next morning and so now I'm going to get started on painting the Great Barber
10:27
We're just about done, we just have one more of the panels to put on but I'm really excited
10:32
to see how this turns out. I think it's going to look beautiful, it's going to match the fence, and it's just going
10:36
to look more finished and polished
10:55
So here it is, the arbor is completely assembled, in place, and finished
11:00
So now I finally get to plant my grapevine. So here's the finished arbor, it's big, but I'm really happy with how it turned out
11:39
I think it's just the right size for my little garden bed and, you know, as you can see it
11:44
seems like there's room maybe for another plant on this side. Maybe I'll do another grapevine, I might just propagate this guy if he's doing well, or
11:53
maybe I'll do a flowering plant. But on the other hand, I know that Razzmatazz is supposed to be a really vigorous grower
11:59
so it just might fill up my entire arbor by itself. We're just going to have to see about that
12:05
But I'm going to do more videos on exactly how to care for the grapevine, how to prune
12:09
it, and everything you need to know about growing your own grapevine
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But in the meantime I hope you enjoyed this video, I hope it inspires you to do a garden
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project like this, even if it's one that you weren't planning. So thanks so much and I'll see you in the next video
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