- Welcome back to Jacques in the Garden.
Today we are going to be doing a build,
and that is actually a squash tunnel.
So right over here, I used to have my old fence post
that I made from cut down branches from trees.
But inevitably, being a natural product, they all rotted out
and they actually got termites and snapped.
So, without further ado, let's take a look at the old fence
before we build this new one right here.
As I mentioned previously,
this is where the existing trellis used to be.
And so that came up to about this high or so,
and I had sweet peas growing on it all through spring.
It looked great, but the wood just didn't last.
It is, well, I didn't even have to break it.
It was already just kind of floating in place there.
It's entirely bent in and out.
It's probably full of termites.
It's essentially useless.
Like, let's see.
Yeah, okay.
I didn't know if that would work.
So, luckily it did.
The second one over here.
Ugh.
Pretty easy to remove as well.
So we're gonna just get this out of the way for now.
I've got a few tools.
My favorite tool as of late is this power planter.
This old post is exactly where the new post is going to be,
because it's also going to be the tie off for my gate.
So my gate needs to function right here.
Instead of using a trellis netting
to build the actual trellis on that frame,
I'm actually going to be using a welded wire fencing.
So the welded wire that I have is 48 inches wide.
So that means that this trellis
cannot be wider than 48 inches
without it looking really funny.
All right, so we should be good there.
Now I'm gonna dig out this old post,
and we'll get these new ones in the ground.
The way I actually build my garden fences now,
and gates in particular, is without any sort of mechanism.
So it's just hardware cloth attached to two poles
that I swing out and in.
There's no hinge or anything.
So in order to really make that work nicely
what I like to do is bury a PVC pipe in the ground
so that my free fence post,
like the one that actually swings out for the gate,
has somewhere permanent to sit
and not actually be able to move around.
So for this build, we are going to be using a tree stake.
These are things that you could buy
at a big-box store for about $5, $4 each.
They're great because they are slightly treated
on the outside and they last a little bit longer.
They're not gonna be the sturdiest thing in the world,
because they're probably only about
an inch and a half in diameter.
But for most garden projects, they are plenty strong.
Since these tree stakes are eight feet in length,
I actually want to bury them a foot and a half.
So I want this ultimate height to be six-and-a-half feet.
That way most people will be able to walk underneath it
without hitting their head, at least on the trellis itself.
But they'll probably hit their head on the squash
that's gonna be dangling from it in a month or two.
So, with that being said,
let's go ahead and use the power planter
and dig out a foot-and-a-half deep hole.
So now we're just about at a foot-and-a-half deep.
So the way you actually wanna seat your post
is by backfilling it, of course.
But the other thing you wanna make sure you do
is you get a stick or something else in the garden.
You could use whatever you have on hand,
and as you're filling it you want to make sure
that you're compacting all that soil.
So in this case, I have this little bit of bamboo,
and as I backfill this, I'm going to be tamping that soil,
and that's going to create a very firm collar
all around this and it's not gonna move for years.
At this point I only backfilled it about halfway.
What I'm going to do is dig out the other holes
and then I'm going to get a level, check every post,
and do the final set when I'm ready
to actually build the upper structure.
So the next step,
when it comes to building a structure like this
is making sure that it is actually plum and level.
So in this case you wanna check two sides.
So here I'm checking it for this direction,
and it is on point,
and on this side I'm checking it for this direction.
That's solid.
So exactly where it is right now is straight up and true.
And that's where I wanna actually seat it.
So let's do a little backfill.
All right.
So now you could see if I move this around
the pole itself is pretty jiggly just cause of the material,
but it's not moving in the hole really whatsoever.
And as the season goes on and this soil starts to get wet
it's gonna basically turn into a cement block.
Before we actually get to actually securing that trellis.
First, I need to cut this two by two right in half
cause again, we're doing a four foot width
across the two tree stakes.
So, if I cut this one in half
I should have enough for both sides.
I'm gonna actually use two by threes
as the rail is going lengthwise.
Since the tree stakes already have
a lot of cracks in them naturally,
I'm going to go ahead and do a pre-drill
and dig a little pile hole on each post.
And then I'm gonna just sink a two and a half inch screw
on either side and we'll go from there.
So the reason why we did this is
that now we have a rigid frame of reference
and now I know that I could go square from here straight out
and find my lines for where the last two posts need to go.
So now I'll probably just play around a little bit
with some sight lines
and figure out where to put those last posts.
So assuming that this is the final position, which it is,
I could actually use trigonometry to find that last one.
Since we're doing trigonometry
I brought Taff right here to help me out.
But here's the basic principle.
I have a tape measure from the very end of it
to the end of the tape between those two poles.
So that's a distance I want to match on this side
to make sure that it's pretty square.
Now, on the diagonal, I also have the same setup.
So this tape measure's bottomed out from there to there.
So now what I'm going to do is take this one,
put it on that post so it forms a diagonal this way.
And then likewise move that one over here,
so I could get my straight distance.
That's the basic sort of trigonometry setup.
Now, if I put a post right over there
where Cosmo is sniffing,
that should end up being pretty square.
So that looks pretty good.
What I'm going to do now is bust out the bricks in this area
and dig out a hole and test fit that final pole.
The good news is that in terms of distance,
like from that point to this point,
pretty much spot on, which I'm pretty pleased with.
The bad news is it's a little bit tall.
So I have to get back in there with the power planter,
pull out another inch or two of soil,
and then we should be good
to actually finish the structure up.
Last thing I'll mention before I actually screw this in
is that I've squared these posts or the, sorry,
these boards, the two by two on top, on this end.
So on this side, it is square.
On this side it is also square.
So now I'm gonna go around and scroll this in
and we'll move on to the trellis.
Before we move on to the next step
I wanted to do a quick walkthrough
as sort of a POV of what it looks like.
So there are the four posts.
They're all pretty square.
The idea up here is that there are the two by twos
running across this way, this way.
And then once you get to this part,
this is actually a two by three.
So I wanted it to be a little bit wider
so I had more space to attach my trellis,
which is, you'll see it will be a welded wire fence.
So as we come through I've also decided
to throw a regular two by two down the middle
to reduce any amount of sagging.
Because again, we're gonna be walking through this.
So from the floor to right here
is about six-and-a-half feet.
And so that's kind of what it looks like
at this current moment.
It's looking pretty good, I have to say.
It's, you know, this isn't going to be
the most beautiful, wonderful trellis
that you could ever purchase, cause this is a DIY,
but, you know, it's really not bad, especially considering
that the four posts cost me about 20 bucks.
The lumber itself cost me, I don't know, maybe 20, $30 max.
So right now we're looking at $50 all in
to build this actual trellis.
So, without further ado, let's go ahead
and screw in these last members and actually get this going.
Rather than bringing in a whole spool of welded wire fence
up here and try to wrestle with it
I'm going to do a rough measurement of this distance
and then the vertical drop
so that I could cut the welded wire
with maybe an extra six inches or even a foot.
And from there, I'll bring that shorter piece up
and trim out the final bits.
So I've got the Felco CP here, the universal cutter,
and I'm going to come in and cut this out.
These are really nice
because they could cut just about anything
I've come across in the garden.
And they are in the snip form,
which is a little bit more ergonomic than say tin snips.
For anyone who wants the exact specs
of what this fence material actually is.
It is 14 gauge two by four square openings
on each one of these cells.
And the height of it is 48 inches.
I purchase this as a 50 foot roll
because it's cheaper that way,
but that's all there is to say about it.
It's welded wire fence.
Let's go ahead and throw it on the trellis.
In order to do the initial setup
I'm going to be using clamps.
From there I can actually screw in and sort of figure out
that final decision making
about where to screw it in exactly.
I'm actually quite pleased with how this turned out.
These two by threes are doing work right now
by grabbing and holding onto my welded wire.
I'm not too worried if it's perfectly flat,
because as the season progresses
and these plants weigh down on it,
it should kind of level itself out.
So I'm not gonna worry about it too much.
I'm going to take the fact that it's going to look
maybe like not the prettiest thing in the world
for these first couple of weeks.
But once it gets filled in with plants
it's going to look incredible.
So, without further ado
let's definitely go finish up that attachment.
Let's talk a little bit about how
to actually secure this welded wire fence to these posts.
This is going to be my preferred method.
There are many different ways you could do this.
You could use staples if you want.
You could use screws with washers.
These do cost a little bit more than regular screws,
but they just make life so easy.
And let me show you why.
These are called cabinet screws
and they have a built-in sort of flathead washer.
So if you see that, let's see,
you could see that it has
a pretty good washer built in around it.
So when I screw this in
I'm going to put it on a corner just like that.
And what it's gonna do is
it's going to pull this tension this way and down,
and secure it exactly where I want it.
So you can see right there, it's pinched onto the metal.
This is not going anywhere.
Extremely secure, very quick, very easy.
And it's actually pulled in quite a bit of tension.
The other nice thing about this is
that I'll probably only need
maybe three or four on each leg.
Quite pleased with this.
Now we just gotta screw it in a little bit up top.
Since those two by threes
are actually holding it in tension,
that's doing a lot of the work.
But I'm not going to just let that be
the only thing holding it together.
I'm gonna do one, two, three on each one of these poles.
Here is the final result.
It's actually looking pretty good.
I'm quite pleased with it.
I've also repaired the fence.
I put the PVC pipe back in.
But let's take a look from this side.
So there we are.
You could see I put a screw on the outside
to stop it from sliding in,
but otherwise all of the other screws are on the inside,
like so, and that's what's keeping it taught and in place.
So on this side, we'll have some plants.
I'm gonna put a cucuzza squash right there.
That'll come up over
and a bunch of dangling fruits will be right there.
So from above, pretty nice.
It came together a lot more tight looking than I expected,
to be honest,
which I was actually expecting it to look good.
But, yeah, I'm very pleased with this.
So let's go ahead and plant some squash.
Right here, I have the first contender.
This is the cucuzza squash.
Technically it's a gourd, definitely smells like a gourd.
If you haven't smelled a gourd before,
maybe don't do yourself a favor and smell it.
I will say I'm questioning my choice a little bit,
because it smells a little bit like urine,
and this will be a main piece of the garden,
a centerpiece, if you will, that everyone will walk through.
It's just going to be a shared experience for us all.
I really just want to grow it here
because basically these produce
these four to six foot long gourds
that are absolutely delicious,
especially when you cook 'em down with tomato sauce.
But what I have here is the Worm Gold Plus.
This is my absolute favorite amendment right now.
I'm gonna go in with quite a hearty scoop.
Some on top, mostly on the inside though.
And I'm also going to take a scoop of this Espoma Bio-tone,
not a very large scoop though, just enough to make sure
that basically this has some fertility present.
I'm going to mix that in,
because I don't want the squash roots directly on that.
And now we should be good to plant.
And what I'm going to do is actually force
a couple of the leaves through the fence
and that's going to be what serves as an anchor
to get this started.
Instead of using something like twine or plastic tie,
you could just use the plant to do the work for you.
So this really wants to curve in towards me.
So for now, I'm also going to go ahead
and tuck it into the other side
and twirl it around the front.
Now it looks like it's basically been attached
to this thing for the whole time.
The final step of course is to mulch it.
I'm gonna take our favorite mulch,
which is the garden straw.
And actually, a lot of people have asked
where to buy this mulch.
And we sell it directly on the Epic Gardening Store.
and we actually now carry the big bag.
It's a slightly better deal than the smaller ones,
but what I'm really excited for
is that we now carry an organic line.
And so that organic line should be much more guaranteed
to be free of any of those persistent herbicides.
I've never had an issue with the garden straw particular
but I know a lot of people worry about that.
So I just wanna let you know, we do have organic straw now.
That's all there is to it.
In a few months, actually, probably just a month,
this thing will top out and hang over
and we should have some dangling squash
for everyone to walk through.
Should be a lot of fun.
I might throw either some beans, or beans and a melon,
but this thing's gonna get loaded up.
I'm also going to let that orange clock vine
on the other side totally take over and cover it in flowers.
But that's it for today, guys.
Thanks for watching. And I'll see you next time.
(light music)