Gardener | Master Gardener: Growing An Edible Arbor
Arbors make wonderful design elements in any landscape. You can use an arbor, archway, pergola, trellis or similar structure to define outdoor rooms, delineate pathways, dress up bare walls, or as a “focusing lens” to highlight a particular garden feature or artistic element.
Custom arbors made from metal or top-of-the-line redwood can cost several thousand dollars. However, there are many options that can be made from rebar, wire, PVC pipe or even from tree branches and twigs cut from your own garden that cost little to nothing at all.
And instead of growing a traditional evergreen or deciduous vine (jasmine, ivy or wisteria), why not enjoy the “fruits” of your labor by growing a fabulous variety of edible options? You’ll want to decide what you want to grow before you build your structure because the weight of the actual plant and produce can vary greatly as well as the width and height requirements — so plan accordingly.
If you want to plant something that will produce consistently for many years there are dozens of edible options to choose from: grapes, kiwi, passionfruit, blackberries, raspberries and hops.
If you want to grow a variety of seasonal edibles, options include beans, peas, melons, Malabar spinach, cucumber, squash, chayote and nasturtiums. You might, for instance, plant peas in January or February, beans or melons in May and Malabar spinach in September or October. (See box for choices available now. By the way,
There are hundreds of design ideas and photos available on the Internet. Many of these “do-it-yourself” projects can be constructed easily in just a few hours or over a weekend. If you are going to build a traditional structure out of wood, be sure not to use pressure-treated wood when growing edibles because of the chemicals used in that treatment process. Also, to ensure that your handiwork will survive the test of time, use metal posts to anchor the structure into the ground; wood posts will rot when exposed to soil and moisture.
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