DIY Garden Obelisk
As a homemade decoration for your garden, you can make an obelisk from all-natural materials found in your own neighborhood and garden. For example, you can create one or several teepees that beans and flowering vines can climb up and around, adding some visual height to a vegetable plot or a few wildflower beds. If you have them, enlist the aid of your kids as this obelisk is simple enough for any butterfingers with a green thumb to make. Does this Spark an idea?
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Things You'll Need
- 1 ½- to 2 ½ -inch diameter branches from 4 to 7 feet long
- Saw
- Grapevine
- Stepladder (optional)
- Copper wire or strong hemp twine
- Wire cutters
- Vining plants
Instructions
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1
Collect tree branches from your own landscaping or local tree-trimming occasions. The branches should be 1 ½ to 2 ½ inches in diameter and 4 to 7 feet long. Because you need the branches to all be one length, you might have to cut some with a saw to match the rest. Collect enough branches that you have 3 to 6 poles for each obelisk you will make.
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2
Braid strips of grapevine together loosely to make long garlands; these will be wrapped around the obelisks at several points.
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3
Sink the poles into the ground, spacing them evenly apart and arranging them so that they lean in toward each other. Sink the poles at least 1 foot or 1 1/2 feet into the ground to ensure their stability. Once vines are growing on the obelisk, it will serve as a windbreak; you don't want it to blow over.
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4
Wrap the tops of the poles together with copper wire or strong hemp twine. Use a stepladder, if needed, to reach the top. Twine the wire or hemp around the pole tops to snug them tightly together.
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5
Make a circlet of braided grapevine to cover the wire or hemp that holds the poles together at the top. Weave the grapevine in and around the wire or hemp and attach it more securely with wire ties, if needed. Do so by threading short lengths of wire through strands of the wire or hemp and twisting the short wires around the grapevine circlet, like twist ties, to hold the braided vine in place.
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6
Drape grapevine braid garlands around the poles at two or three varying heights. These garlands provide purchase for the vines that will grow up the poles, look pretty and help to stabilize the obelisk.
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7
Use grapevine strands to tie the braids to the poles. Poke a single strand of grapevine into the braid and weave it in and out a few times. Catch the pole in the strand and continue to the other side of the pole, weaving the grapevine strand in and out of the braid there. You may want to use a piece of wire to hold the braid to the pole as well but the grapevine strand and gravity should keep it in place.
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8
Plant quick-growing, climbing vines, such as pole beans, honeysuckle or morning glory vines, at the base of each pole and a patch of shade-loving mint or chives in the center of the obelisk. Once the vines have covered the structure, the obelisk will look like it just grew from the garden.
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Tips & Warnings
To make inserting the poles into the ground easier, water the ground the night before so it is softer and cut each pole about 45 degrees at its bottom to give it a sharp end.
Choose an aggressive vine so you don't have to wait too long to see what your garden creation looks like when it's really finished.
References
- Photo Credit Jupiterimages/Photos.com/Getty Images
