For the vertical garden I am using CCA treated logs as the main supports as they have served us well in the past with the ones I put in 6 years ago not showing any sign of rot. They will be all joined together with three cross beams, which will support the trellis. We will then put in some raised, narrow, no-dig garden beds at the base of the trellis and plant passionfruit and kiwi fruit, and maybe there will be some space left for some runner beans in the summer. Here is a picture of Megan digging one of the seven holes that were required for the support posts.
Note the string line so that all the holes and therefore the posts are in a straight line! And here is Amy taking a break, and she looks so impressed. They took turns digging half a hole each with my trusty auger. They were a great help, honestly, and I thank them very much!
Adam then set the posts in place with quick set concrete, whilst I made sure they were level. Here is the what we have completed so far. Here is the four poles against the fence line. Note; the fence is on a lean, not the posts!
And here are the last three posts against the shed. We managed to get all the required posts in the ground for the vertical vege-patch garden. You can see the existing pea beds to the right.
Here is where Adam took up some of the paving stones and weed matting. This is so we can then build the structure. The hole is for the nesting box that we are building. It should be big enough for them to roost in during bad weather. There will be another post where Kim’s shadow is, for the fourth corner, and there will be a door facing the plum tree.
We have designed the nesting box so that it will have a hinged lid to get to the eggs and so that we will be able to clean it. The main cage will also have a door and the floor will be covered with sugar cane mulch, and when it gets mucky we can rake it up and put it straight into one of the compost bins to add to the vegetable patch later on. Here are a few photos of Adam and I attempting to construct the nesting box. It is 85 x 90 x 85 cm so that it will fit in the hole in the structure.
We managed to get one side on by the end of the day, and we are making the walls of the box by overlapping some fence pailings that were given to us by a friend. It is just like aluminium cladding but with wood. It will have a corrugated iron roof that will be hinged as mentioned before. We plan to do some more work on it tomorrow night, and should have most of it finished off and fitted into the main structure by next Sunday. I also plan to get the chicken wire and the rest of the cross supports on the weekend, so we should have all the materials to finish off both jobs.
The total cost to date is $240 for both projects, but only about $60 for the chicken coop. My estimates are that it will probably cost another $170 to finish everything off, but that will not include the timber for the raised no-dig beds that will be going under the posts and trellis. I will have to find some cheap red gum sleepers from somewhere.
So far so good, and with another few days of hard labour from the kids and careful supervision by Butch and myself, we should be able to fill the cage with about 3 to 4 bantams or Isa Browns that we should be able to find locally. A big thanks goes out to Adam, Amy and Megan for helping out with the physical labour. I treasure your muscle-bound, young, hard-working bodies!
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