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Comment by John Malone on November 22, 2013 at 5:41pm

Here's what it looks like 5 months later

Comment by Kim Romen on November 22, 2013 at 10:51am

Thx for the thoughts and explanations!  After I had remembered I have free ranging chickens and I've been glad to have my beds off the ground for that reason.  If I did something like your system, I could easily put some chicken wire around it, though.  would be harder to access the plants, though.  hmmm, some thinking to do!  Great idea from the wife!  I wish we would've known we would've been moving the system we bought into the yard until 5am.  (It was a much bigger job than we thought).  I would've done the same thing.  dead silent other than us hauling rock and water...  :) 

Comment by John Malone on November 22, 2013 at 10:32am

@Kim

Thanks for the compliments.  I'm very happy with the way the pergola worked out. Here's a few thoughts on your comments.

1) I live in a HOA community.  Unlike where I've lived in previously, this one doesn't seem too militant.  Having said that, I designed the pergola with the HOA in mind.  Technically the construction should be below the fence line.  i.e. not visible from the neighbor's yard.  I'm not too sure what the regulations are on plant trellis' and the like and I might be able to escape on that front, but I don't know.  Also, the whole pergola can be taken off with 12 screws in 10 minutes, if I have to.

2) Neighbors : The folks on that side of the wall are just delightful and we get on well.  I'd be very surprised if they were upset by some plants growing up past the top of the fence.  Secondly, the roof that you can see in the top-right corner of the picture is a shed in the neighbor's yard.   I deliberately built the whole AP system aligned with the shed so that it wouldn't be a bother to the neighbors since it's not really in their view.  It also hides their shed from my side, so it's a win-win.   The AP system is a long way from the other neighbors.  BTW, keeping the neighbors happy isn't that hard.   We had a 4 year old birthday party last year and my wife delivered a plate of homemade chocolate chip cookies to each of our neighbors beforehand to 'apologize in advance' for all the noise that we were going to make.   Over the top?  Maybe, but out neighbors like us, and one even sent us a thank-you card.

3) Height.  It's about perfect for me.   I'm 6 foot, so a 7' foot pergola is at a decent reach for tying strings.   I must have put over 50 strings up to that pergola.  It is a bit of a stretch, but it can be done.  The original purpose of the pergola was so that I could grow climbing plants and also a structure for shade.   I have found in AP that my biggest complaint is not enough growing space.   This is my answer: go up, not out. Make better use of the space.   I'm trying double layer growing.  e.g. Lettuce under tomatoes on string.   Herbs under pole beans.  It's a work in progress.

4) I don't know about frost yet.  This is the first year. As you can see in the photo, I put shade cloth on during the summer. It made a huge difference.  On frost nights I'll toss a sheet over it and see if it helps.

5) Vines.   The whole pergola vertical space is 100% filled in with pole beans, indeterminate tomatoes and various summer squash.   It's a veritable jungle. The tomatoes and beans are about a foot out the top of the pergola.  It's a bit too dense to be honest as I have some difficulty getting to the plants in the middle, but that's not a design problem.  I just need to be a bit smarter about what I plant where. So far, I'm a big fan of vertical growing.

I'm a huge proponent of good design, rather than just throwing something together. Some serious thought up front makes for a greater chance of success down the road.  One of our family sayings is "Set yourself up for success".   That doesn't mean everything succeeds, it doesn't, but we try to nudge the odds a little.

Comment by Kim Romen on November 22, 2013 at 9:54am

John, really nice looking system!  AP isn't always the prettiest thing.  :)  I was considering making more pergolas.  I have a grape arbor that's about 8 ft tall and is great over my raised tote system and has grapes that go up 2 poles.  I'm debating building tall ones or letting them be shorter for a couple reasons: 1-although pretty, u never know when a neighbor is going to complain-I'll have to look up the city restrictions on building things in other's view-we are not in an HOA and it would not be visible to the street, just the backyard neighbor, so that might be ok, plus, would block our view of her home a bit more.

2. the lower the top is to the plants, the easier it would be to protect the plants from frost... (I think?).

3.  the taller the pergola, the higher u'd have to tie a string if u want to tie up plants.  

On the other hand, yours adds privacy, looks wonderful, and are u planning on growing any vines up the poles?  If u were to do it again would u make it shorter or just as is?  

really nice!  I compliment your work.