Pagoda Building - Day One

The next stage of raising the beds in the garden was to do the area outside the barn.  There is going to be a step from the 'garden' up to the path outside the barn.  That plan was to have some kind of arch over this step.  When I spoke to Tash about how she wanted it done (with a flat topped or pointy topped arch) we decided to turn the arch into a small pagoda which will give us something to run the vine up and over the entire length of the barn.  With us needing a new gate, and me planning space to keep gardening tools as well as addition wood storage this proved to be a solution that should meet all needs.

So last weekend I set aside as a 'bus weekend' and decided to spend the Saturday working in the garden.  I am clearing the loft of the barn out at the moment and there is LOADS of 2"x2" wood I need to get rid of.  Now its slightly smaller wood than I'd ideally use, but as its free it fits in with our 'make use of what we have' approach to life.

Here's how it all looked at the start of the day.

I needed to run out and grab some postcrete and screws and so painted the ends of some of the wood to give them a little protection once they are in the ground.

 

My first job was to square up and remove the post that I had previously put in place outside the barn.  This didn't follow the lines that the start of the pagoda would take.

And very quickly I was shouting and swearing at cheap tools!

First upright went in place, and was secured against the barn wall.  The scaffold plank was then resecured against this.

Then the next upright went in.

And then postcreted the other upright in place, and managed to get a horizonal fixed to see how it all looked.  Thankfully it all looks pretty good, cos the wood is SUPER wonky. It makes it kinda cool, and gives it character, but its a right P.I.T.A to take measurements from!

 

And then the second section went up.

And then the third.

And thats where things were left.  I've got two sections left to erect, then join them together, make the new gate and sort the tool/log storage.

The forecast for this weekend looks somewhat suspect, but I'm preying its good enough for me to pretty much finish off the pagoda section.

And then Sunday came, and I did get a day spent on the Bus.  You can read about that here if you want.