Directions for Building a Grape Arbor

Choose a flat area about 18 feet long and 5 feet wide in which to build your grape arbor. Be sure the entire site receives at least six hours of sunlight a day.

Place a row of garden rocks along a border that runs the length of an 18 foot row. Mark a corresponding 18 foot row of rocks five feet across from the first row. This frames the outline of your grape arbor.

Dig holes for four corner posts at the four corners of your outline. Holes should be at least 2 feet deep to avoid heaving in winter frosts.

Use a bucket and garden hose to mix up a batch of quick-setting concrete. Follow the instructions on the concrete powder bag. Pour the contents into the holes that hold the corner posts.

Fill the corner post holes in with dirt. Tamp down until firm. Add a two inch layer of pea gravel atop the soil around each corner post.

Install support posts at the half-way points, or about nine feet, between the corner posts on both sides of the arbor. Dig holes at least two feet deep. These will support the trunks of your grapevines as they grow. Remove the garden rocks.

Screw two sets of eye-hooks into each of the corner posts and into the support posts. Place one set of eye-hooks two feet up from the ground and a second set five feet up from the ground.

Stretch taut lines of 10-gauge wire lengthwise from one corner post to the other. Secure the wire in the eye-hooks with wire ties.

Nail lintel boards across the tops of the end posts to form gateways at both ends of your arbor. Nail a board across the top of your center trunk support post. Let about a foot of board hang over each side of the post.

Plant your grapevines in front of the center support posts. Train the canes to run along the wires. As they grow, canes can also be trained to climb along the lintel boards and across the arbor top, forming a fruit-bearing canopy.