Chris Bacon wrote in
:


The thort strikes me that you could either use four posts, and
add some trellis as decribed in another thread, for a "doorway"
effect, or have some angled bracers near the bottom Depends on
the hedge, I should thing.



The thought of having to get 4 posts into the ground rather than 2 fills
me with dread! I will think about the bracers though.

The hedge is a bit of a mix - berberis, hazel, japonica, some smaller
shrubs, bit of lavender, bit of lonicera, so I can easily shove bracing
bits in there and not be noticeable. It is by no means a formal area
and also slopes steeply in several directions at once: I could just do
with a gate between me and the lane to stop my greyhound running out,
and, even more important, stop next door's non-rabbit-friendly pointer
running in (I have 3 pet rabbits in my garden).

I don't think it would be suitable for growing most climbers as
suggested in another post because of the problem of making a
sufficiently large hole to get the roots in! The hedge, so far as I
can see, is mostly growing on a pile of its own leaf debris and has
managed to worm roots into the cracks, but I wouldn't think any annual
plant would stand a chance.

I tried planting some young hedging shrubs round there a couple of years
ago but it's just too well drained and the existing hedge ate them for
breakfast.

I do have a bean arch elsewhere in the garden already, and will soon
have a squash arch as well, now the idea has been suggested! I have
loads of hazel for uprights, and in other parts of my garden I can just
push it into the ground and weave to shape.

Some of my garden does have soil, you see! Just not the bit by the lane.

Hm, here's a thought. I could hack the hedge right back and build a
pair of stone uprights, using the stones from my Mighty Stone Heap
(assembled through several years of 'another stone! Arrch! Chuck the
bugger on the heap!).

It's not great looking stuff and the stones are mostly medium-smallish,
but if I squidged it together with sufficient mortar and made big fat
posts, I'd have thought it would hold up through sheer weight, and would
look very much like the many strange ex-mining constructions you come
across in the woods round here - also using small crap cheap local
stones.

Victoria
--
gardening on a north-facing hill
in South-East Cornwall
--

"Victoria Clare" wrote in message
.205...
Jaques d'Alltrades wrote in
k:

The message . 151
from Victoria Clare contains these words:



Will a foot / 18 inches of hole really support a 6 foot upright with a
(light) gate hanging on it? If so, I can probably manage that with a
pick.

Victoria

Suely if you make the posts a bit higher you can put a lintel across the top
which would give added strength, and you can easily brace the posts the
other way with sloping butresses, the whole thing could be made almost
freestanding (bit like a childs swing support but made in bits)

--
Charlie, gardening in Cornwall.
http://www.roselandhouse.co.uk
Holders of National Plant Collection of Clematis viticella (cvs)
gardening on a north-facing hill
in South-East Cornwall
--

The message
from Victoria Clare contains these words:

It's not great looking stuff and the stones are mostly medium-smallish,
but if I squidged it together with sufficient mortar and made big fat
posts, I'd have thought it would hold up through sheer weight, and would
look very much like the many strange ex-mining constructions you come
across in the woods round here - also using small crap cheap local
stones.

I like that idea best.

You could adapt the dry stone wall technique of building a hollow wall
and filling it with small stuff.

If most of the bits are small, you'd have to use some sort of mortar
though. Then, if you leave a few cracks, you can grow wall rocket,
wallflowers, alpine wallflowers, ivy-leaved toadflax, etc, and
succulents in the tops.

--
Rusty
Open the creaking gate to make a horrid.squeak, then lower the foobar.
http://www.users.zetnet.co.uk/hi-fi/

Jaques d'Alltrades wrote:
The message
from Victoria Clare contains these
words:

It's not great looking stuff and the stones are mostly
medium-smallish, but if I squidged it together with sufficient
mortar and made big fat posts, I'd have thought it would hold up
through sheer weight, and would look very much like the many
strange
ex-mining constructions you come across in the woods round here -
also using small crap cheap local stones.

I like that idea best.

You could adapt the dry stone wall technique of building a hollow
wall
and filling it with small stuff.

If most of the bits are small, you'd have to use some sort of
mortar
though. Then, if you leave a few cracks, you can grow wall rocket,
wallflowers, alpine wallflowers, ivy-leaved toadflax, etc, and
succulents in the tops.

But don't forget it will need a solid foundation, just as much as a
wall. Not much on that stony ground: I suppose a foot deep would be
ample. I can see it already!

--
Mike.