WARNING: This project contains no cardboard! (a.k.a Can we make "Sidecycle" a word?)

This weekend, we finally had some nice weather so I was more than happy to abandon my indoor projects and tackle a few outdoor ones.  It's been such a cold, windy, grey winter and I am so ready for some Spring! 

So here's what I managed to accomplish:

I started with just general weeding in preparation for this year's vegetable garden.  I haven't bothered with much gardening since I had my daughter (mainly because of exhaustion...) and since last year was the first full growing season that we had this house, I decided to just let the yard grow as it wanted so I could see what kind of plants popped up where. 

Nothing terribly impressive came up.

I have this little area behind my deck in the backyard that I thought may be perfect for growing a few edibles. 

This is me playing with the panoramic feature in my camera....

After removing a mound of weeds (and the mostly dead clematis vines at the fence), I went to pester my husband into looking through what kind of wood we had on hand that would work to define a vegetable bed.

I dug out a trench, he sawed them into the right length, we put 'em in, spiked them and packed in the dirt around for stability.  It's nothing fancy, but it serves its purpose!  

This project is what I like to call a "Sidecycle".  It's pretty much when I take an object (typically a piece of furniture), turn it on its side, and make it become something new. Can you guess what my new garden trellis is made from?

As I was diligently supervising the search for the wood to make the vegetable bed, I had noticed a bed of another type....the bed frame from a futon leaning against the wall in my garage.  Now, this bed had been through many moves and a whole lot of abuse over the years so it was never going to be put back up as a bed again. In fact, when we last took it apart the other month, one of the side pieces was broken pretty badly.  The frame was just one of those things I hung onto thinking I could use it for something else.  That "something else" was going to be my new garden trellis.

Before

My husband and daughter were tilling the garden box as I lugged the two pieces into the backyard from the garage and announced my intentions.  

A few minutes later, I got the go ahead...or rather hands were tossed up in the air and he said "I don't care what you do!"....Anywho....

I started by removing the end pieces so they were a little more ladder-like.  

Next they got painted black (mainly because that was the color I had on hand).

We dug a bit of a trench to bury the bottom legs and provide more stability, then used screws to attach it to the fence post. 

I added a few more screws to the top and bottom and used garden twine just to add a bit more for plants to grab onto.

And there it is! My new garden trellis made from an old futon frame. Simple, effective (hopefully anyways...), and free!

Happy Crafting!