The ‘wirgola’

We needed a quick, very cheap way to shade the Western side of the house. The afternoon summer sun gets so very hot here.

We have a thermometer under the small front verandah, this is in the shade at all times, though it’s post gets the sun. 

It’s been as hot as 47 C  some days, according to this thermometer.

We were more than a little broke and needed to use what we had around or that could be scavenged or bought for just a few dollars…Hmmmm…

I had 3 recycled pergola posts from a friend,  one stirrup and a bag of cement and 9 metres of cable. Not quite enough to do anything with. We couldn’t afford to get council approval either .

We had an idea…Maybe we could get by using vines for the shading and cooling the air…a plan was taking shape…

Why not use the pergola posts to support wires that would, in turn, support the vines? A plan indeed! We jokingly decided to call it our ‘wirgola’ from the worse ‘wire’ and ‘pergola’.

Luckily one of the local hardware stores had a sale so I got enough cement and the other two stirrups.

Dad gave me the bolts that I needed and another friend helped me out to buy another 30 metres of cable. Hooray!

It’s about 3/4 complete and is starting to take shape. The vines are growing quickly and, next year, will shade the whole front of the house.
I went overboard and planted the following vines – Choko, Grape, Hops and a Yellow Passionfruit.

Next Summer will bring us food, shade, cooling and beauty. What more could we ask for?