Easy DIY Grape Arbor

About 4 years ago, I received grape vines from my parents, and ever since, I have been begging my husband to erect a grape arbor! 4 years! Men! Anyways… we finally got it finished!!!!! Lo and behold, it didn’t take that much time, effort, or money. But we did have a secret weapon to make the job even easier. Here’s how we put together an easy DIY grape arbor.

I am 100% all for saving money! So I knew I wanted this project to be on the cheap, but last a long time. Brian suggested using drill casing from when he worked on the gas pipeline. It’s just basically long pieces of strong steel pipe. We cut 4 of those pieces into 10-foot-long posts. We also had (2) 10-foot-long 4″x4″ wooden posts.

Brian and I took the time to prepare how many posts we needed and where they’d go. We also decided we wanted the arbor more like a vineyard, with rows, rather than vines hanging overhead.

Setting Posts

Using the excavator (our secret weapon) with extreme care and caution, I steadied the first post in position while he slowly pushed it into the earth. I used a level on both sides of the post to make sure it was level, then I ran to a safe distance while Brian slowly pushed the post 4 feet into the ground, leaving 6 feet above ground.

We repeated this process with all 6 posts: 3 on one side, 3 on the other… metal pipes on the ends, wooden posts in the middle.

Setting Our Rows

Because my grape vines are still quite small, we decided to start our first row fairly low, only 18 inches off the ground.

Brian drilled a 1″ hole through the 2 wooden posts at 18″ high. Then, using long pieces of leftover high tinsel fencing from when my parents-in-law had cattle, we stretch fence from one steel post to the other, making sure to thread the fence through the wooden post.

Using small aluminum fencing sleeves and crimpers (found at your local farm store), we secured one of the fence around the steel post. Then, at the other end, we did the same process, and also attached a fence ratchet, so we could tighten the fence.

We repeated this process 5 more times! So we ended up with 3 rows of fencing on each side of the arbor. The rows are at the following heights: 18″, 32″, and 56″. We kept the rows low enough for use to reach! Believe me when I say we are all pretty short people! (:

Now, as the vines grow, we will strategically weave them from row to row.

It will be quite a few years before we’re able to harvest, but this time and effort was worth it!

In total, we spent $5.99 (for the aluminum wire sleeves) plus diesel for the excavator! Everything else, we already had! Now that’s a bargain!