Practical Gardening: Wall Attachments to Support Vines

This is the continuation of Part 1 of a three-part series.With the basic materials ready, it's time to start on the work.

Since we only need 4 inches of space on where the vines will rest, we need to cut the long metal brackets to just 4 inches. This will make them uniform in length. Use a hacksaw for this task.

After cutting to the correct length, drill a single hole near the newly cut end. This is where you'll be attaching one of the 2 wires that will be resting on the bracket. Next is determine the manner to attach these brackets onto the wall.

Originally I thought of using screws but decided it was too much work: drilling with a masonry bit; putting masonry expander sleeves or "tox" as we call them; and then securing them with appropriate screws.

So what I did is to use different nails. I noticed that a 2-inch common nail can be hammered into the concrete block masonry, so I used those. I also used several 1-inch concrete nails on brackets that I assumed would carry a heavier load (end brackets). Here's one of the cut metal brackets with a newly drilled hole at the cut end.

Here's one of the regular 4" x 5" brackets that do not require sawing. No additional drilling for hole is required for this either. This bracket is secured to the wall with three 2-inch common nails.

A challenge in fastening all these brackets up the wall is that they're all aligned horizontally. You could use a carpenters level or a clear plastic hose (for leveling water).

But I laid out my meter tape and aligned visually. The height of these brackets from the ground is 7 feet. That's high enough for us. :)

Here's the view from the other side. They're not all accurately aligned, but hey, this is gardening, not rocket science. Notice also the unsightly guy wires at the right side of the picture below. I'm hoping when the vine is bushy enough, this part won't be too unsightly.