New forum :) Bring on the D.I.Y!

[Simon]

A recent thread on Rose Talk gave me an idea! We do so much D.I.Y building to display our roses as best we can or to allow us to relax and appreciate our in our gardens... why not bring it all together and have a section to talk D.I.Y?

For those into making plans... I also wanted to recommend a free program made by Google called Google Sketch-Up. You can download it form here: http://www.sketchup.com.

I'm working on a way we can store sketchup files to share... but for now images can be stored in your servimg account as normal and shared with everyone. Maybe even start a project journal... or ask advice on the project you have in mind. We have a wide range of talented people here and I'm sure we could help one another in many ways

[Ripley]

Fantastic idea Simon. Im just starting with the DIY and have really surprised myself with what I can do with a hammer, electric drill/screwdriver and hand saw. Was having a close look at balinbears structures and thinking to myself "could I?"

[Simon]

'course you can Now all we need is the time to do it all

[Balinbear]

Yeah! Have a go. You will be surprised what you can do with some scrap timber. The rose stand on the other post were made from packing timber.

[Balinbear]

Some more DIY needed at our place. I cut down a poiciana on the weekend and managed to drop part of it onto one of our arches (it was covered by a Rev d Or) and no amount of panel beating will fix it.

The rose is ok but will need a bit of a prune as part of one of the main stems cracked. It needed a good clean up anyway.

I'll probably replace the arch (it was only some reonforcing mesh) with a timber pergola.

We also cut down one that was a lot bigger(nothing grows under them and they drop branches all the time. Also the roots are huge and spread out through the garden) but managed to drop it between two pergolas.

I actually cut down a few trees and will ive us a lot more area in the garden we can utilise.

[Simon]

Sounds like you should start are photo journal thread... I;ve always loved Poinciana... What's the wood like on those things? How big are the trunks? I wonder what it would look like milled...

Projects are starting around here atm too... I'm building a couple of screen doors for the house first but then hope to tackle some Gary's tripod designs

[Balinbear]

I knocked down two of them. One was quite large (abt 800mm dia truck at the base and the other was about 400mm. I have a backhoe coming over thsi weekend to pull the big stump out. The other one I have let rot in the ground.

They are nice trees but totally destroy the garden around them. Not a real lot will grow under them and have plenty of other trees for shade where we want it.

The timber is very soft and I would doubt that it would have much of a use for anything. I took down a small lepard tree whch in comparision was like cutting through steel.

Like everyone else we planted too many trees when we first moved in and now we are taking them out. We have hugh clump of fig trees that we could have cut down with a brush hook when we bought the place. I don't intend to cut these down but I do wish they were somewhere else. We will simply have to work around them.

[Carole]

I have only just found this D.I.Y thread
I think it is fantastic. I think I know why I wasn't told about it

[Balinbear]

I have just spent the weekend (well part of it) building the pergola to replace the arch that was wiped out when I droped the poinciana on it.

Hardest part was building the pergola under the rose. The arch was just a sheet of reinforcing mesh attached to some posts. Managed to do it without hurting the roase too much (I think).

[Balinbear]

Photo of the new stucture