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How do you stop a wooden arbour from sinking into grass?

WAMSWAMS Posts: 1,960
in Problem solving
I am contemplating a wooden arbour of the type that is a garden bench with trellis going up and over it in an arch. I'd place it on the ground and grow roses up either side. 


I would treat and paint it to help it last longer, but how do you stop the whole lot from sinking into the ground and rotting the legs? 

(I do have a concrete 6x6 area that was an old shed floor I could use but then the roses would have to be in pots and it wouldn't look so pretty.)

Posts

  • Pete.8Pete.8 Posts: 11,340
    Something like a bit of paving slab under each post would stop it sinking.
    Unless your ground is soft I doubt it would sink, but keeping the post bases off the ground is a good idea.

    Billericay - Essex

    Knowledge is knowing that a tomato is a fruit.
    Wisdom is not putting it in a fruit salad.
  • KT53KT53 Posts: 9,016
    They are pretty heavy so I disagree with Pete.8 about it being unlikely to sink.  We have the same arbour and had concrete pads laid under each end, and the arbour bolted down to those.  Once you have plant growth on the arbour it will really catch the wind and, given the winter storms in the past few years, will probably be taken down if free standing.
  • B3B3 Posts: 27,505
    Ours is bedded into concrete. The same way you'd do fence posts. I would also be concerned about it blowing over in the wind if it wasn't stuck in the ground 
    In London. Keen but lazy.
  • NollieNollie Posts: 7,529
    If your ground is soft, fence post spikes might work, like this spare one I happen to have lying around.. you might need ones with a shorter sleeve bit for it, or a sturdy hacksaw..

    Mountainous Northern Catalunya, Spain. Hot summers, cold winters.
  • WAMSWAMS Posts: 1,960
    Many thanks. Yes, we are slightly uphill here and the wind knocked over another arch this year, and has blown down the fence three winters running, so riveted to concrete or those fence post spikes seem a good way to go.

    KT53, would you recommend this one (the B and Q one)? Did it still look OK a year on?

    I will probably install it this winter, all going well...
  • KT53KT53 Posts: 9,016
    @WhereAreMySecateurs I bought mine a few years ago so obviously can't speak for current quality.  Ours is still OK, probably 4 or 5 years old.
  • WAMSWAMS Posts: 1,960
    Thank you.
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