Wind Spinner History From The Beginning - part 1

The wind spinner goes by many names. Spinner, twirler, whirligig, twister, pinwheel etc... Its origins start with the wind mill. That's a good place to start our discussion.

No one knows who the original inventor of the windmill was. Indications have never been found that wind mills existed in classical Greece or Rome. Evidence shows the first windmills appeared in Persia around 644 BC to raise water. The trail of development to the West starts in Arabia circa 1000 AD. Then through Tibet, China, and finally England in 1150 AD.

These early devices were all of the horizontal type. In this type the blades or sails are connected to a vertical shaft. There is no way for it to change direction with the wind.

At this point development of the horizontal windmill continued but a new type of device called the post windmill appeared. This is the more traditional one that we are familiar with. Its shaft is horizontal with the ground and is geared to a vertical shaft inside the mill body. Outside on the end of the horizontal shaft is a unit with four sails mounted to it. The angle to the shaft was set to allow the wind to push the sails in one direction causing the shaft to turn. Early windmills of this type allowed the whole mill to rotate about the vertical shaft. Later versions developed that allowed only the top to rotate and with the attachment of a weathervane on the back of the shaft allowed automatic direction. The blades always remained pointed in the wind.

Later in 1756 in what was going to be the early American colonies farmers found more uses for the new fangled windmill device. They found that birds and ground animals had no use for the whirling structures and so ever smaller versions were built just for the purpose of scaring animals. As they got smaller and smaller a new word was coined to describe them - the whirlygig. The word is derived from the verb to whirl. Perhaps it was the misspelling of the word with its similarity to the torture device the whirligig (developed in 1440) that propelled it to popularity. But before you know it a whole plethora of small contraptions appeared. Including things with spinning legs, arms, twirling wheels or spinners, fans that turned fast etc... Many were shaped like hideous animal abominations. With a weathervane tail attached they seemed to be alive. This aspect scared off troublesome birds and animals.

 The Wrought Iron Vine Garden - Part 2    

     Now that you have your wrought iron enclosure prepared its time to start the vines growing. Deciduous vines will shade in the summer and go bare in the winter to come back the following season. Annual vines only last the season but will allow you to experiment from season to season. So you have to decide which kind. Once that is done you can choose the type of vine based on its climbing abilities.

     There are three climbing methods used by vines; Tendrils, Twining, and Clinging. Clinging vines work best on walls and therefore are really not suitable here. Tendril type vines use tendrils or slim, flexible, leafless stems that wrap themselves around anything. Grapes are the best known type of tendril vine. Twining vines such as Honeysuckle and Wisteria wind there stems around any available support. Tendril and twining vines will both grow well in moist and well drained soil. Plant them at regular intervals near the main support of each section of fence. They will grow rapidly and may need pruning to train them in the desired direction. See what types of vines grow best in your area. Try to stick to a color theme and carry that theme to the objects inside the garden.

    You now have a beautiful place for your garden to grow in peace and a quiet private place for you to go and enjoy it.

The Wrought Iron Vine Garden - Part 1

         We all just love the many different forms of life that invade our gardens and call them home. For the most part we have ways of dealing with most of it. But, how do you keep out small animals? Yes we can set traps. Most of the time the traps just catch fat animals! We need something that never lets them in to begin with.

     We can create something that will do the job and also provide a stunning display of living color. We will build a wrought iron fence enclosure and coax different vines to grow over each of the different enclosure surfaces. Then we can take the whole idea a step farther and grow vines on several different items within the enclosure right there in the garden.

      This project is a combination moderate construction work and vine planting. The first thing to do is determine the area you want to enclose. We will deal with a rectangle here only because it is easier to illustrate the procedure. The procedure can be applied to any shape but will become more time consuming as complexity goes up.

     After you have determined the length of your area perimeter you need to go out and get some 6ft wrought iron fencing. The closer the bars the smaller the animals it can keep out. You need at least one entrance and can use a gate mounted to an arbor for it. I recommend mounting the fence in concrete. You can get away with just the four corners and the doorway posts but the fence will do a better job if animals cannot tunnel underneath. While you are at it find different wrought iron objects for the inside of the garden. Arbors, plant stand benches, trellises to mount to the fence, hanging flower pots, and anything that is conductive to vine growth. Place these inside the garden area. No need for concrete as these are decorative. Use nylon mesh to go over the top of the entire structure.

    Layout your structure on the ground and dig holes where support posts are going to go. Consult your government development office for the correct depth. Follow the instructions on the bag to mix the concrete and pour into the hole. Set your posts in the concrete and level them. then clamp a couple of long pieces of junk wood to the posts while they set overnight. Once your posts are solid bolt the fence sections and arbor to them. You can also add stepping stones. Make them into a path up to the entrance and inside your garden area.

Next time in part 2 it will be time to plant the vines!

Arizona Dry River Water Fountain - Part 3

3. Now for construction:

A. Go out and hammer some stakes in the ground corresponding to the pattern on the paper. Stake the future river in its center so you can measure off the stakes evenly on both sides for the river width. This serves as a visual guide for accurate width and depth. You will have to layout stakes for the water feature depending on which one you are using.

B. Dig out the river using the stakes as a guide. Vary the width as you go to mimic a real river but follow your layout. The wider it is the deeper it should be. Keep that in mind if the digging is not easy.

C. After digging is complete and you are happy with the look unroll, cut, and layout the plastic along the river.

D. Carefully place the river rocks on the plastic making a fairly smooth uniform surface. A surface that looks like water has smoothed it out over the years. Put the odder shaped ones along the edge. Try to fit them together like a puzzle to minimize space in between. Integrate the rocks with any of the other materials you have found.

E. Finally set up you water feature and lead the river (s) to it.

F. Cleanup any mess, put water in the feature, and away you go.

    If you think the water will freeze in the winter then drain the pond or water fountain during that time. What you will have created is an entire scene which can be added to and changed. We put a large bridge over ours and used creative colored lighting to illuminate the river, bridge, and certain trees. It also provides an excellent backdrop to take pictures and decorate for Christmas. We call it the "Candy Cane River!"

Arizona Dry River Water Fountain - Part 2

2. Materials list: After you have laid out the project on paper it is time to determine what you will need. Here is a list of the basics.

* Enough 4-mil thickness ground cover plastic to cover the area you wish to dig out. This is available at any home center like Home Depot, Lowes, Ace hardware etc... and comes in rolls.

* Depending on how many and what kind of rocks you have on hand you will need some river rocks delivered. If you can specify a size range then middle size (8” to 12”) will work the best. They cover a decent area and are not too heavy. If you are given no choice, then work with what they give you.

* The water feature can be a store bought fountain of whatever style, type, and material you like or a pond with a submersible pump in it. The pond can be one constructed like we are going to make the river or a plastic one blended in to the scene.  

* A submersible outdoor pump if you go with the fountain.

* An outdoor extension cord for the pump. You can also go with permanent wiring but that will take us out of the scope of this article.

     Out here in the Southwest with its dry desert climate we have limited precipitation. This prevents large amounts of water from accumulating and creating ponds or rivers.  But, we can still enjoy the water. Instead we have what are called "dry rivers" that is river beds that once had water in them and occasionally get water from the storms we do get. These dry river beds consist of mostly sand, smooth rocks, plant matter, and manmade debris.

     Creating one for the home takes some time and money but is not overly expensive or major hard work. It is more important to take your time and be creative.

     The idea here is to create realistic looking river beds that converge on a water feature such as a water fountain or pond. Here is the step by step process.

1. Plan your project first: Look at the area of land you want to use and study the terrain. Then ask yourself these questions.

* Does it have varying height and how can you use that height? (rivers flow downhill).

* What kind of dirt do you have and is it easy or hard to work with?

* Are there trees or other plants around with surface roots?

* Can the trees or other plants become part of the scene?

* Do you want the water feature in the shade?

* What other natural materials are around that you can use (rocks, wood limbs etc...)

* Read the material guide below and let the cost of materials help you lay out the project.

Next time in part 2 we will get into the material guide.
In the meantime start thinking about spring!