How To Make A Garden Trellis

To bring out the best in plants, a garden sometimes requires different gardening accessories. A garden trellis is one such attractive accessory. It is a garden equipment structure that provides a place for climbing plants to climb and grow better, without tangling up. Garden trellises are both functional and beautiful as they decorate gardens and flower beds by supporting different traveling vegetable plants like cucumbers, peas, beans, tomatoes and various varieties of squash. A garden trellis can be made from different materials, such as metal, plastic, bamboo, cane or treated wood. Not only attractive and decorative, a garden trellis makes a garden more than just a practical growing space. A garden trellis can be as simple or complex as you like. Given here are some easy steps for building your own garden trellis. Read on to know them.

Building A Garden Trellis

Materials Required

2 8-foot 2x4 Boards
7 8-foot 1x2 Boards
1 pound of 1¼-inch Deck Screws
Gravel (enough to fill 10 inches)
Circular Saw/ Hand Saw
Power Drill
Post Hole Digger/ Narrow Shovel
Tape Measure
Framing Square

Procedure

Place the two 8-foot 2x4s on a large working table or any flat solid surface. Lay them 42 inches apart from one another.
Cut two of the 8-foot 1x2s into half. Thus, you will have four 48-inch boards.
From the bottom of the 2x4 boards, mark 20 inches with the help of a tape measure. This part will be wedged into the ground to hold the trellis. Measure four inches up from the 20-inch mark. Lay the first 4-foot 1x2 board across the two 2x4s such that it is parallel. Lay the other three 1x2 boards in the same manner at a distance of 18 inches. The trellis will now give the appearance of a ladder.
Using a power drill, drill one deck screw into each side of the ladder.
Turn the trellis over such that the parallel boards screwed face down on the work table or solid surface.
Place one 1x2 board vertically in the middle of the trellis, 24 inches in from each 2x4 board. Move the board to the first parallel board and screw it to the 1x2 boards that you have just screwed. Use a framing square to get the perfect squares in between.
The vertical board screwed now will stand 24 inches taller than the rest of the trellis.
Cut two more 1x2 boards to 84 inches in length.
Lay these boards in the same vertical manner as the first board on both sides of first one. They should be 12 inches apart from the center board.
Attach the boards with the parallel boards, using deck screws and power drill.
These boards will be 12 inches taller than the top parallel board and 12 inches shorter than the central vertical board.
Flip the trellis over again.
Cut two more 1x2 boards into four 30-inch boards and one 8-inch slat.
Lay the first 30-inch board 9 inches up from the bottom 48-inch parallel board, in the same manner across the back of the three vertical boards that you just screwed into place. Similarly, place the other three 30-inch boards 9 inches up from the other 48-inch parallel boards. Carefully, screw them into place.
Screw the 8-inch slat to the top of the tallest vertical board.
Dig two 25-by-6 inch holes, using a post hole digger or narrow shovel. The holes should be 48 inches apart.
Add 5 inches of gravel to the bottom of the hole. The gravel will help your trellis to stand in place and avoid sinking or shifting, when the soil gets wet.
Place the trellis post into the holes and replace back the dirt. Pack the hole and the post heavily.
For a sturdier hole, fill the holes with cement after placing the trellis into the holes. Allow the cement to dry for 24 hours.

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