Designing your own garden
trellis or garden arbor is an easy weekend
project, and you’ll enjoy the results of your
handiwork for years to come.
A
garden trellis or
garden arbor is a wonderful design feature for any
garden, and is essential for growing climbing plants
and vines. A garden trellis is a small structure
made of pieces of wood in a crisscross pattern, to
form a kind of ladder for climbing plants. It can be
placed against a fence, a garden wall, or the side
of the house, and transforms a blank, solid space
into a beautiful vertical flower garden. A garden
arbor is best suited to a larger garden, and
requires a few more building and carpentry skills,
but is still a relatively easy project for any DIY
enthusiast.
There’s a fantastic range of plans, designs,
tips, ideas and instruction guides for garden
trellis and garden arbor
projects online, or in any of the many gardening and
DIY books and magazines.
Garden trellis design basics.
The key to designing a good garden trellis is to
think about the plants you want to grow on it. There
are many plants which grow well on a garden trellis,
including sweet pea, jasmine, climbing hydrangea and
bougainvillea vine. A good gardening supplier will
give you advice on which plants are best suited to
the climate in your area. Some climbing plants are
very good at grasping onto any surface, while others
will need to be tied with nylon thread, fabric ties
or strips of pantyhose. Small, delicate plants need
a smaller, tighter lattice, while larger bushier
plants need bigger spaces to grow into.
The structure itself is very easy to put
together. It normally only requires drilling a few
small holes in the posts and cross pieces, and
screwing the structure together. The post holes
should be around two feet deep, depending on the
size of the trellis, and you should fill the bottom
with about two to three inches of gravel for added
stability. The vine should be planted about six
inches away from the trellis.
