How to Build Simple Garden Trellises for Beans and Tomatoes

Whether you start with seedlings or young plants purchased at a gardening center, they are not going to stay small forever. Tomatoes, peas and beans are two good examples of plants that will need plenty of support as they grow. One object is to construct your own trellis or support system. We all have objects around the house and yard that would make good supports, and others are not expensive to purchase.

Things You'll Need

• Saplings or 2-by-2-inch boards, 8 feet long (optional)
• String or wire
• Stakes or wire pins (optional)
• Bamboo poles (optional)
• Painted rebar (optional)
• Vines (optional)
• 1-by-1 inch boards or bamboo sections (optional)
• Hammer
• 4-foot field fencing - 8-foot lengths (optional)

Instructions

1. Cut three saplings (or use 2-by-2 inch boards) about 8 feet long. Tie them together 3 inches from the top. Spread the legs of the resulting tripod and weave string or wrap wire around the legs to provide plant support.

2. Plant one tomato in the center and guide the growing branches toward the legs, tying them loosely to the tripod as they grow. The addition of vertical strings tied to horizontal strings at 6-inch or smaller intervals between legs of the tripod will give support to beans or peas as well.

3. Create a freestanding A-frame structure from 8-foot saplings or 2-by-2-inch lumber by tying two pairs of saplings together 6 inches from the top. Spread the legs by tying a cross piece about 2 feet or so down from the apex, creating a deep "V" at the top. Secure a pole or board between the V-shaped "notches." (It should resemble a child's swing set at this point.)

4. Tie strings at intervals to the cross section and secure the lower ends with stakes or U-shaped pieces of wire stuck in the ground beneath. Weave more string horizontally between the vertical strings to create a loose net.

5. Plant beans at the base of your string "trellis." Use heavier twine and increase spacing for tomatoes. Make extra A-frame sections with cross pieces between to create long rows of supports.

6. Build enclosed trellises (cages) for tomatoes or beans by inserting three or four long slender saplings, bamboo canes or rebar (metal rods used in construction to reinforce concrete - paint first to prevent rusting) into the ground about 15 inches apart. Connect the rods with wire, string or flexible vines to act as supports.

7. Build rigid trellises using 1-by-1-inch boards or bamboo. Lay several long pieces on the ground parallel to one another and lay shorter pieces perpendicular to those on top, making two pieces for the ends about 12 inches longer than the other vertical pieces. Lash them together at intersections with string.

8. Stand the trellis upright by pushing the longer vertical sections into the soil (sharpen the lower portion if necessary to penetrate the soil more easily). Construct even stronger supports by building in pairs and fastening them, tepee-like, together at the top.

9. Create a very simple trellis by weaving a 6-foot piece of rebar through each end of an 8-foot section of common field fencing (usually 4-feet high). Hammer rebar into the soil to secure---orienting the fence along the center of the bed. Alternate the plants on each side and train up the fence as they grow.

Tips & Warnings

• Any reasonably sturdy rod-like object (bamboo, sticks, saplings, fence t-posts, pipes, rebar and so forth) coupled with more flexible material like string, wire, vines, old nets or hammocks, even rag strips make usable trellises with a bit of imagination.

Resources

• Simple trellis ideas
• Three Garden Structures You Can Build