I can't believe my garden is growing! We had a shaky start and I was pretty concerned about a few of my plant babies...which is why I went rogue and planted "extra" seeds so now everything has taken off and it's a little unevenly spaced. Ha!
My plants have FINALLY attached to the trellis and are starting to wrap around it and grow *up* instead of *out*. I do think I missed the boat on making the zucchini plants grow up the trellis, but now I know for next year. I was waiting until they got taller to attach them, but then one day they just exploded and were ginormous and now I'm not sure what to do, so they're on their own for now. I already have four baby zucchinis!
Anyway, hopefully later this summer the trellis will be covered with beautiful greenery and veggies!
I built this DIY garden trellis out of one sheet of cattle panel fencing. I'm going to tell you my secrets and how I was able to get this 16 ft x 4 ft huge piece of metal to my house. But first, the supply list...
SUPPLIES
- one panel 16x4ft cattle panel fencing ($55)
- 4 U fence posts or T fence posts (I used the 6ft. tall)
- heavy duty outdoor zip ties
- rubber mallet if you don't want to buy one, you'll need an old towel (I'll explain!)
- muscles. Truth: this is a two-person project! You don't need a man, but you need some muscles! The cattle panel is flexible, but took a lot of effort to bend and then hold in place while installing!
Let's talk logistics: 16 feet is LONG. Yes, it's longer than your SUV and your truck bed. So that means you need a trailer to transport this thing. You know what I don't have time for? Getting a truck and trailer. No thanks. But guess what? I ordered my supplies from Lowe's, strategically, so I could use their delivery option! I think I paid $79 (maybe less?) and had these items delivered to my backyard. (I also ordered one ton of sand for a yard-leveling project, so I combined my orders to take advantage of the delivery service.) Totally worth it.
And here's another tip... I love projects. My husband does not. He's always willing to help me, but they're not his thing, SO I try to make it as *easy* as possible so that when it comes time to do the actual projects, I've got all of my supplies ready to go, the plan mapped out, etc., and I don't have to get him to help with a ton of small sourcing projects that lead up to the actual project. Think about this when planning this project, because you absolutely have to have two people. (Two fairly strong people!) Sourcing the supplies was the most difficult part of the project and took me more time than the actual installation.
Where can you install a DIY trellis?
Probably anywhere, but I'm using mine as a connecting trellis between two garden beds, so that's what this post is for. My beds are 6 ft x 3 ft, for reference. I did screw my U posts into the wooden side of my garden beds for extra support.
Ok the steps!
Hammer your U posts into the ground using your rubber mallet. You can use a regular hammer but place a towel on top of the posts before hammering. Your ears will thank you.
Bring your cattle panel as close to your garden beds as possible (it's heavy!).
Bend the panel into an arch shape. (two people required!)
Attach panel to U post with heavy duty zip ties.
Screw posts into side of garden bed for extra support. (optional)
Fill garden beds!
Need instructions on how to build your beds? Here are my DIY Raised Garden Beds.