How To Make A Garden Yrellis

Trellises are a fun (and sometimes necessary) addition to any garden. They can help train and support plants, create privacy walls and "living fences", or simply add style and flair to your space! Trellises are also great space-savers, and enable gardeners to "get vertical" – which can be especially useful when growing space is limited. However, some pre-made trellises can be a bit spendy – and the costs really add up if you need to buy several. The good news is, it is very easy and affordable to build your own trellis! Even better, you can customize and make a trellis that perfectly fits your needs.

Read along to learn our favorite materials and methods to build a simple and inexpensive trellis. I will walk you through two different but very similar trellis design options. First, let's go over how to make the most easy, simple, and inexpensive DIY trellis ever. The second option is still very affordable, yet is increasingly sturdy and attractive with the inclusion of a wood frame – perhaps more ideal for more permanent placement. Finally, we'll briefly talk about a few more trellis designs, including arched trellises.

What You'll Find in this Article:

Examples of ways to use a trellis in your garden
What types of plants will grow up a trellis
Difference between hog panel and concrete remesh wire
Benefits of using remesh to build trellises
How to to make a super simple and inexpensive trellis (Option 1)
How to build a trellis with a wood frame (Option 2)
Other trellis options & variations
Extra trellis photos for ideas & inspiration

Disclosure: This post may contain affiliate links to products for your convenience, such as to items on Amazon. Homestead and Chill gains a small commission from purchases made through those links, at no additional cost to you.

Raised wooden garden beds are set next to a house with blue/green walls. It has trellises lined along the backside of the garden beds, there are green beans and part of a tomato climbing up. There are various chards growing along with some calendula along the front side of the beds. There are three chickens standing on the ground looking up at the beds of greens. — An example of trellis option one in action, supporting purple pole beans.

Ways to Use a Trellis

If you look around our property, you'll see trellises everywhere! Some are temporary and mobile, giving short-lived annual plants like pole beans a place to climb. They can easily be moved in and out of garden beds as the seasons change, or as we practice crop rotation. I will show you how to make a simple trellis that is perfect for supporting beans, peas, tomatoes, and other veggies.

We designed other trellises as long-term living privacy walls, now covered with heavy, vigorous vines. Those are a bit more durable. For example, we chose to train all of our passion fruit vines on trellises along the perimeter of our yard, rather than allowing them to grow directly on our fences. Providing the vines with a designated trellis has several benefits: it protects our fence from damage, allows us to access both sides of the vines for pruning or harvesting fruit, and also enabled us to create privacy in our garden by building the trellis taller than the fence line.

Finally, you could build a trellis to serve multiple functions! Around our back patio garden, the wood-frame trellises create a separate intimate space, serves as a fence to keep the chickens out, and support plants all at once.

A backyard patio is shown lined with garden beds, there are trellises built on the backside of each of the beds. Some of the trellises have plants growing up them but they are also used to keep the chickens outside of the patio area. There is a patio table with chairs set up in the middle of the patio area while a lit gas fireplace is in the foreground. — Our back patio, surrounded by garden beds with trellises attached to the backside. They give plants a place to climb, while doubling as fences to keep our otherwise free-ranging chickens out of this space.

What Kind of Plants Grow on a Trellis?

Many annual vegetable plants rely on a support structure as they grow. The most common examples include cucumbers, pole beans, snow peas and snap peas – who all readily cling to, wind around, or otherwise climb up a trellis.

Many other vining and sprawling plants may also appreciate the support of a trellis, including tomatoes, squash plants, melons, and sweet potatoes. Some of these are not natural climbers (e.g. tomatoes) but can easily be trained up (or tied to) a trellis with your help. Larger, heavier crops such as winter squash or melons will need the support of slings or makeshift hammocks under the fruit to prevent the vines from breaking.

In addition to vegetables, there are a ton of beautiful flowering or edible vines that will naturally grow up a trellis too: jasmine, black eyed susan, honeysuckle, kiwi fruit, grapes, bougainvillea, certain varieties of nasturtium, clematis, maypops, passion flower and passion fruit, just to name a few! For more information about how to grow passion fruit and maypops (and to learn the difference between the two) check out this article.

The side of a trellis is shown that is full of climbing purple green beans. There are many flowering plants and vegetables growing around the area. Pink, orange, and yellow flowers are also visible.

What Type of Wire to Use for a Trellis

Before we get started "building" (if we can even call if that), let me tell you about the secret ingredient in our homemade trellis design: remesh. While there are many options of wire fencing that can be made into a trellis, we prefer to make our trellises using sheets of concrete support wire called remesh.

Remesh is an incredibly affordable option compared to other wire fencing materials – like cattle panel, also known as hog panel. Remesh should also be easy to find. Check the concrete section of your local hardware store, near the rebar and other concrete support "accessories". Our Home Depot always has these sheets of remesh available. Yet like everything, remesh wire comes with its benefits – along with a few cons. Let's review those now.

Pros & Cons of Remesh Wire

Cost: Perhaps the biggest perk of using remesh is the cost. At only around $7 per sheet, the price simply can't be beat!
Size & Flexibility: Remesh comes in 7 feet tall by 3.5 feet wide sheets. For us, this size has been perfect for nearly all of our trellises, meaning no cutting or modifications are required. Yet if desired, remesh panels are easier to cut than cattle panel. In our town, you can only purchase cattle panel in significantly longer lengths. Thus, we find the size and flexibility of remesh sheets much more convenient to transport. While still sturdy, the sheets can be curled into a cylinder and put in the back of my Subaru. I think we've even stuck a couple in the back seat of Aaron's Camry before! Because they're physically more flexible, remesh is also more versatile to use for other projects! For example, they can be secured into a cylinder to create a very sturdy, large, inexpensive tomato cage.
Wire Material: Like hog panel, remesh is made from steel. The primary differences are that remesh is a thinner gauge wire and not galvanized. This means that yes, remesh does get a rusty look to it. Personally, I see this as a pro instead of a con because I love the rustic, natural appearance over bright shiny metal. Because remesh has a finer gauge, it is lighter, and also easier to cut than hog panel. I still recommend using bolt cutters, but can be done with minimal effort.
Potential Drawbacks: Because this is a construction product, the edges of remesh can be less "finished" than hog panel and may have sharp edges. The panels can vary in the store, so pick through to find the ones with smoother edges. When combined with rust, those sharp spots are a potential hazard – especially if you have kiddos in the garden. However, if you choose the wood-frame trellis option, it would be very difficult to injure yourself on it. This hasn't been an issue for 95% of the trellises we have built. Once, I used a simple metal file to smooth out the sharp spots on an area we would be working around frequently.

That said, you could definitely opt to use hog panel fencing to build a trellis either of the ways described next. However, note that in addition to being more spendy – they'll be a lot more heavy. Thus, you'll want to use bigger, stronger, and longer stakes to support them.

There is a wall of trellises full of green vines along the backside of a yard. There are garden beds in the foreground full of vegetables and flowering annuals. A trellis is set up in the back of one of the beds which is full of a climbing bean. The ground is gravel lined with stone pavers. — In this photo of our front yard garden, remesh is being used in three different manners! Simple trellis option one is supporting pole beans in the back bed to the left, and has been curled into tomato cages in the bed on the right. Along the back fence line, trellis option two (wood frame) is in use to create a wall of passion fruit, passion flower, and jasmine.

HOW TO BUILD A TRELLIS: OPTION ONE

Materials Needed

For this ultra-simple and inexpensive trellis design, all you need is:

One panel of wire remesh concrete support
Two tall stakes
Either zip ties, or some galvanized wire.
A pair of bolt cutters or heavy-duty metal snips, only if you want to modify the size of the remesh sheet
Total cost: under $20, and even less if you already have stakes.

When selecting garden stakes to support your trellis, choose stakes that are tall enough to come up at least 2/3rd the finished height of the trellis (once in the ground). For example, if you intend to have a 7 foot tall trellis, do not purchase 4 foot tall stakes. Once they're at least a foot into the ground for stability, they'll only provide three feet of support above.

Also, it is best to select stakes that have some texture to them. Tiny notches, grooves, or similar create grip for the zip ties or wire tires to catch and hold to. Otherwise, everything may slide around. We usually use 6-foot green-coated metal garden stakes to build our trellises (with the exception of design option two), but you could use any kind – wood, large bamboo, or even rebar! We usually purchase our stakes individually at a local garden center, but at under $2 each, this 25-pack is a really good price if you need a lot!

A front yard garden looking towards a house, the garden is full of pink, purple, orange, yellow, and magenta flowering plants There are raised garden beds that contain a variety of vegetables. A hummingbird is perched along a structure in the top portion of the image. — Trellis option one, installed – complete with hummingbird.

Instructions

First, examine the location you would like to install the trellis. Determine the desired dimensions, and make adjustments to the remesh panel size if needed.
Now, you can either put the stakes in the soil and then attach the remesh sheet to them in-place, or, build the trellis first and stick it in the ground already assembled. The latter option is the easiest, especially if you're working solo. It is also easier to keep everything straight that way.
To assemble the trellis, simply lay the remesh panel on the ground. Line up the stakes at the desired width. If possible, I suggest to keep the stakes on the outermost edges of the remesh sheet for maximum stability. Or, move them in a square or two and line them up with another interior vertical length of wire.
Be sure to leave at least a foot or two of stake length extending beyond the bottom edge of the remesh, which will go into the ground. Try to keep them even.
Next, attach the remesh panel to the stakes using zip ties or short pieces of galvanized wire. Pull everything tight, securing them in place.
Finally, stick your new DIY trellis in place and plant something!
This easy trellis design can also be used horizontally, to create a wide and shorter trellis. We have even "stacked" two sheets of remesh high up the stakes, creating an 8-foot tall, 7-foot wide trellis.

Concrete remesh used as a structure for climbing plants to grow on. It is attached to the backside of a garden bed and has climbing green beans growing up it. — Option 1, installed. The remesh is sticking below the edge of the bed because I didn't factor in the depth the legs would be buried. Our first DIY trellis.

Concrete remesh used as a structure for climbing plants to grow on. It is attached to the backside of a garden bed and has climbing purple beans growing up it.

HOW TO BUILD A TRELLIS: OPTION TWO (WOOD FRAME)

The next DIY trellis design is very similar to option one, but has the remesh panel attached to a homemade wood frame rather than directly to the stakes.

These are the types of trellises we have used the most extensively around our property, to support passion fruit vines, create chicken fences, and living green walls. Some of them are installed stand-alone in the ground, while others are attached to raised garden beds. They're durable, attractive, and still more cost-effective than purchasing most pre-made trellises of similar size.

A two way image collage, the first image shows a front yard garden with wood and concrete remesh trellises along the backside of the yard, near a fence line, the trellises are bare with newly planted vines, not yet fully grown in. The second image shows the same image as before, only four or five years later. The trellises along the backside of the yard has turned into a green wall of vines. DeannaCat is also standing in between garden beds that are full of winter vegetables such as cabbage, bok choy, and kale. — Top: When we first built our front yard trellises in 2015, meant to provide privacy and block the unsightly short fence and trampoline next door. Bottom: Fast forward to 2019. What neighbor? (Of course, a couple years after we did this project, new neighbors moved in and installed a nice tall fence anyways! LOL)

Materials Needed

For this more sturdy and finished-looking trellis design, you will need:

Wood to build a trellis frame with. We like to use redwood 2x2s, but cedar is another excellent long-lasting choice. Both are naturally resistant to rot and termites. You should be able to find them at Home Depot or other large lumber centers. To fit a standard remesh panel, purchase four 8-foot long 2×2" boards: one for each vertical side, one to split for the top and bottom, and one for support pieces. (Tip: Look for the straightest boards and avoid bowed wood when you're picking them out).
One panel of remesh
Two tall stakes – see notes about stakes below
1 to 1.5 inch long, "wide head" cabinet screws like these (or as an alternative, poultry netting staples will work as well)
Four 3″ tightening hose clamps. We use these ones.
2.5" decking screws, or other small-gauge screw that won't split the 2×2″ wood OR steel corner braces (flat L brackets), with no longer than 1.5" screws
Saw (skill saw or similar recommended)
Power drill (recommended)
A pair of bolt cutters or heavy-duty metal snips, only if you want to modify the size of the remesh sheet
Total Cost: approximately $40-60, depending on where you source your materials and not including tools

In regards to stake length, follow the same recommendations as option one. Yet because this style of trellis is a bit more heavy-duty, I suggest to use more heavy-duty stakes.

Personally, we like to use 6 foot fiberglass stakes to support our free-standing wood framed trellises. Fiberglass stakes are badass because unlike the hollow metal ones, they are impossible to bend. Furthermore, you can drive them into the ground with a rubber mallet if needed – again, without bending. In this DIY trellis design, it is okay if the stakes do not have texture as recommended in option one. The trellis is secured to the stakes with strong tightening hose clamps, so it doesn't matter that fiberglass stakes are smooth.

Instructions

Step 1) Take Measurements

First, examine the location you would like to install the trellis. Take measurements to determine the size of the wood frame you'd like to create. Do you need to adjust the size of the remesh panel? If not, measure the remesh panel to determine the lengths of wood you'll need.

Note that most 2×2's are realistically more like 1.5 by 1.5 inch, so take that into account in your measurements. Ideally, once the frame is built, the outer edges of the remesh panel will fall close to the center of each 2×2. Also consider the additional length you'll gain in one direction or another, depending on how you line up the corners of the wood frame.

Keep in mind that you may want a foot or so of trellis "legs" to extend beyond the bottom edge of the trellis wire. They won't be sunk into the ground very far though. Stakes will still be used for support in the ground.

Step 2) Build the Trellis Wood Frame

Using a saw, cut the wood 2x2s to the desired size. Most often, we don't need to cut the two vertical sides at all. 8 feet works perfectly for a 7 foot remesh panel. (Edit: See the newer extra-large trellis we created using two panels of remesh below!)

Lay out the wood pieces on a flat work surface. Before attaching anything, I recommend to also lay the remesh sheet on top of the unassembled frame to see if any adjustments need to be made. If all is good, connect the corners of the wood frame either using decking screws or L-brackets. L-brackets are the most sturdy. If your wood wants to split, add small pilot holes first.

To prevent the frame from flexing and to provide increased strength, add a support piece of wood across the frame itself.* You can choose from many options, depending on what style you like. For example, we have cut 2x2s at an angle to add pieces at each corner, the top corners only, or have run a piece horizontally across the middle. See the photos below for ideas.

*Note: You could add the support piece flush inside the frame, or simply attach it to the backside. If inside the frame, add the support piece now. If you are going to add it to the back of the frame, follow Step 3 first (attach the remesh), and then add the support piece on top – essentially sandwiching the remesh panel.

Step 3) Attach the Remesh Panel to Wood Frame

With the wood frame still on a flat work surface, lay the sheet of remesh wire on top of the backside (e.g. where your L-brackets are showing, if you used them). Once it is square along the frame, I suggest to screw down the corners first to prevent things from getting out of whack as you go.

We use short wide-head cabinet screws to attach the remesh to the wood frame. Feel free to get creative with other methods (such as nailing in poultry netting staples), but this has worked swimmingly for us! Choose a junction or corner in the wire, and drill the screw in at a slight angle to pinch and hold the wire between the screw head and wood. Don't over-tighten and strip the holes. Add screws every foot or so along the outer perimeter and also across your support beams.

This is where using remesh is great. It is thin and light enough to hold securely using cabinet screws. Given its girth and weight, I don't think this attachment method would work well with hog panel.

A man is attaching concrete remesh to the backside of a wooden frame. He is using a power drill with cabinet screws for the job.

A two way image collage showing cabinet screws keeping concrete remesh attached to wood frames.

A man is holding the finished trellis made with concrete remesh and wooden frame. The structure is 8 feet tall and is ready to install wherever desired. The background is half grass and half gravel which contains garden beds and wine barrels used as planters. — Say goodbye to the neighbors house!

Step 4) Install the Trellis

Unlike option one (where we attached the stakes to the trellis first), we typically put the stakes in place and then attach the trellis after. Because these are intended to be more permanently installed, we want to drive the stakes in the ground as far as possible (one foot minimum) before securing anything in place. The trellis itself gets in the way of the work.

That said, make every effort to put the stakes in the ground as evenly and straight up-and-down as possible. Measure the distance between the outer vertical pieces of wood (center to center) and place your stakes there.

Once the support stakes are in the ground, place your new trellis in front of them. Work the wood legs down into the top few inches of soil. Once everything looks good and straight, attach the wood frame to the stakes. While you use wire, we like the added strength of using hose clamps – one at each corner (or close). Fully open the hose clamp, wrap it around the wood frame and stake, and then use a screwdriver or drill to tighten it completely.

Green fiberglass stakes dug into the ground and spaced at an arranged distance will be used to support the wood and metal support structures. There are various bags of soil laying around as the terrace is getting new soil, plants, and mulch. — If you look closely at this hot mess, you'll see the green fiberglass stakes already in the ground, spaced to line up with the vertical portion of each wood frame trellis. We measured and put all the stakes in first, driving them nice and deep, and then set the trellises in front to attach them.

A three way image collage showing how pipe clamps can be used to attach the green fiberglass stakes to the support structures. These combined hardware items help build a sturdy trellis. — A peek behind the passion fruit wall now, and how we use hose clamps to secure the trellis to the stakes.

Double Remesh Wood-Frame Trellis

Check out our newest DIY trellis design below! We followed the same steps described above, but created a larger wood frame that fit two panels of remesh. The panels are laying horizontally and stacked on top of one another. The middle horizontal piece of wood serves as structural support for the wide design, as well as a place to attach the two edges of adjoining remesh panels to the frame. Installed, it has the same fiberglass stakes on each edge (driven about 2 feet into the ground). The wood trellis feet only extending a couple inches down in to the rock ground cover. Finally, we added an extra center stake for additional support.

A 8 foot tall, 6 foot wide wood frame metal wire remesh homemade trellis laying on a patio, waiting to be installed. — Here are two remesh panels installed horizontally and stacked, rather than our usual vertical single panel design. The final trellis is 6 feet wide (we trimmed off one foot of the remesh) and 8 feet tall.

A 8 foot tall, 6 foot wide wood frame metal wire remesh homemade trellis is installed along a fence line next to a small hobby greenhouse. There is a small passionfruit vine beginning to grow up the otherwise empty trellis. In the background, a very visible neighbor house looms over the fence line. Once the vine grows in, the trellis will block the view of the neighbor very well. — We previously had a very large passionfruit vine growing in the this space, blocking the view of the neighbors very nicely! Edible passion fruit vines have a relatively short lifespan (4 to 6 years) and the old one unfortunately came to the end of its life. We replaced it with a nice new large trellis and another Frederick's passionfruit vine – because they grow very quickly and are delicious!

The backside of the new trellis, showing the remesh panels joining and attached across the middle wood support, and stakes held on with pipe clamps.

Other Trellis Designs

Needless to say, there are SO many other trellis design options and ideas out there! We use variations of these two designs as well, such as installing them horizontally as I mentioned above. Or, rather than creating a full four-sided wood frame, sometimes we use wood 2x2s on the vertical sides only.

Furthermore, in addition than creating a free-standing trellis, we often attach them directly to raised garden beds or other structures. Finally, you could install our wood-frame trellis at an angle like a lean-to, supported with stakes or against a structure. You could even put two together to create a teepee! See the photos below for more ideas.

Raised wooden garden beds are set next to a house with blue/green walls. It has trellises lined along the backside of the garden beds and there are tomato plants climbing up. There are chickens picking around on the ground outside of the garden area which is fenced off from them. — This is our "coop garden" area of the back yard. Remesh panels were used to make a fence to keep the chickens out. Also, easy trellis option one is being used to support tomatoes in the raised beds. Note that our smaller chickens CAN squeeze through the openings in remesh, but only attempt to do so at ground level. Therefore, we weave an additional piece of wire horizontally across the middle of the lowest row of squares to block them.

Raised wooden garden beds are shown with a trellis built on the backside of them, they are used to train plants up the trellis or to help keep the chickens out of the patio. There are various plants in the beds and a small blue glow agave in a ceramic pot. — A closer look at our patio garden beds and trellises/fencing.

A small raised bed planter box is shown with a trellis attached to the backside of the box. There is an espaliered apple tree in the planter and it is being trained along the remesh wire. In the foreground there are two chickens who are in the process of jumping on or off the patio table. — An example of using remesh with wood supports, attached directly to a container with hose clamps. That is a dwarf Fuji apple, trained espalier-style. Don't mind the crazy gambling party chickens.

Arch Trellis

Last but not least, I'm sure many of you are interested in learning how to build an arched trellis. Unfortunately, remesh panels are too short to be made into an arch. We bought our arch trellises from a local garden supply company. The rusted look matched with our current design, and the widths were also perfect for our space.

However, it is not difficult to create your own arched trellis with hog or cattle panels. The curved hog panel must be securely anchored into the ground (such as with T-post stakes) or attached to a structure like a raised garden bed. You can use pipe straps or pipe clamps to secure them to wood. That is what we did with our pre-made arched trellis.

A three way image collage showing a metal archway being installed in between two raised garden beds. The first image shows newly constructed raised wooden garden beds with a trellis built on the backside of each bed. In the middle of the patio, where one would leave the patio to the back yard there is a concrete paver walkway in between two of the beds. In an end of each of the beds flanking the walkway is an end of an archway that is constructed over the top of the walkway. The second image a man drilling the end of the archway into an empty garden bed before it is full of soil. The third image shows a closeup of the man connecting the metal archway to the garden beds with L brackets and screws. The archway will act as a trellis, allowing a vining plant to grow over and on the archway. — Using bits of galvanized pipe strap to connect an pre-made arched trellis to the 4×4 corner inside our raised beds.

And that is how you build a trellis.

I hope this article gave you plenty of ideas and options for how to build a trellis! And not just any trellis – but a sturdy, attractive, and durable one. As always, please let me know if you have any questions – and feel free to leave feedback in the comments or share this article.

Finally, tag us on Instagram with #homesteadandchill to show off the awesome new trellises I know you're about to make!

If you enjoyed this article, you may also like:

How to Design & Build a Raised Garden Bed
How to Grow Passion Fruit & Maypops
The Top 23 Plants for Pollinators: Attract Bees, Butterflies, & Hummingbirds
How to Turn Your Yard or Garden into a Certified Wildlife Habitat