24 Easy DIY Trellis Ideas for Your Garden

Fact checked by Emily Estep

Adding a trellis to your garden is highly recommended in some instances, especially if you're growing vegetables. If you have a small yard, trellises are also a great way to train your plants to grow vertically and save space. However, many premade garden trellises are unnecessarily expensive. Learn how to build an affordable DIY trellis for a fraction of the cost with the project ideas below.

Attach a Trellis to a Privacy Fence

This DIY trellis is streamlined and adds dimension to an otherwise boring privacy fence. To make the most of this design, plant various flowering vines directly in front.

You'll Need:

• Flat top fence pickets or 1x2 cedar boards

• Table saw and hand saw

• Sandpaper

• Outdoor wood stain

• 1″ nails

DIY Window Box Trellis

This DIY window box trellis is an afternoon project made out of wood dowels and slats. The slats can be used to house air plants or support vines planted in the box.

You'll Need:

• Wood dowels

• Slats

Create a Trellis for Climbing Veggies Using Bamboo

These simple bamboo trellises work great if you have a vegetable garden in need of stakes. You should be able to find these bamboo sticks at a local garden center for around $1 a stake, but they can also be ordered online.

You'll Need:

• Bamboo

• Heavy duty twine

• Scissors

Repurpose Old Garden Tools Into a Trellis

Depending on what you have in your garage, this DIY trellis could cost you next to nothing. Remember to make sure that the bottom of the wooden tools are carved into stakes so they will stay in the ground.

You'll Need:

• Vintage garden tools

• Salvaged wood

• Nails

• Jute twine

Transform a Coat Rack Into a Garden Trellis

This blogger took to Pinterest to come up with this unique DIY trellis. Once she understood the basic trellis shape, she searched her house for other everyday items that might be easily converted. By the end of her project, she had crafted a very unusual and beautiful solution for her climbing morning glories.

You'll Need:

• Old coat hanger

• Paint

• Paint stick

• Screws

• Liquid nails

• Pencils

Triangular Bean Trellis DIY

This pair of DIY triangular bean trellises add vertical growing space to raised vegetable garden beds. These trellises can also be used to train vegetables such as peas and cucumbers.

You'll Need:

• Wood garden stakes

• Furring strip board lumber

• Compound miter saw

DIY Tower Garden Trellis

This simple tower trellis is planted in raised garden beds as infrastructure for fava beans and peas. Made with inexpensive 1-inch-thick cedar fencing, each trellis costs less than $10. to make.

You'll Need:

• Cedar fence slats

• Galvanized steel nails

• Measuring tape
  

DIY Mini Trellis

This DIY mini trellis is a simple project designed to grow cucumbers. The painted white structure adds contrast against a reclaimed wood fence and can be moved around as needed.

You'll Need:

• Square wood dowels

• Saw

• Drill

• Screws

• Nails/tacks

• String

• Scissors

$10 Standing Garden Trellis

You can purchase a similar garden trellis for around $40 at a garden store, but why would you when you can make this one for around $10? This trellis has been designed to work with climbing sweet peas, but just about any climbing plant would do well with this design.

You'll Need:

• 1x2s and 2x2s

• Nuts, bolts, and washer

• Nail gun

• Drill

Rework an Old Window and Chicken Wire

If you have an open porch, this garden trellis DIY project can double as a privacy screen. Simply place the finished piece in a planter along the porch ledge. Then, plant climbing vines in the planter, which will add more privacy as they grow.

You'll Need:

• Old window

• Chicken wire

• Staples and staple gun

DIY Copper Wire Obelisk Trellis

This DIY obelisk trellis has copper detailing that gives it some metallic bling. The copper will complement green plants but you can substitute another metal, too.

You'll Need:

• Copper pipes

• Pressure treated lumber

• Protective glaze

Beginners Can Make This Simple Garden Obelisk

This garden obelisk looks great but is also really easy to make. Unlike many of the other garden trellis plans in this design, this one requires no angle cuts. Keep in mind, it doesn't matter if the edges are perfectly aligned since this piece is meant to be covered with climbing greenery.

You'll Need:

• 8 ft 2x2s

• Wood screws

• Wood glue

DIY Tomato Cage Trellis With Decorative Finial

This DIY tomato cage trellis is made from pine boards that weather over time for a natural look that works in this farmhouse style garden. The structures are topped with a decorative finial to add a nice finishing touch.

You'll Need:

• Spruce pine fir boards

• Flathead screws

• Decorative finial

Craft a Flat Vertical Trellis for Less Than $10

This vertical trellis works best when it's leaning on something like a fence because the design might not anchor well enough in the ground to stand on its own. The softer the dirt, the more likely this could be placed in the middle of a garden bed, but you may want to add stakes to the bottom just to be sure it's secure.

You'll Need:

• 8 ft 1x2s

• Gorilla wood glue

• Clamps

• Miter saw

DIY Wall Trellis

A simple and stylish wall trellis to support climbing vines will save space in a small garden and can be installed on the side of your house, shed, or fence. Try this easy no-weld DIY project.

You'll Need:

• Hose torch

• Aluminum flat and angle bars

• Aluminum brazing rods

• Picture frame wire

Convert a Crib Rail Into a Garden Trellis

Twine crib rails and headboards work well to train plants to grow vertically. Instead of just leaning these items on the side of a fence, this tutorial will show you how to add stakes to the bottom so you can place them just about anywhere.

You'll Need: 

• Old crib rail

• Stakes

• Screws

DIY Garden Trellis

This DIY trellis was made from leftover livestock panels and T-posts to create a strong structure to support the weight of climbing plants. The simple materials can be sourced inexpensively at any home store.

You'll Need:

• Livestock fence panels

• T-posts
  

DIY Raised Bed Arched Trellis

This arched garden bed trellis is an affordable and easy project with a giant wow factor that comes together easily thanks to inexpensive galvanized steel cattle panels.

You'll Need:

• Medium duty T posts

• Galvanized steel cattle panel

• Post pounder

• Zip Ties

• Raised beds

DIY Twig Trellis

This English cottage garden is full of charming details and upcycled materials that create a natural and enchanting feel. This DIY trellis structure is an utterly simple matter of tying up twigs with twine.

You'll Need:

• Twigs

• Twine
  

Decorative Micentury Trellis DIY

This decorative midcentury modern-inspired DIY trellis was built to create stylish separation between the carport and the outdoor patio. It was planted with fan palms and a Peruvian cactus after completion, leaving room to train some vines up the trellis to create additional privacy down the road if desired.

You'll Need:

• Treated wood boards

• Screw eye hooks

• Nail gun

DIY Copper Pipe Trellis

This DIY copper pipe trellis requires zero soldering and can be easily adapted for any size or configuration. Here it is used to increase vertical space in a leafy patio and to add privacy from a neighboring window.

You'll Need:

• Copper pipe

• Stainless steel fasteners

• Hacksaw

• Clamps and wood scraps

• Power drill

DIY Obelisk Trellis

This 6-foot-tall DIY obelisk trellis is a beginner level project that can be used for all manner of climbing and trailing plants, from draping vines to roses, jasmine, or wisteria. This easy project should take no more than an hour to pull together.

You'll Need:

• Electric miter saw or circular saw

• Drill

• Lumber

• Wood glue

• 8 two-by-two lumber, each 8-foot

• Paint or stain

• 3-inch exterior screws

DIY Fan-Shaped Cedar Lattice Trellis

This inexpensive 2-for-1 DIY cedar wood lattice project can be adapted according to your needs, the first of which is a freestanding tapered v- or fan-shaped model to lean against the garden fence.

You'll Need:

• Cattle panel

• Bolt cutters

• Hog rings
  

DIY Square Grid Cedar Lattice Trellis

The second variation of this 2-for-1 cedar wood lattice trellis is a square grid pattern that is attached to the fence behind a raised garden bed that will be used as a support for climbing pea plants.

You'll Need:

• Cattle panel

• Bolt cutters

• Hog rings

Is it cheaper to make your own trellis?

It is almost always cheaper to make your own trellis than to buy one. You can make a DIY trellis from things you have laying around the house or can purchase inexpensively at a hardware or home goods store. However, inexperienced DIYers without the necessary tools may want to weigh the cost of buying or renting equipment for more elaborate projects.

What is the easiest trellis to build?

The easiest trellis to build is a simple A-frame shape, made from something as simple as bamboo and tied together with twine.

What material is best for a trellis?

For a long-lasting trellis, it’s a good idea to choose weather-proof materials whenever possible that will protect your trellis from the elements, such as treated or painted wood and powder-coated or galvanized steel.