This year, I really wanted every plant to be propped up. Sprawling plants make for a messy looking garden.
And since I planted much closer than usual this year, we needed to go vertical.
Trellises are pricey, usually one trellis per plant.
But I wanted a trellis that could prop up a whole row of peas, beans or cucumbers. So I got on Tom. Tom’s a gym teacher.
With his go-big or go-home mentality, he was racking his brain with ideas to win.
And he came up with a seven’ high and six’ wide trellis made out of PVC pipe.
Guess what else? There’s a surprise at the end of this post.
What you need to make a PVC garden trellis
- Hacksaw
- Miter Box to cut straight lines on PVC Pipe
- A Sharpie marker
- Drill with 9/32 bit
- Yardstick to mark 6″ marks on sides
- Tape measure to mark PVC pipe where you need to cut
- PVC Cement
- Rubber mallet to secure PVC pipe and fitting
- PVC pipe one 7′ x 6′ trellis needs 33 feet
- PVC joints (2 elbows, 3 Tees, one cross)
- Clotheslines approximately 125′
He then cut them with a Hacksaw/Miter Box into three 2′ sections (these will be buried underground), three 5′ sections used on the vertical sections of the trellis, and four 3′ sections for the width of the trellis.
Tom used medium gray PVC cement to combine the fittings and pipe. He used a rubber mallet to ensure pipe was seated well inside the fitting.
Trellis Stages
He then drilled with a 9/32 bit at every Sharpie line.
This is where you secure the clothesline.
Tom tied the vertical clotheslines first.
What I like most about my PVC garden Trellis
- PVC pipe will last virtually forever (unlike wood).
- I could make the width the exact dimensions of our raised beds. Not to short or long.
- Simple to cut and assemble.
- Fairly inexpensive to make.
- You can’t buy a trellis this big. You’d have to buy several and piece them together.
Prices
Two elbows per trellis is needed 52 cents
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Three Tee’s for each trellis is needed= $1.44
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One cross per trellis is needed $1.46
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Love this because I do a lot of vertical gardening! Looks nice too
Nice simple trellis1
So many great ideas for gardening!!
That’s a great idea.
Cool idea! I think I’ll try it this year.
I would love to win
Never thought about using pvc pipe for a trellis.
Great idea
Thanks for sharing the tips.
We have a pvc pipe bean trellis in the garden and it works great!
This is so cool. I’d love to build one once winter is over. NY winter weather isn’t exactly the best for outdoor gardening activities. I’ve always liked trellis styles but it never occurred to me that I could create my own handmade one. Thanks for the tutorial.
Ohhhh I need to try this out!
I’ve been wanting to try a trellis for a long time. I can see where it can really save space!
Going vertical saves garden space. Good project!
You have wonderful ideas that are incredibly helpful. Thank you so much
Great idea! Thanks!
This looks like a great idea, and simple to pull of as well! Thank you for sharing.
What a great trellis. I look forward to trying this out in the spring.
Thanks for sharing how to do this. My mom would enjoy trying it out next year.
A wonderful idea with great instructions
Thank you for the tutorial. We need to do this.
Awesome idea! Thanks so much!
Great idea for country living to keep critters from eating your harvest.
great
Thanks for the helpful advice- my cucumbers are doing great and need some extra help!
My father used this technique, worked like a charm!
Would love to have veggies growing on a trellis. Now to find the right spot.
I have kept some old dog/baby gates for this purpose.
great idea
Sounds easy enough to do! I wonder it would hold up to strong winds (we can get some crazy wind storms)… 🤔
I need to make this for the Sping garden!
This idea is absolutely splendid! The trellis is also much better looking than a store bought trellis.
One more thing for my husband to do with all the ideas I see and tell him
Great, inexpensive trellis option!
I just moved and want to put climbing roses in my garden. This is great!So cheap and at the same time very well made. Like I said I just moved and could really use this rug.
great idea
Great Ideas!
I always learn something new from your blogs!
I want to try this in the spring!! It looks easy and I love that it doesn’t cost a ton!
This could work. I will try
What’s on my garden to-do list? What to do about all the deer that enjoy my plants so much.
simple to make
definitely going to try this
A great idea for small gardens, etc.
I made a trellis out of a old tri fold screen door
Great idea, wooden trellises are so susceptible to the weather.
Love this idea! Going to have my husband build me one!
nice
Necessity is the mother of invention. Good work.
Love this idea! Thank you!
we will give it a try!
Awesome! Thank you!
Nice idea! I will have to implement in my garden.
Looks like a perfect trellis.
Laura sure is good at gardening. She’s clever, smart, and good at DIY. Her ideas and tips are much appreciated and useful.
Great idea!
Now that I’m retired , I feel I have the time for my own garden. This vertical trellis is a great idea for our small back yard.
I wish I had a green thumb. I somehow kill everything I try to grow.
That looks to be much more flexible for size and placement than a ‘store-bought’ trellis.
wonderful ideas. Thank you
That’s a creative idea, easy and probably pretty durable
Great idea
PVC pipes can be used for a lot of projects. I like the gardening ideas and it makes you think about using pvc pipes.
Such a clever idea. I love growing cucumbers and need to give this a try. Thanks for sharing.
Cool, this is exactly what my daughter needs for her garden.
I live in an apartment and would love to have a vertical garden or an alternative way of gardening.
Thought I would want something a bit more decorative, but realized the greenery will cover it anyway.
Just here for the entries.
Trellis I will diffinently use this with my half runners next year ty for info. Happy Holidays.
Will need to give this a try.
Wow Love this
Great idea & great instructions!
Saving this for next Spring to try. 😀
This is a really good way to use them old baby gates I have in the basement .
great stuff
Wow! An amazing idea! I will incorporate this during next season!
My yard is a hot mess. Anything I do to it will be an improvement. I hope to use one of your ideas in the spring.
Loved this!
I might try this with my berry plants. I have them growing near my garage but have to tie them to something.
I just love this Trellis. Would love to have one of these and it looks pretty easy to make.
I am so going to try this idea out when it’s time to get back out into the garden. I’m also going to install some raised garden beds so I won’t have to spend so much time leaning down and bending my back, plus raised beds are so gorgeous and give any garden so much life!
Love this and definitely am going to give this a try!
Good project – Thank you
Wonderful Inexpensive idea
I have a very hard time putting up a trellis. Often times they wind up coming down.
I love how this trellis looks and that it can hold a lot. We don’t go out but when we can again I’m going to try making one too. Thanks for showing the steps and what you used.
I’ve used this before with much success
I love the netting technique!
Love to win this
I have a raised garden and want to try squash next year. This would be perfect to keep them off the lawn.
My neighbor’s husband grew small melons vertically, she crocheted little hammock-supports for the melons out of jute.
pvc is quite easy to work with and you can get many different connectors that allow some interesting projects
Wow, thanks!
love to learn more from you
I’m bookmarking this for planting season.
At my previous house we had a garden, but we have too many trees here at our new home and there’s no place to put a garden. I miss having a garden.
I love grow puns. 😉
We would like to rebuild our raised garden.
Cool plan!
This is a great idea and relatively easy too.
Love to win the rug
This works well and I did one something like that for years. Last year though I went to a yard sale and they had one soccer goal thing- guess what they work for the same veggies the climbers!
Great idea
What a great idea. I could really use something like this for my garden. Thanks for sharing!
This is such a clever and well-thought out system to save space and maximize the potential of the garden. Thank you!
What a great idea for a cucumber trellis! Note to self for next year…
I am goin to share this on facebook.
This is such a great idea. You are so gifted.
I’m always so excited to see new variations of this.
Fantastic idea. Now I just need a house so I can have a garden
Love your blog!! You have so many informative and very useful posts!
I love to garden. I love to flowers and vegetables. One year we grew corn, we were so excited. I love this idea.
Great trellis. Looks very neat!
This is a great idea. I need to move the area where I usually plant my peas and this is going to be perfect and less expensive than the other options I was looking at.
Isn’t PVC just great? I once made a ferris wheel for my Mom to decorate for Christmas. This project should be a snap. Clean, functional, inexpensive and easy to make. Can’t wait to try it.
Your husband did a great job constructing the trellis and doing the video! He should write his own DIY book and/or videos! He will get to reap the rewards with you. Raise your garden & Raise your bar!! Shared and thank you for sharing!!
I had my first garden last year. I learned a lot. Most importantly do not over plant. Plants need their space. My green beams needed this awesome trellis.
This is nice! I love DIY projects!
This is great! I just love anything DIY, especially in the garden.
Thanks for the info on gardening. I want a garden this summer but don’t have a green thumb.
Great idea! Thanks for sharing!
Wow! I love it! Very unique to me. Def gonna try it. Super informative article. Thx.
So pretty! I love a trellis!
This is such a neat idea ☺️ I want to plant me a small garden this year and definitely going to try this. Thank you!
Thanks for the information I really need to do this last time I planted cucumbers didn’t use a trellis didn’t work out well
My husband is a plumber so we have plenty of pvc laying around!
I watched a program about growing tomatoes like this! Much more yield and I would love to try it!
Luv it very unique thanks for sharing
i need this for when i grow my cherry tomatoes and vine plants. great idea and seems easy to do. thank you.
Thank you for this thoughtful, helpful, practical, step-by-step instructional guide to gardening vertically!
Definitely need this!
I love how simplified you made it for everyone.
I’ll have to try this for my cucumbers.
Great idea!
You make it look so easy! Would love to try these new ideas in my backyard!
Great use of Vertical Space! I love to garden. Recently moved out of the country into a commercial building on a town square and miss my 13 raised vegetable garden beds
I need to try this come spring. This is a really good idea and would be so handy.
Great idea, I am trying to grow herbs
This is going on my honey’s todo list!
Nice Products
Great idea!
Great PVC garden trellis…looks like it would hold up well during all seasons.
I look forward to your posts on gardening. Thank you
Vertical gardening is beautiful and it’s a space saver.
Great idea. Thanks!
I love this! Thanks for the step by step instructions on what to buy and even how much it cost. So informative! I will have to try this in the spring when we get ready to do our garden.
Thank You
Great price and reusable each year is a win win in my opinion and they will allow more growing space for small areas. Thank you for sharing it with us.
This doesn’t look that difficult and I would love to try it out! You always give us great instructions!
Love the trellis. Going to share the idea with my daughter for her garden. Thanks.
Such a versatile material that is! Will use this in our garden for sure
Lol, I almost forgot I came here for the secret code! Article was very interesting! I was surprised at the low cost pvc- then realized this was written quite a while ago! I had bought my pvc for my raised bed fencing at habitat restore & it was 25¢/foot! I bookmarked this article since I discovered fencing in the raised bed with no space around the raised bed makes it hard to move around in the raised bed! So while that great for my peas & cucumbers because they can climb up the fence, not so great whe trying to harvest other veggies! So next year I will move the fence further away from the raised bed & the. I will need trellis & yours will be perfect!