I needed a trellis for cucumbers and other vegetable vines. Commercially available products were cost prohibitive and not an ideal fit to my garden. My intent was to design an ecofriendly, low cost product with least material.
This trellis provides 8'x5' vertical growing space, I have used total of 5 2x4's, and rest is mounting hard ware, screws and 100' ft of 1/4" rope. I have used a drill, driver and circular saw for this project.
2-2x4's form the side frames, I have inclined the trellis at angle of 15 degree which provides better sun exposure. Supporting legs form 45 degree angle with the main leg, this will provide sufficient stability for up to 30 mph wind assuming 50% of trellis is open.
2 2x4's are used for top and bottom plates and one stud is cut in to 4 - 2 ft pieces to form top. Have drilled 5/8" holes on top and bottom plates and sides.
For netting I tied the horizontals first and then rolled verticals around each horizontal before tying it at top. This gives good support to horizontals.
Being a novice in woodwork I quickly realized that screws parallel to grain do not have much strength, I added 4 corner braces at the connection of top and bottom plates, this help stabilize the frame.
Friends and neighbors seems to be excited about the prospect of cucumber, squashes and bitter melons hanging from the trellis. It has received very positive response from neighbor next door and vegetable grower friend of mine.
Overall it was a good experience total cost was 18$, I wished I had a miter saw, working with a circular saw is a bit tough and cuts are not always at correct angles, but it can be done with just a circular saw.
I needed a trellis for cucumbers and other vegetable vines. Commercially available products were cost prohibitive and not an ideal fit to my garden. My intent was to design an ecofriendly, low cost product with least material. This trellis provides 8'x5' vertical growing space, I have used total of 5 2x4's, and rest is mounting hard ware, screws and 100' ft of 1/4" rope. I have used a drill, driver and circular saw for this project. 2-2x4's form the side frames, I have inclined the trellis at angle of 15 degree which provides better sun exposure. Supporting legs form 45 degree angle with the main leg, this will provide sufficient stability for up to 30 mph wind assuming 50% of trellis is open. 2 2x4's are used for top and bottom plates and one stud is cut in to 4 - 2 ft pieces to form top. Have drilled 5/8" holes on top and bottom plates and sides. For netting I tied the horizontals first and then rolled verticals around each horizontal before tying it at top. This gives good support to horizontals. Being a novice in woodwork I quickly realized that screws parallel to grain do not have much strength, I added 4 corner braces at the connection of top and bottom plates, this help stabilize the frame. Friends and neighbors seems to be excited about the prospect of cucumber, squashes and bitter melons hanging from the trellis. It has received very positive response from neighbor next door and vegetable grower friend of mine. Overall it was a good experience total cost was 18$, I wished I had a miter saw, working with a circular saw is a bit tough and cuts are not always at correct angles, but it can be done with just a circular saw.
