What Garden Trellis You Should Be Using, Based On What You're Growing

As you hone your gardening skills, plant spacing and seed starting aren't the only things you need to learn. If you decide to grow trailing or vining plants, it's important to know what trellis you should be using. There are many different garden trellis structures you can use for growing food, and despite their similar functions, not all the various types can be used interchangeably. Each climbing crop you grow may be best served with a certain type of support. Depending on what's in your beds, an A-frame, metal wire arch, or flat string trellis — or a combination of these — might be right for your plants.

Trellises primarily provide both vertical and horizontal support for plants, but they also have other benefits. They can help make more efficient use of your garden real estate by allowing you to grow vertically, and they can also keep your homegrown produce cleaner and encourage certain crops to grow straight rather than curved. As you begin to choose the best structure for your growing purposes and ponder where to locate it, there are a couple of things you'll want to consider. Most gardeners will want a model that's at least 6 feet tall. And whichever type you decide on, think about your sunlight — you'll need to plant crops on the south side of the trellis to make sure the plants don't get too much shade.

Since different vegetable crops have different growth styles and support needs, it's worth exploring the functions of various styles of trellises. For instance, a trellis made of a horizontal top bar welded on top of two vertical metal posts looks very much like a goal post, but when you hang strings from the top, it's the perfect support for growing climbing beans. Both peas and tomatoes can also be trained to grow up strings, though with tomatoes, you will need to give them a little help by attaching the vines with either strings or clamps.

String isn't the right support the heavier garden crops though, so for vining squash, melons, and cucumbers, you'll need something sturdier. One of the types of DIY trellises you can use for either heavier or lighter veggies is a metal wire arch. You can make one of these out of cattle panels bent into an arch shape. A metal wire arch will work beautifully for growing heavier crops like melons, as well as small winter squash and pumpkins. However, each of these heavy fruits will need the additional support of a sling, such as panty hose or mesh produce bags. Another type you might want to try is an A-frame — an easy DIY garden trellis that'll change your plant growing game. An A-frame can help save space for climbing zucchini varieties as well as cucumbers, while allowing the latter to grow straight instead of curling.