Build Yourself a Simple Trellis

In medieval England when a peasant tenant farmer needed a trellis for his cottage garden he didn’t go out and buy one; he made it with materials gathered from the surrounding fields and forests.  There is no reason we can’t do the same thing today, I thought as I pondered the perfect spot for a trellis in my garden.  So, into the forest I went to cut saplings.

The photo to the left shows what I came back with-a few stout maple saplings about 8 feet long. What I wanted to build was essentially a ladder. I chose the two biggest saplings for the vertical pieces, and then cut the smaller saplings into short pieces to use as the rungs of the ladder.  In addition to the vertical and horizontal elements, I also used more pieces from the smaller saplings for angular cross bracing.

I wasn’t entirely true to the medieval cottage garden, though; I drilled pilot holes through the cross braces and rungs with a power drill and then used wood screws to put it all together. I could have used strong cord or wire to fasten all the pieces together, but I was feeling that life was too short for such a project. I also reasoned that, once the Sweet Autumn Clematis (Clematis paniculata ) that I planted on it grew to full size, most of the trellis wouldn’t be seen anyhow.

The photo at right shows the finished trellis with the Clematis already climbing it. I like the way the uprights bow out slightly at the top and how the “rungs” and cross braces are different lengths. It looks simple, rustic, and low-tech, which is exactly the effect I wanted against the high tech, manufactured siding of my tool shed. Because of the limited space available it is also narrow–only 18 inches at its widest point.

If you find yourself needing a trellis, why not build one? If you don’t own a forest where you can cut saplings, try the brush pile at the local landfill or ask a local tree service to save a few for you. I’m sure they would happily provide them at little or no cost. A trellis like this is simple and quick to build and can be built to suit the available space. If you ask me, it also looks much more fitting in an informal, natural setting than something machine made.