Raised Garden Beds with DIY Trellises

Do you have an area in your yard that is just a complete and total eyesore?  We sure do (a few of them, actually) But there’s this good sized garage in the back of our house, and it has bugged me since the first day we stepped foot on this property.

When we bought this house, the roof of the garage was caving in and plants were growing from it, lol, so I thought a new roof would make it not stand out so much, but boy was I wrong—still, VERY MUCH an eyesore.   

Although I started a raised herb garden already this year, I’ve been wanting to start a vegetable garden too, and because it finally seems like the weather here in Rhode Island is going to be consistently warm, I got this genius idea, to create my garden in front of the garage.  This area of the yard gets consistent sun throughout the day, so I decided to purchase 4 Better Homes & Gardens raised garden beds.

And to use as a stake for my vegetables, as well as a sort of screen I decided to add on some DIY trellises.  Now this garden won’t be my first rodeo, butI have to be honest, every time I’ve started a vegetable garden, I’m usually just sort of trying it out and then hoping for the best, so this year is my year to take it a bit more seriously.

Raised Garden Beds

I had contemplated building a few raised garden beds, but when I came across these from Better Homes & Gardens, at under $65, it was a no brainer—so I purchased 3 and then quickly realized, 4 would fill out the space even better.  I love, love love these nifty little beds, because they don’t take up too much space, and keep things nicely contained.  My daughter’s boyfriend put them together for me, but he said they were really easy to assemble, and took less than 10 minutes each. 

Once the raised garden beds were together, I put them in place and stapled landscape fabric to the bottom.

Filling the Garden Beds

To fill the garden beds we used a layer of yard debris (leaves and other organic matter, like logs and sticks, then we layered some Natural & Organic Container Mix soil, and then topped it off with a few bags of Better Homes & Gardens Raised Garden Bed Soil.

Simple DIY Trellis 

I created a very simple trellis design, using 1x2s and garden stakes.

1. First, I cut my side pieces to size, I decided on 48″for the height.
2. Next, I cut the top piece to my desired width (48”) and mitered each end for aesthetic purposes.
3. I then attached my side pieces to the inside of the garden bed, using my nail gun and brad nails(and later secured it with wood screws).  I attached them so that 41” of the 48″ 1×2, extended beyond the garden bed.
4. Next, I put the cap piece on top of the two side supports. Positioning the wood so that it’s flush with the back of the 1x2s.  Attaching with brad nails from the top.
5. Next is the tricky part.  I decided on an “X” pattern for my trellises.  Although I could have just done something simpler, like a lattice pattern, I decided on the “X” to mimic the railings on the front of our house.   I took one garden stake and positioned it diagonally between the side supports and then secured it directly under the cap. on the top left side, and behind the side support (1×2) on the bottom right. I used my nail gun and brad nails to secure this.  I then took the other garden stake, and placed it diagonally behind the first garden stake, and secured it to the underside of the left cap on the top, and behind the 1×2 (side support) on the bottom right.
6. Lastly,  I secured the side supports with screws, and added additional nails wherever additional support was needed.

I’m obsessed with how these turned out.  I may go back and add in some additional supports to create a sort of “asterisk” style, for additional support for more trailing vegetables, but for now, I think this is a good start.  I will also have to add in some chicken wire to keep the animals out.  (If you watched my stories while I was putting these together you’ll remember that I saw a deer and a wild turkey with her babies scoping out my garden beds, so I’ll have to protect them at all costs, lol).

If you find that you create this and need more points of connection for your trailing plants/veggies, you can also screw some screws to the back of the supports and string some garden training wire across it to attach your plants to.

What I’m Planting

In my garden beds so far,  I’m planting a few of the chocolate tomato plants, some squash, zucchini, cucumbers, sugar snap peas, and peppers.  I’m also going to give some rainbow carrots a try from seed.

My garden’s Accessories

I’m using this cute little caddy to carry my plants and garden tools.  It’s actually meant for dinnerware, but works perfectly for this purpose.  Here I have 6 plants, my shovel and some garden gloves!

Also, no garden is complete without a cute watering can.  I have this one in black and plain galvanized metal.

I’m also thinking of ways to incorporate lanterns into the diy trellises.  This week was a bit crazy with our daughter graduating and prom, etc . . . but once I have a little more time, I may create a bracket to hang either some lanterns or solar lighting.  Better Homes & Gardens has really stepped up their game with the outdoor lighting this year.  They have spotlights, pathway lighting, string lighting, solar pendants and more!

They also have a great selection of plants and flowers:  both annuals and perennials.  I decided to add this beautiful arrangement to this area, it’s great collection of pollinator plants, to hopefully attract all the bees to my garden.

I’ll be back to share more as my garden grows, and let you know if I decide to modify my simple trellis!

I hope June is shaping up to be a great month for you, friends! Until next time!

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