DIY Pea Trellis

Do your peas need a good place to climb? This DIY pea trellis is sturdy and easy to build. It works great for peas, cucumbers, or any other vining plant with small produce. When placed in the garden, it isn’t an eye sore like some of those metal cages. As you can tell I’m in love with my new pea trellis.

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Even Gregor Mendel Would Like this DIY Pea Trellis

I love sweet peas. I grow lots of them in the garden in the spring, so that I can enjoy them all year long. After harvesting them, I’ll blanch and freeze them for later. During the winter, I can toss them in a dish or serve them as a side dish. But my very favorite way to eat peas is frozen. Frozen sweet peas are one of my favorites. I’ll eat a handful while making dinner or when I get the afternoon munchies.

Peas like to grow tall and climb on everything. In the past, I’ve tried the wire tomato cages commonly sold this time of year. They are not quite tall enough for the peas. Plus it makes them very difficult to harvest. Peas tend to grow on one side of the plant. If that side happens to be the inside of the round cage, then harvesting gets to be a bit of a pain. These also don’t hold up well with much weight. So I had to come up with a new plan.

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We built a new DIY pea trellis for the raised bed we built when we moved. So far I’m loving it! It’s strong enough to withstand severe weather and strong winds. The peas are loving it too. The lattice is small enough that they can easily climb up and weave themselves in. A flat trellis makes it much easier to harvest them as well. That means the only thing left if to shuck the peas and get them in the freezer.

I have spent many summer afternoons sitting on my front porch shucking peas. I even have a special pea shucking song. Yes, I’m sort of nerdy that way. The song is done by my favorite band, The Alfred Packer Memorial String Band from Lawrence, Kansas. They sing funny, nerdy, bluegrass songs. I first saw them at a bluegrass festival with my grandparents. Papa got me a shirt and both of their albums because I was so in love. He still keeps an eye out for them at any local bluegrass festivals. My pea shucking song is The Ballad of Gregor Mendel. Gregor Mendel helped discover genetics through his pea research. His pea experiments taught us about heredity and dominant vs recessive genes. Although the people of his time found his research silly, after his death his research was deemed accurate and relevant.

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Why Use a DIY Pea Trellis

It saves space. By encouraging the plants to grow vertically you will save space in the garden. This means you will have room to grow more things, which is always a positive.
The peas will be easier to harvest. When the plants have something to climb the pea pods are able to spread out and are more easily found for harvest. They are so much easier to see when they have space to climb.
The insects will leave more for you. When the peas can climb, the insects tend to leave them alone. Save yourself some trouble by building a DIY pea trellis.
The plants will be healthier. Peas are designed to climb. They can’t stand up by themselves very well without a little support. When they get too heavy to hold themselves up they lay in the dirt or break. This doesn’t lend itself to healthy plants.

How to Build a DIY Pea Trellis

To build this DIY pea trellis we used an 8 foot long lattice, and 12 feet of a 1×2 board. The screws were some we already had in the garage. They were around 1 inch long.

First you will need to cut the boards with a circular saw. Cut the lattice in half so that you have two 4 foot long pieces. Cut two pieces of the 1×2 board to five feet long. These will be the legs. The last 2 feet of the 1×2 will be the center brace.
Next lay down the lattice pieces one on top of the other, so that it is twice as tall. Put the legs on either side making sure they go all the way to the top. Attach them to the lattice using a drill and screws.
Then on the same side, place the 2 foot long brace in roughly the middle. It can be attached with screws as well.
It’s finally time to place this DIY pea trellis in the garden.

Tips for Using the DIY Pea Trellis in the Garden

Make sure you place the trellis with space on either side. This will allow you to plant on both sides and double your produce. Don’t worry the peas won’t mind sharing their space. When doing so, be cognizant of the path of the sun. The peas on both sides will want some sunlight.

If you have trouble getting it deep enough into the garden bed, try digging the holes out by hand first. The closer the lattice is to the ground, the easier it will be for the peas to climb the lattice. We left ours slightly above the level of the soil because we plan on adding more soil and compost to the top each year.