Evan X. Merz

I wanted to build a trellis for my peas this year, so I searched the internet and was immediately overwhelmed with AI slop. There were dozens of pages written by AI featuring trellises with impossible geometry and instructions that say "assemble your materials then follow the instructions to complete the trellis."

So I had to take what I could find and design something from scratch.

I'm not an expert woodworker, so these plans aren't a work of genius. However, I think they're a good starting point inasmuch as they are actual working plans that weren't generated by AI. If you are a more experienced woodworker and you make an improved version of this trellis, then share it with me on social media.

Here's what the final product looks like.

Here's how to build it. Click through each of the steps in the tabs to see my hand drawn illustrations.

For materials, I used eight foot long redwood 2x2s from Home Depot. These cost around $6 near me. Since I needed five 2x2s, the lumber cost around $30. I used a four foot long quarter inch pine dowel which cost around $1. I used screws and glue that I had lying around.

I used screws to attach the legs and crossbars, however, this results in a frame that is unstable. So I had to glue the string hooks in place in order to prevent it from folding up horizontally.

For tools, I used my table saw, a drill with 1/4 inch and 3/8 inch bits, a tape measure, a screwdriver, and a pair of scissors to cut the twine.

You could probably build this more cheaply by buying three 2x4s, and ripping them in half. I only used redwood 2x2s because I had them leftover from a previous project.

The only difficult part about cutting this project is making the string hooks. I cut small tenons to tie the strings off, but you could easily just put notches into the 3.5 inch pieces and wrap the strings around them.

If you build this trellis, or a version of it, then share it with me on social media. I'd love to see it!