Easy DIY garden trellis with herb shelf and hanging baskets. Maximize your garden space with three levels of plants.

We built our raised garden bed several years ago and every year the tomatoes grow out of control! By July the metal wire tomato cages are overflowing and we try to weave what we can along the rope for our deck railing.
The effort made was not enough and so this year we decided to build our own DIY garden trellis. This backyard project evolved as we were building it and before we knew it, it turned into a multi level garden trellis with herb shelf and hanging baskets!
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The project went a little rogue but I’m so glad it did. After three trips to the home improvement store, this creation was complete and it came with a bonus of acting like a privacy screen from our neighbors in the subdivision.
Talk about a win all around.
- Trellis
- Herb shelf
- Hanging baskets
- Three levels of garden area
- Acts as privacy screen
This is our own personal experience. Be sure to seek professional guidance, follow manufacture instructions, practice tool safety and measure to your own trellis needs.
DIY GARDEN TRELLIS
Materials
- 12- 2″x2″x8′
- String
- 16+ small eye hooks
- 2 ½ inch exterior screws
Tools
- Drill
- Impact driver
- Drill bits
- Oscillating tool or Jig Saw
- Circular Saw
- Ladder
- Level
- Tape measure
- Speed square
- Clamps
- Pencil
- Safety glasses
We originally were going to use 2″x4″‘s for a simple garden trellis but I was concerned they were going to look too big and bulky next to our deck, and my husband was concerned that 2″x2″‘s were going to be too weak for our needs.
*Note- I’m happy to say that 2″x2″‘s were completely strong enough for this project, especially since we are using the deck railing as additional support.


CREATE A SPACE FOR THE TRELLIS SUPPORTS
Since our raised garden bed has a lip along the sides, we needed to cut part of that lip for our 2″x2″ supports to sit flush with the garden box.
For this we used an oscillating tool but you can also use a Jig Saw.


BUILT THE TRELLIS FRAME
Next we built the trellis frame and attached it to the garden box and the top support using 2 ½ inch exterior screws. Making sure everything was level as we went along.
*Note- If your garden box is on a slight slope, you may need to shave a bit off of one support to make each side level.


As we were deciding how high we wanted this DIY trellis to extend, we noticed how much more privacy it could add from our neighbors.
It was at this point we decided to keep the 8 foot height of the trellis and add additional supports, hanging baskets and a shelf for an herb garden.
ADDITIONAL TRELLIS SUPPORT
We cut to length one 2″x2″ and attached it under the deck railing, and onto the trellis, in three different areas. Then we added an additional cross beam for more support and to act as a shelf for our herb garden.


A third and final trip was made to the home improvement store and we were making some great progress on this DIY trellis.
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HERB SHELF
The span between our trellis frame and deck railing is 13 inches wide. So we purchased 6 additional 2″x2″x8’s, for a total of 7, to make up the shelf. We spaced them approximate ½ inch apart from one another to allow water to flow through the grates as we watered the plants.


DIY TOMATO TRELLIS
Back at the garden bed we attached eye hooks every 6 inches on both ends of the frame. We skipped the middle post and chose to wrap the string around the post before reaching the other side of the garden bed.
However, we found it easier not to end the string here, but to slip the string into the eye hook and continue up and down each row until finally we tired it off at the bottom corner.


We added additional string vertically from the top of the herb shelf to the bottom horizontal string. Wrapping the string around each cross section and tying it off at the bottom.
This will allow our tomatoes to be able to weave in and out of the string and trellis for the extra support they need.
GARDEN TRELLIS PRIVACY WALL
Inadvertently, we created a privacy wall with our hanging flower baskets. It was a nice little surprise once we saw the potential and decided on some flowers and two hanging strawberry baskets. Of course the wall isn’t perfect, but it’s a nice touch of beauty and privacy.


MULTI LEVEL DIY GARDEN TRELLIS
This simple little project was only supposed to be a trellis for our tomatoes. But with a little creativity we were able to triple our garden space and add so much beauty to this area that used to be an after thought.
Of course this design works so well because our deck is only about 18 inches off the ground and our raised garden bed just happed to be along the side of the deck.

EASY PLANTER BOX VEGETABLE IDEAS
- Tomatoes
- Peppers
- Carrots
- Leafy Greens
- Cucumbers
- Spinach & Beets
- Peas & Beans
- Radishes & More!
Potted Herb Ideas
- Mint
- Basil
- Parsley
- Chives
- Sage
- Tarragon
- Cilantro
- Oregano
- Thyme, Rosemary & More!
I hope you enjoyed this DIY garden trellis idea and we’ll see you on our next project.
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