How to Make a DIY Teepee Trellis (In 5 Steps)

How to make a DIY teepee trellis

Make Your Own Bean Teepee Trellis

I was working in my greenhouse the other day and had the idea to build a trellis for my sugar snap peas and pole beans. After some brainstorming, I decided to try to make a DIY teepee trellis!

Not only is this cost-effective and easy to make, but it’s also super fun for the kids. It encourages them to play in the garden, and they can also snack their little hearts out while I am pulling weeds and pruning tomato plants.

Here are 5 easy steps to building your own teepee trellis:

Step 1. Prepare your ground

Preparing the ground for diy teepee trellis

I have a gravel “parking lot” for my garden, so I do all of my gardening in raised beds and containers. To prepare my ground, I found a nice, flat spot, about 6 feet in diameter, and placed 6 large containers in a semi-circle. I left room for the entrance to the teepee.

I then filled my containers with good potting soil and aged horse manure and planted my sugar snap pea starts in the containers. I’ll add pole beans after the danger of the last spring frost is gone.

Note: You could also simply plant seeds in the containers rather than starts. And if you have a nice garden that doesn’t require containers or raised beds, you can just clear a 6″ round area and use it.

Step 2. Gather your sticks

Sticks for bean teepee trellis

My friend Jobey had recently pruned a large tree in her backyard, so she let me come by and collect enough branches for my teepee trellis. I cut 12 branches about 6 feet long.

Step 3. Make a tripod

DIY teepee trellis tripod

To start, I took three branches and created a tripod. I placed the bottoms of each branch in a pot. Then I secured the top of the tripod, where all the branches came together, with garden twine.

Step 4. Add your other sticks

bean teepee trellis

I added the remaining 9 branches, and again, wrapped them with twine to keep them secure. For the most part, each container had 2 branches.

Step 5. Add additional string

Adding string to the DIY teepee trellis

With 6-9 plants in each container, I was concerned that they would have a hard time finding only 1 or 2 branches to latch on to, so I decided to add some additional string, giving the vines some alternative ways to climb. Talk about spoiling my plants rotten, right? In central Oregon, you kind of have to do that…otherwise they get crabby and won’t grow.

So I added a horizontal string to the top and bottom areas and then strung vertical lines between the two. This gives the lil guys a few more options. After that, my DIY teepee trellis was finished!

Grow, vines, grow!

Once you’re done building your teepee trellis, it’s time to water and watch! If you plant beans right away, you’ll probably have to cover them on cold nights, but the peas are just fine regardless of the temperature.

I am hoping that by the end of the summer, the teepee looks just like this:

Wouldn’t that be grand? All those sugar snap peas and green beans playfully plucked by my little ones while they play with trucks and fairy princess wings.

What creative things are you coming up with for your garden? I am always on the lookout for new and fun ways to grow, save money and space, and provide fresh produce for my family. Please share!

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DIY pole bean teepee trellis

Comments

  • Ok lovely fruGALS, this is cute and all, but I just saw it on a certain bespectacled someone’s blog 2 days ago. Extreme coincidence in timing?

  • So I see this was from last year’s gardening season… did it work? Do you have any follow up comments or advice for me as I attempt it with my snap peas this year?

    • Hi Hillary, thanks for asking! After building this and growing both sugar snap peas and pole beans on it, I figured out that the pole beans grew best. The peas need wire and/or string to cling to…but the pole beans can wrap their stems around the branches of the teepee. If you want it to be nice and full, make sure to plant lots and lots of beans. And the kiddos liked hiding in it and parking Tonka trucks in it too. Good luck!

  • Thanks Dana. Good to know. We’ll stick with the pole beans. Can’t wait to try it out- thanks to your tutorial!

  • Hillary, I will also say this: I planted this more for fun for the kids than to produce a maximum yield of green beans. I used these pole beans to supplement my bush bean garden, which, I believe, grows better, produced more, and is a better tasting green bean. So if you are looking for a lot of beans for canning or for a nice side dish, bush beans are my suggestion. if you are looking for a really fun way to add some character and interest to your garden, as well as help your little ones learn more about gardening in a fun way, the teepee is a great way to do it. again, good luck and have a great growing season!

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