Make an Archway Garden

Create a simple archway to support them and you'll not only have a useful trellis, but also an eye-catching focal point along a path or in virtually any sunny spot in your yard.

Climbing vegetables like peas, beans, and cucumbers provide fresh food for your table, but that's not all: You can also use them to decorate your landscape. Create a simple archway to support them and you'll not only have a useful trellis, but also an eye-catching focal point along a path or in virtually any sunny spot in your yard.

Choose galvanized wire panel for a super-sturdy arch, or garden fencing for a lighter look. Either way, you'll need a couple of friends to help you bend the arch material and hold it in place while you fasten it to the stakes.

How to make your own archway garden

Materials needed

- Galvanized wire panel* or roll of heavy gauge wire garden fencing, 20 feet long (or cut to size)

- Gloves

- Bolt cutters (optional)

- Goggles (if using bolt cutters)

- Four 4- to 10-foot pieces of ½" thick rebar

- Mallet or hammer

- Long zip-ties

- Miracle-Gro® Garden Soil for Vegetables and Herbs

- Vegetable plants or seeds (vining types)

- Miracle-Gro® LiquaFeed® All Purpose Plant Food

* available at fence supply companies, feed stores, ranch/farm supply stores, or online

Steps

1. Find a level, sunny spot in your yard.

2. If needed, cut fencing to size with bolt cutters. Be sure to protect your eyes.

3. Ask two friends to bend the wire panel or fencing into an arch and hold it upright. Drive a rebar stake into the ground at each corner, then attach the panel or fencing to it with zip-ties. (Trim the ends of the zip-ties for a neater look.)

4. Work a 3-inch layer of Miracle-Gro® Garden Soil for Vegetables and Herbs into the top 6 to 8 inches of native soil around the outsides of both bases of the arch.

5. Plant the vegetables on the outsides of the arch and water them thoroughly. If you're sowing seeds, follow the directions on the seed packet.

6. Give your plants an inch of water a week, if there's not enough rain. You may also need to help guide the vining veggies onto the wire as they grow.

7. After a month, begin feeding the plants with Miracle-Gro® LiquaFeed® All Purpose Plant Food to give them a nutritional boost. Follow the directions on the bottle.