The Best DIY Green Pea Trellis Ideas (For Any Budget)

Do you need a simple, inexpensive way to support pea plants, keeping them healthier and easier to harvest? No elaborate, expensive materials required.

If so, you don’t want to miss these great DIY green pea trellis ideas! A simple, reliable trellis can be made from materials you might already have lying around the house. You only need to add the pea seeds.

Happy Trellis To You

If you know how to grow peas, then you probably already know that certain plants are just happier and healthier when grown on a trellis! 

That’s why I’ve shared garden trellis ideas like this cattle panel trellis arch, easy DIY cucumber trellis, a sturdy grape vine trellis, and a trellis to Florida weave tomatoes. But there’s one more trellis that people keep asking for: a super inexpensive trellis for peas. 

Why Peas Need a Trellis

The first thing most gardeners get wrong when planting peas is not providing adequate trellising! If you are growing a variety of non-self-supporting peas, you need to provide ample trellising space. 

If you don’t have enough trellis, your pea plants will grow up, exceed the trellis, then fall over and the stems will snap. Or if you provide no trellising at all and they need it, they’re going to grow up, get top-heavy, and flop over in a giant mess. Either of these scenarios can result in dead or diseased plants with very little yield. 

For an in-depth look at which pea varieties need trellising and which don't, and info to help you choose the best variety for your garden, I highly recommend reading Different Types of Peas!

Ideas For Trellising Peas

Peas will gladly climb any available trellis, but some methods give you better results than others. Here are my top choices for trellising peas:

You all know that I love growing on our cattle panel trellises. They look super cool, and climbing peas do great on them! I would definitely recommend a cattle panel trellis for peas that need a lot of support.

A DIY cucumber trellis works great too, if you want a smaller or more temporary trellis for your peas. This design uses heavy-duty nylon trellis netting that supports up to 60 pounds and 5 to 6-foot-tall plants! It is inexpensive, durable, and reusable year after year. 

But some people want to save these bigger, more costly trellises for other crops. After all, peas are an inexpensive, fast-season crop that doesn’t last all summer. You’ll be lucky if your peas last into early July.

Which brings me to this simple and super inexpensive ladder trellis design that I am going to show you how to build. It is a great method, even for other climbing veggies, to keep them off the ground.

Essential Materials & Tools

Here are the supplies you need to build one of the cheapest trellises out there:

• Stakes - You will need a stake for every foot of trellis length, plus one on each end. I used wooden furring stakes because they are very inexpensive. You can usually buy them in 3-foot, 4-foot, and 7-foot heights. (Make sure you have enough trellis height to support the variety of peas that you will be growing by buying tall enough stakes!)

• Twine - I used butcher’s twine, but it will absorb water over time because it is cotton, and start to sag. Jute twine or baling twine would work very well if you have some on hand. Pro-Tip: If you are growing a vegetable with a longer season than peas, definitely use baling twine or some kind of plastic or nylon-based twine that will hold up in the weather and sun for the entire season.

• Scissors - You will need scissors to cut the twine.

Green Pea Trellis Instructions

Follow these step-by-step instructions to build a simple ladder trellis:

1. Amend Soil - Get your soil ready for planting before setting up the trellis. If you’re not sure what soil amendments peas need, read our complete growing guide on How to Grow Peas!

2. First Stake - Where you want your trellis to start, push a stake into the soil deep enough that it feels sturdy and not very wobbly. Make sure that it is slightly angled away from the direction you want the trellis to run. It will be pulled toward the center when you tighten the twine, which will straighten it out.

3. Center Stakes - At one-foot intervals, push stakes into the ground for center supports. These should stand straight up.

4. Final Stake - At the end of the trellis, push a stake into the soil angled slightly away from the other stakes. Push it deep enough that it feels sturdy and won’t push over.

5. Plant Peas - It is very important that you plant the pea seeds directly in line with the trellis stakes. I recommend planting them densely. Once they start growing, it may seem like they are trampling each other on the trellis, but it doesn’t really matter because they don’t choke themselves out as other plants would.

6. Secure the Twine to the Stake - Tie the end of the twine to the first wooden stake about an inch above the ground with a strong knot.

7. Wrap Twine Around Stakes - Pull the twine towards the next stake and wrap it around the stake once or twice, about an inch off the ground, making sure the twine is tight between the two stakes. Repeat for all of the center stakes.

8. Wrap Around End Stake - Make sure the twine is taut down the entire row, then secure it one inch up the bottom of the final trellis stake by wrapping it around twice. Don’t cut the twine at the end of the row; you need to go back the other direction!

9. Go Back the Other Direction - Keeping the twine at the same height, reverse directions and repeat the process, running the twine back down the row you just strung, but on the opposite side of the stakes.

10. Wrap Around First Stake - When the first row is complete, wrap the string around the stake you started on. Then continue to wrap it around the stake one or two more times, moving upwards as you do until the twine is 2 ½ to 3 inches higher than the first row.

11. Make the Second Row - Repeat steps 7-9 at this new height.

12. End the Second Row - When the second row is complete, wrap the string around the stake you started on. Then continue wrapping it around the stake, moving upwards as you do, until the twine is 2 ½ to 3 inches higher than the previous row.

13. Continue Making Rows - Repeat steps 7-10, with each successive row 2 ½ to 3 inches higher up the trellis until you are almost to the top of your stakes.

14. Tie the Twine on the First Stake - After completing the top row, tie the twine securely near the top of the stake you started on.

Training Plants on The Trellis

And that's all it takes to build your own green pea trellis! As your pea plants grow, just make sure the stems grow up the middle of the channels of twine, not on either side of them, so that the plants are adequately supported. 

Check on them regularly so you can tuck the tops of the plants into the middle of the channels if needed. It will become harder and harder to catch up as your plants get bigger.