5 budget garden trellis ideas to upgrade your climbers without breaking the bank

You don't have to break the bank to make a trellis look good – in fact, you can put plenty of budget garden trellis ideas to use without splurging.

Some of the best garden trellis ideas can be achieved at a small price, but as with other budget garden ideas, you'll need a few DIY tricks and some creativity up your sleeve.

That's why we've rounded up our favourite budget garden trellis ideas, backed by a panel of trusted garden experts, to give you a little inspiration.

1. Give it a fresh lick of paint

If you already own a trellis but it's looking a little worse for wear, one of the easiest budget garden trellis ideas is giving it some fresh colour or treatment. It'll save you from having to spend money replacing it, and you can use the product on other structures around the garden once you've finished revamping your trellis.

'You can stain your own trellis with very diluted exterior paint or just use bought stain to create colour and interest in your garden space,' says garden designer Harriet Worsley.

Where to buy wood stain and paint:

• B&Q: Try Ronseal's 10 Year Woodstain.
• Amazon: Go for colour with Cuprinol Garden Shades Exterior Woodcare in Seagrass

2. Grow climbing plants from scratch

A trellis can be one of the best garden screening ideas once it's covered with one (or more) fast-growing climbing plants, ideal for creating privacy in your garden or patio.

Growing plants like sweet peas from seed is an affordable way to decorate a garden trellis on a budget. Plus, there are so many varieties to choose from, like this range of sweet pea seeds from Sarah Raven.

3. Repurpose a ladder

Making a trellis on a budget is the perfect upcycling idea for the garden, as you can repurpose something like an old ladder.

‘You can encourage plants to climb and grow up the ladder rungs and attach the wooden ladders to a wall or fence, and even just lean them up against the wall,’ says Steve Chilton, garden expert at LeisureBench.

The best part is that you don’t really have to do much to turn a ladder into a DIY trellis, other than attach the climbing plants to it, because the structure is already there.

Steve Chilton

Steve is a passionate and knowledgeable garden expert with several years of experience within the field. As the director of LeisureBench, an industry-leading garden furniture company, Steve has developed strong expertise for all things nature and plants.

4. Turn wire mesh into a trellis

If you want a near-invisible trellis that will make your climbing plants stand out, then wire mesh is the best option.

‘Using wire mesh as a trellis can be sturdy and very affordable, as well as easy to put up on a wall or a fence,' says Steve. 'Wire mesh also blends in quite well, so if you're looking for your plants to grow up tall without having a highly visible trellis, this is a great option.'

For this, you can either use fencing mesh or chicken wire, both of which are incredibly affordable and can be bought from as little as £7 for one metre.

Where to buy wire mesh:

• B&Q: Blooma Dark green PVC-coated Mesh screen, 5m
• Amazon: MAIYADUO Floristry Chicken Wire, 1m

5. Make a trellis from bamboo poles

If you're a fan of the organic look, using bamboo poles to create a trellis grid is a great option, as they are both a very sustainable and affordable material to source. But make sure you opt for the thicker poles rather than skinny bamboo canes, which wouldn’t offer enough support for your climbers and could break over time.

‘Bamboo poles can be arranged into a format that works just like a trellis,' says Steve. 'Although this method might be a bit difficult to put together, it is cheaper and will offer quite a natural look.'

You can use some string to tie the poles together rather than nails or screws to reinforce the natural look, if that’s what you’re going for.

Where to buy bamboo poles:

• Amazon: Thick bamboo canes.
• B&Q: Pack of 10 bamboo plant support canes.

6. Get an expanding trellis

Most store-bought trellises from the likes of hardware stores and garden centres tend to be quite affordable, as long as they’re made from softwood timber.

‘Some would probably be available in garden centres or hardware stores for around £20, and of course it would be much quicker to just buy one instead of making your own,’ Steve says.

By far, the cheapest type of trellis is an expanding trellis, so if you don’t feel like DIY-ing your trellis and don’t want to spend much, this is an excellent option.

‘The most cost-effective is expanding trellis, which can be picked up from DIY and bargain home stores from just £4 to £5,’ says Thomas Goodman, property expert at MyJobQuote.co.uk, the UK’s leading trades matching site.

Where to buy an expanding garden trellis:

• Amazon: Generic Heavy Duty Expanding Trellis
• Primrose: Heavy Duty Wooden Expanding Trellis

7. Make your own trellis out of timber battens or pallets

Similarly to arranging bamboo poles into a trellis, you can do the same with newly-bought timber batten. Or, you can upcycle an old pallet and repurpose its slats.

‘Use framing lumber and make your own trellis by coating it with sealer to make it more weather-resistant,’ says Petar Ivanov, Fantastic Gardeners' gardening expert. ‘You can also use recycled pallets, which you can disassemble and use the slats as you like.’

Thomas adds, ‘You can make your own trellis from treated timber battens. Thin, treated battens of softwood can be found at your local timber yard or fencing supplier for between 30p and 70p per metre. However, you will also need some nails to fix the wood together and screws to fix the trellis to your wall or fence.’

Where to buy timber:

• B&Q: Smooth Planed Square Edge Redwood Pine Stripwood
• Wickes: Sawn Kiln Dried

FAQs

Is it cheaper to make your own trellis?

Whether a homemade trellis ends up being cheaper than a store-bought one largely depends on your chosen materials, but if you opt to upcycle materials that you already own, then it is certainly cheaper to do that than to buy a ready-made trellis from a store.

‘The best option if you want a cheap garden trellis is to make it yourself,' says gardening expert Steve. 'It would be cheaper to make your own if you're reusing materials such as wire and ladders, as you might already own them.'

There are plenty of budget garden trellis ideas to choose from, and they don’t need to be expensive as long as you use a bit of creativity – so have fun with it!