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How to Build an Arched DIY Garden Arbor and Plant Trellis – Woodworking Plans

Written by Cassity

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Arched Vegetable Garden Arbor Diy Woodworking Plans #remodelaholic

Need to add a ARCH in your garden this year to grow your plants on?  How about building your own with a wire plant trellis following these DIY garden arbor woodworking plans. 

Arched DIY Garden Arbor + Plant Trellis

This post contains affiliate links. Learn more and read our full disclosure policy here.

We love a good vegetable garden!  We spent a lot of time getting  the raised beds and concrete patio in place last year in our back yard!!  You can see all our current backyard projects we’ve worked on here if you are interested.  Now that all the main layout and structural elements of the yard are in place, we can start working on some of the fun *extra* stuff.

One thing we wanted last year is a bit more height in our garden.   So, we decided to build a DIY garden arbor first thing this year.  We are so excited to let the cucumbers, grape tomatoes and another few great vine plants grow up the arbor!  It will be awesome to walk under it and pick dinner!  I tell you – it’ll be magical!!

Arched Vegetable Garden Arbor Diy Woodworking Plans #remodelaholic

Total Cost

The best news is that, it was pretty simple to make and it only took a day to build it.

The total cost was just over $100.

That sounds good to me considering similar arbors cost anywhere from $250 bucks and they are not customized to my space…

Other Uses for the Arch?

Also, it may just be me, but I think this might be a fun arbor to build for a wedding or a reception, like we did for our portable wood wedding arch!  The Gothic arch on the arbor is so pretty and with a climbing flowering vine on it… again magical!  Don’t ya think?

Vegetable Garden Arbor DIY Plans (4 of 5)

Fabulous!

DIY Garden Arbor Plans

The printable woodworking plan contains the full material and cut list, templates for the horizontal support details and arch pieces, and assembly and installation instructions. The plan also includes tips for adjusting the size of the arbor.

Vegetable Garden Arbor DIY Plans 2

Final Dimensions

The finished garden arch measures

8’ 5 1/2″ (101.5”) total height, with 3’ 6” (42”) width between the posts.

You might also like: Portable Wood Arbor Wedding Arch Woodworking Plans

Tools List

  • Miter Saw
  • Circular Saw
  • Jig Saw
  • Drill
  • Orbital Sander
  • 1/2″ Drill Bit
  • Measuring Tape
  • Pocket Hole Jig (We love the Kreg Jig!)
  • Pencil
  • Bar Clamps
  • L Square
  • Printable Woodworking Plan

Supplies List

(rough lumber and hardware)

Redwood or cedar are the best wood choices for outdoors.

  • (4) 2×6 – 10′
  • (4) 2×6 – 8′
  • (2) 2×12 – 8′
  • (2) 2×4 – 4′
  • (1) 2×4 – 4′
  • (2) 4’x8′ sheets of 4″ o.c. concrete reinforcement mesh
  • (4) 1/2″ – 6″ galvanized bolts
  • (8) 1/2″ galvanized washers
  • (4) 1/2″ galvanized nuts
  • (1) box 2 1/2″ deck screws
  • (4) 1 1/2″ pocket screws (for connecting the top brace)
  • (15) 12″ plastic zip ties (or staples)
Bundle and Save 15% with the 2x Garden Arbor Woodworking Plan Bundle

5 Construction Tips

As with all of our woodworking plans, read over the entire plan before making the first cut! This can save a lot of time (and a trip back to the lumber store).

1. Make The Wood Arch Fit Your Existing Yard

When adding to an already designed back yard, mimicking some of the design elements already in place, either on your home or other structures, can help to pull things together to look very professional and cohesive.

For the ends of the garden arbor horizontal supports, I matched a design feature already existing in our backyard on the stairs that we fixed last year.  With a piece of cardboard, I made a template to trace on the ends of the new horizontal supports.

This template is included in the printable woodworking plan (you’re welcome!) — but keep in mind that this particular design element can easily be changed to something that fits your yard better if desired.

Vegetable Garden Arbor DIY Plans-7 Vegetable Garden Arbor DIY Plans-6
matching existing curve detail cutting out curve detail on horizontal supports

2. How to Make Your Wood Garden Arch Last Longer

A common problem with outdoor woodworking is dealing with wood rot. You can help minimize this by using redwood (like we used for the wedding arbor) which is naturally more rot-resistant. The stain/finish you use can also help reduce warping, aging, and rotting — be sure to select a stain and finish meant for outdoor use.

Here is our favorite tip for extending the life of  a wood garden arbor.  Angle the tops of the posts to help reduce standing water on top. Whether the water is from good old rainwater or a sprinkling system, standing water on a post significantly contributes to wood rotting. For this gothic arch arbor, we used a small 5 degree angle to keep the angle less noticeable.

Vegetable Garden Arbor DIY Plans Vegetable Garden Arbor DIY Plans-2

3. How to Level and Anchor

We decided to install the garden arbor over the path that entered into our box garden area, right off the patio.  This allowed us to anchor the arbor to the raised garden beds.  That way we didn’t need footings.

It all depends on where you what to install yours on how it needs to be anchored.  You could anchor it to a patio, concrete footings in the ground, a fence, or garden boxes like ours.  Whatever you choose to do, you must anchor your arbor, so you are safe from it blowing over in the wind or getting knocked over by climbing kiddos and hurting someone.

Before cutting the wood corner posts to the final length, check for level.  Our patio slants at a 2% grade, which made one side of the arbor 1″ taller, in order to make it level across the top.  Pictured below, is an easy way to check.  By spanning a board across with a level on top, I was able to measure the difference from the top of the leveled board to the ground.  And add the difference to the longer side.  Once the corner posts were cut to length and angled on top, screw to the side of the boxes (or secure to the other anchor options).

Vegetable Garden Arbor DIY Plans-4 Vegetable Garden Arbor DIY Plans-5

Vegetable Garden Arbor DIY Plans-20

4. How to Cut Out Wood Arches

We designed this gothic arch to be cut in two pieces, which come together at the top. To draw the arches, you’ll set up a good old-fashioned compass using a screw in a piece of scrap wood, string, and a pencil. Then you’ll use a simple L square to add the end lines where the arches will meet in the middle and attach to the side posts.

The full details, as well as a full-size template, are included in the printable woodworking plan. We’ve also included tips for adjusting the size of the arch if your walkway is narrower or wider than ours.

vegetable garden arbor

5. Tips for Assembling

After sanding (and staining, if you’d like) all the arch pieces, assembly is pretty simple. Assemble the front, then the back, and then use the supports to attach the front and back together — then attach the wire plant trellis piece. Full instructions are included in the printable woodworking plan. Here are some of our best tips.

Clamps will be your best friend! A few high-quality bar clamps make assembly on this wooden arch (and so many other projects) so much easier — especially on a piece like this arbor where we are hiding as many of the screws as possible as we sandwich the boards together.

To easy install an arch horizontal support: Measure the location, then clamp and level a spare 2×4 in position to hold the horizontal support in place.

Vegetable Garden Arbor DIY Plans-24

To easily install a top cross brace: clamp a block of wood below it while it is screwed in place.

Vegetable Garden Arbor DIY Plans-44 Vegetable Garden Arbor DIY Plans-45

What are the final dimensions?

Following our woodworking plans, the finished garden arbor measures 8’ 5 1/2″ (101.5”) total height, with 3’ 6” (42”) width between the posts.

Vegetable Garden Arbor DIY Plans-49

How to adjust the width of the garden arbor?

To adjust the width of the garden arch to a space wider or narrower than ours, adjust the width of each arch piece to be half the width of your desired opening. For your convenience, a full-sized printable arch template is included in the printable woodworking plan, with tips for adding or removing width from the arch using the template.

The depth of the garden trellis can also be adjusted if desired.

Vegetable Garden Arbor DIY Plans (2 of 5)

 What do you think?  We would love any pins or shares!

And when you build one, please send us some pictures!

Reader Built Arched Garden Arbors

Please do not re post any images from this post on any other sites.  Thanks.

Rae’s Gothic Arch Gate: Rae send us some pictures of her new gate that she and her hubby built, inspired by our Gothic arch here. They adapted it for their space (and for metric measurements!) and it looks great! See more over at Rae’s Nomady.

modified Gothic arch arbor with trellis gate, Rae's Nomady inspired by @Remodelaholic modified Gothic arch arbor with trellis gate 03, Rae's Nomady inspired by @Remodelaholic modified Gothic arch arbor with trellis gate 02, Rae's Nomady inspired by @Remodelaholic

Shelly’s Garden Arbor with Metal and Wood Raised Garden Beds: Here are some pictures of the arbor that our reader, Shelly, built. What a beautiful garden, Shelly! Thanks for sharing

Gothic Arch Garden Arbor, Reader Update, Tutorial From @Remodelaholic (2)

Shelly said:

The arbor we made ended up being a whopping 10′ tall! Because I want to grow passion fruit on this arbor, I wanted it really tall. Also, I routed the edges of the arch and the uppermost horizontal supports. The arch is so tall that you can hardly see this detail but I know it’s there and it really put a nice finished detail on the arbor.

This arbor is the crowning feature of my new 26′ x 26′ raised bed garden, which is still in production at the moment, but soil will soon be delivered and seeds will be planted (we are subtropical zone 10a).

Build A Garden Arbor With Gothic Arches For Your Climbing Vegetables, Reader Update, Tutorial From @Remodelaholic

Chris’s Stage Arch: Chris used our tutorial to build a set piece for a school play.  Note the added 4x4s across the bottom and wheels for portability–great adaptation, Chris! Thank you for sharing!

DIY Gothic Garden Arbor Built By Reader On @Remodelaholic

DIY Garden Arbor For Set Of School Play Using @Remodelaholic Tutorial

Mark’s Garden Arbor & Trellis: Mark recreated this beautiful garden arbor and attached it to 2 small raised beds, with cement paver “footings”. We love how it turned out. He is “very happy with the results.”

Reader Feature Vegetable Gardern Arbor Remodelaholic.com Veggie Garden Arbor Reader Mark Featured On Remodelaholic.com

Click HERE to purchase this woodworking plan to build your own!

OR Bundle and Save 15% with the 2x Garden Arbor Woodworking Plan Bundle

Build A Wooden Arched Garden Arbor Vegetable Trellis #remodelaholic

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Remodelaholic is a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for sites to earn advertising fees by advertising and linking to amazon.com. Please see our full disclosure here.

Published: April 23, 2014Filed Under: *Our Projects, Canyon House, DIY Project Plans, How To, Tutorials Tagged: Arbor, Canyon House Yard, Garden, Our Projects, vegetable garden

About Cassity

Cassity started Remodelaholic with her husband, Justin, to share their love for knocking out walls together. She is an interior designer, wife, and mother of two. She and Justin have remodeled three homes from top to bottom and are working on their fourth. Making a house a home is her favorite hobby.


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Comments

  1. Jake's a Girl says

    April 23, 2014 at 8:10 am

    I love it! I want the exact same thing over the beginning of my walkway.
    Thanks! I’m showing this to hubby. Love the raised beds…Those are on my list too.

    JaG

    Reply
  2. Emily says

    April 23, 2014 at 8:42 am

    Wow, that looks awesome! I would love to have one of these in my garden! Oh, and I LOVE the Aggie shirt! True Blue Aggie Fans here!

    Reply
    • Justin says

      April 23, 2014 at 4:51 pm

      Thanks for the comment! Go Aggies! We love Logan!

      Reply
    • Tracy Smith says

      May 12, 2015 at 12:23 pm

      HA! I just was coming on here to comment on the Utah State shirt! My daughter just got a full ride to USU for Basketball and will be attending her freshman year this fall (actually summer). We love our Aggies!!!

      Reply
  3. orangesugar says

    April 23, 2014 at 3:01 pm

    What type of lumber did you use? Cedar? Pressure Treated?

    Reply
    • Justin says

      April 23, 2014 at 4:52 pm

      We used Douglas Fir! Cedar was my next option.

      Reply
      • Chris says

        September 17, 2015 at 8:20 am

        Will doug fir stand up as well as cedar?

        Reply
        • Justin says

          November 18, 2015 at 12:34 pm

          Cedar or redwood is a better option

          Reply
      • Virginia Neal says

        November 11, 2020 at 8:04 am

        Are the arches cut from the 2x12s?

        Reply
        • Cass says

          November 12, 2020 at 7:17 am

          Hi Virginia: Yes, the arches are cut from the 2×12 boards. The detailed dimensions are included in the woodworking plan (as well as a full-sized template if you prefer to print instead of measure and mark). The plans are in the shop: https://shop.remodelaholic.com/collections/outdoor-woodworking-plans

          Reply
  4. Ashley says

    April 23, 2014 at 7:03 pm

    I love it! my husband and I just bought a new house and we have a bunch of paths and walkways that we want to clean up and “feature”. This would be a perfect addition at the beginning of one of the paths, thanks!!

    Reply
  5. Judi says

    May 6, 2014 at 10:43 pm

    Just this afternoon I was thinking how much I would love an arbor for a lipstick vine to climb, and tonight I happen upon your wonderful blog and this amazingly detailed post! I even have an ‘unloved’ Kreg Jig that needs to be christened! Thank you for sharing this project. Your garden is wonderful!

    Reply
  6. Karen Stutts says

    May 7, 2014 at 2:21 pm

    Wow! This is amazing. I am so sick and tired of those wire tomato hangers falling over from the wind or the weight of the tomatoes. This is a perfect answer to that, and beautiful as well. Great post!

    Reply
  7. Tracy Smith says

    May 12, 2015 at 12:26 pm

    Love the Arbor, and the garden beds! Looks like I’ll have to add this to the “maybe someday” laundry list of things I want to do in my back yard! I commented on another post already but not sure it went through – Love the Utah State shirt!! My daughter just got a full ride to USU for Basketball, WE LOVE OUR AGGIES!!! Love, Love this project! Great job! 😉

    Reply
    • Cass says

      May 12, 2015 at 4:46 pm

      Thanks for commenting — and GO AGGIES!!

      Reply
  8. Andrew says

    May 18, 2015 at 12:20 pm

    How do I adjust the arc radius if my width is 47″ instead of 40″?

    Reply
    • Cass says

      May 18, 2015 at 1:04 pm

      Hi Andrew,
      Thanks for the question! I added some info about how I would adjust it to the end of the post, since we’ve had several others ask, too! Thanks!

      Reply
  9. Lynnette says

    May 27, 2015 at 1:38 pm

    can’t print out arbor instructions?

    Reply
    • Cass says

      May 27, 2015 at 8:35 pm

      Hi Lynette,
      I just added a printer friendly button to the post to help — try it again and let me know if it works for you!

      Reply
  10. Aimee Powell says

    June 15, 2016 at 1:43 pm

    Hello. the arch is beautiful and possibly something I would like to do in the future. I was curious if you could expand on the PVC watering system that I see you have in the garden. Do you have instructions for it?

    Reply
    • Justin says

      July 5, 2016 at 3:16 pm

      Aimee, great question about the irrigation. My mother-in-law has studied the Mittleider gardening method and implimented a watering system that he came up with I guess. Anyway I found a video online of one that was done similar. Ours is 3/4″ PVC with holes drilled in the bottom to let the water out. Check out this video it may help more. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LV2pK94dBt8

      Reply
  11. Susan mansbridge says

    June 25, 2017 at 5:00 pm

    I was looking for an arbour to build for my daughters wedding next summer and I saw yours and absolutely love it! Not only did I find one I loved, it has detailed instructions to go with it! I am so excited about it and can’t wait to get started. I will have to make it wider and I will have to adjust the arch…crazy, you addressed that too 🙂 Thank you!!

    Reply
    • Cass says

      June 28, 2017 at 1:00 am

      Woohoo, so glad to be helpful! I would love to see pictures when you are finished and from the wedding! https://www.remodelaholic.com/share-brag-post/

      Reply

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We love hearing from fellow Remodelaholics, so let us know what you like about this and leave any questions below in the comments. If you have followed a tutorial or been inspired by something you have seen here, we would love to see pictures! Submit pictures here or by messaging us over on Facebook.
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Hey there, I am Cassity! Nice to virtually meet you!

This blog is about DIY at its finest. We are obsessed with it and so are you, so while we're working and have nothing to show you of our own projects we show off yours. So submit your projects! More About Us…

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