How to make a pumpkin trellis

It’s been years since I saw the first dreamy images of vertical gardens on Pinterest. At that moment I promised myself that one year, some day, I would try it. This year, someday happened and we made our first vertical pumpkin trellis.

In last year’s garden, we grew pumpkins for the first time and I watched as they sprawled out all over our small space. I decided that in our garden this year, I wanted to start growing our pumpkins vertically for a variety of reasons.

Benefits for growing on a pumpkin trellis

Growing on a pumpkin trellis keeps them from spreading out all over the place – ideally. (I packed in a lot this year so we still have some serious spreading. Next year, there will be more trellises.)

It gives them more room to breathe reducing the chances of disease. Since growing up allows air to circulate between the vines, the foliage on the pumpkins is less likely to be prone to diseases like blight and other fungi.

Growing vertically provides fewer places for destructive bugs to hang out. Squash bugs are a common nemesis of pumpkins and any other type of squash that grows and sprawls out across the ground. Growing your pumpkins vertically on a pumpkin trellis gives the bugs fewer places to hide.

Growing vertically Guru

I’ve grown vertically before. I’ve had cucumbers on trellises and tomatoes growing vertically. I started trying to grow zucchini vertically this year too (some learning experiences there). But growing something as large as a pumpkin on a trellis was more challenging due to their size and weight.

In looking to create a trellis, I searched high and low on Pinterest. But I just came across all those same pretty pictures, time and time again. I didn’t find anything that actually told me how to create a pumpkin trellis.

Luckily, this year I’ve had the pleasure of “meeting” some very talented ladies in the farmhouse circle on Instagram and my friend Penny Pennington Weeks. came to my rescue. She had large vine trellises and gave me instructions that I want to share with you today.

But, I also want you to check her out Penny on Instagram.. She’s starting a website soon and is an Agricultural Leadership Professor at Oklahoma State University. She has an amazing home and garden and is a garden guru of sorts for me. Penny walked me through this and is the reason I’m able to share it with you today.

Growing on the pumpkin trellis

I have a mix of pumpkins and gourds on our pumpkin trellis. I’m not exactly sure which ones are actually the ones growing though. They were mixed up when we were transferring them from the basement (where we started seeds) to the greenhouse.

I had planned to have the Little Jacks be the main pumpkins on the trellis since they are smaller and I wanted to see how it held up. But, ooops! It’s been fun seeing which ones have popped up on the trellis!

We planted Casper Pumpkins, Bird House Gourds, Little Jack Pumpkins and a few other varieties. I didn’t plant everything I had because I wasn’t sure about the space the pumpkins would take up once they were planted and on the pumpkin trellis. Based on how the pumpkin vines are still taking over, it’s probably a good thing too. Next year, I’m going to need a few more of these.

Things you need for a pumpkin trellis

Creating a pumpkin trellis is a bit different than creating a trellis for your other vines. Since pumpkins can get so heavy, they need a heavy duty trellis. You only need a few supplies and they are:

A hog panel – You can find this at most farm supply stores like Tractor Supply, Farm and Fleet and MAYBE some stores like Home Depot and Menard’s in more populated areas. But be aware, most stores won’t ship these to you and you can’t find these on Amazon. Or maybe may issue was trying to find one during pandemic?

At any rate, be prepared to either pick these up or have someone deliver them to you. They are big and heavy. Hog panels are 16-feet long and 34 inches wide. They can hold in a hog and those guys can get large! We had to have a local moving service deliver them to us.

A word of caution. You CAN NOT use another kind of paneling for this. It needs to be hog panel and/or cattle panel (essentially the same thing). Pumpkins are heavy and the hog panel is thicker steel so it’s more likely to hold. If you’re worried that the pumpkins are getting too heavy for the pumpkin trellis you can use watermelon hammocks to help support them. You can find those {HERE}.

Metal T-posts – These can be found at most home improvement stores. We purchased 4-feet tall T-posts from Tractor Supply and used four of them to make one pumpkin trellis.

Steel Heavy Duty T-post clips – HERE to attach the cattle panel to the T-posts. You simple use a screw driver or pliers to twist it all together.

To create the trellis, you need to put the T-posts into the ground at least 6 inches. A foot would be better if you can do it.

Tie the hog panel onto one side of the T-posts first. Then carefully, using two people, arch the hog panel over and secure it to the other T-posts.

And you’re done!

What do you think of the pumpkin trellis? How many more do you think I’m going to need next year? 🙂 For more from the garden, click {HERE} and find out how we made out DIY raised garden beds {HERE}. OH! And see our amazing potting bench {HERE}. You’ll never believe where it’s from and how cheap it is!

Thank you so much for visiting today, friends! I hope that you’ll come back again and see what else we’re up to here at Sugar Maple Farmhouse.