Squash is a bully in the garden, and it will take over if you don’t control it. I used to grow my squash on the ground, and train the vines to stay in a neat row (well, as neat as squash can be). Not anymore, now the squash in my garden grows vertically. I built a squash arch to tame my squash, and now I have a wonderful piece of architecture in my garden too.
How To Build A Squash Arch
It was extremely easy to put this arch together. Originally, I was going to build it the same way I built my arched trellises for my beans and cucumbers. But the metal garden fencing I had isn’t strong enough to hold up heavy squash on it’s own around the top of the arch. So we (my husband helped me with this project) decided to add PVC piping to support it.
To make the arch tall enough, we needed two pieces of PVC pipe for each side. We glued them together using a special PVC glue and then weaved the PVC into the fencing.
Squash Arch Trellis
Once the squash arch was up, I spray painted the PVC black to make it look like metal. You can paint it any color you want, be creative! Just make sure to paint it before you plant any seedlings so they don’t get sprayed with paint. Also, it’s better to paint the squash arch after you put it up. If you paint it first, then the paint will get scratched when you start to move the squash arch around.
Squash Arch
Amazing right? Who knew squash could be so beautiful! My favorite types of squash to grow on my arch are Sugar Pie Pumpkins, Butternut and Delicata. Many people are afraid to grow squash vertically because it’s so heavy. But, most of the squash sit on top of the arch. If any squash start to hang down, I put them back on top. The heavy squash can also be supported by making a sling out of an old t-shirt or nylons to support their weight.
Squash Arch In The Garden
I’m super excited about this arch, I absolutely love it! So many people rave about it, and it’s the focal point of my vegetable garden. It has made squash control very easy, and my squash no longer take over the garden. It also makes harvesting the squash a breeze, since I don’t have to bend down and hunt for it.
Interested in building your very own squash arch?
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Building A Squash Arch – Step by Step Instructions
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I think this is a great idea, and I bet it helps with vine borers too.
Do the squash and pumpkins climb it themselves, or do you have to continually train them on it?
I look forward to seeing the results.
Thanks! I don't think the arch will help with the borers, but that's what the raised bed is for. I dig out the borers when I notice damage. Then I add some dirt to the bed, burying the borer damaged part of the vines. The plants will grow new roots as the stems are buried with dirt. I did this last year, and it worked great! I was harvesting squash until the cold killed the plants.
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I've used this method before with cucumbers and squash and it works really well. Pumpkins need extra support so that they don't rip off the vine when they get too heavy but you can just use some old clothes or fabric scraps to "swaddle" them for extra support. Good luck, I'm eager to see your results.
Great, thanks for the tip about swaddling the pumpkins. I will definitely try that if the variety of pumpkins I have get large.
Amy
For smaller squash or melons, you can use an old bra! I did it this past summer and it worked perfectly for my Uzbekistan melons. Pumpkins I guess would be too large, hee hee! But it would be easy to use a long sleeve shirt by pinning the cuffs together along with a pinch or two of the hem, pinning all together up at the top of the frame to make a cradle for the pumpkin. Nice blog, thanks for
Ha hahahahahaha! I can’t wait to use my old bras on this project!
LOL, love it!! You better send me some pictures! 🙂
how about using mesh bags for support?
I think mesh bags would work great.
I use Pantyhose !!!
Or recycle some old mesh bags from when you buy fruit or veggies at the grocery store. If you don’t have them, ask friends for them.
And then I saw your comment! LOL!
cut the leg off old nylons. Place fruit/vegetable that needs support into leg and ties to trellis… works great to suspend/support
For those of you living near a fishing community, try a supplier of fish net, they would most likely give you the left over trimmings.
Great idea!
LOL! Thanks for the tips. None of my squash got large enough to have to try this, but I will definitely keep this in mind!
Amy
I had some of my pumpkins climbing last summer and I sat 5 gallon buckets or outdoor tables under them for support. I am planning my garden and am blogging on this very topic soon — thanks for the ideas! I’ll be putting a link to your article in my post…and it looks like you have TONS of great posts to dig through — Hooray!
Great idea! Thanks for the link back. 🙂
What kind of squash are you thinking of planting on them? Zucchini/yellow squash that I plant are bushes.
All of the types of squash I have are vine varieties. Let's see, I have delicata, butternut, pumpkin, acorn, sweet dumpling and I think I have a zucchini too. It's going to be a full arch (I hope)!
Amy
Can you use orange snow fence instead of metal mesh? It can be doubled.
Sure, you could give it a try. It might not be very pretty to look at though. 🙂
Would spaghetti squash work?
Yes, it will work with any type of squash that is a vine (rather than a bush) variety.
I live in an apartment right now and am putting a garden on my roof this year. I was just thinking about building something like this for all of the squash I started; so glad I came across this post and can't wait to follow along and see how it works for you!
A garden on the roof, that sound very cool! Glad you found my post, and thanks for the nice comment! Good luck building your squash arch, I'd love to see your results too.
Amy
Do you happen to have the plans to make a green house out of plastic bottles?
No
I love, love, love this! Can't wait to try it next year. This summer I built a similar structure, but it was to protect blueberries and strawberries from the deer and rabbits. I used PVC pipe and wove it through chicken wire–thought it was an original idea! 🙂
Thank Susan! Funny, I guess great minds think alike! 🙂
I'm a new follower and I've seen many design's for trellising squash and the like and this is the 1st one that has actually jumped out at me. It's to late for this year but next year I'll be in the know, I love the design. My cucumber's has over taken my bamboo teepee's this year and are going wild. Thank's for sharing this and have a great weekend! P.S. Your
Hi, thanks for the new follow! Glad you like my squash arch, I'm happy with the way it turned out. Isn't it fun when stuff starts to take off and grow like crazy. I figure in a week or two, it will be hard to walk through the vegetable garden. I love this time of year! Thanks for the nice comment about my gardens too. 🙂
Can you give the specs on the PVC? I have been thinking of trying this, love how it adds interest to the garden!
Hi Crystal,
So, so sorry for the delayed response on this. I painted over the PVC, so I wasn't sure how to tell what size it was, then I realized that you can see it in one of the pictures. Ha, ha. Anyway, it's 1/2" PVC. Basically, I took a piece of the fencing to HD with me to see what size of PVC would fit. So, depending on the type of fencing you use, the diameter of the PVC
Amy,
Love all the wonderful ideas! The tubing you used is called “FlowGuard.” Home Depot sells it in 10 ft. lengths. Here’s their description: Charlotte Pipe 1/2 in. x 10 ft. CPVC SDR11 Flowguard Gold Pipe. We’ve used it to make mini hoop houses for my eggplants and the potato grow bags, as Colorado Potato Beetles are rampant around here. After creating a base of larger rigid PVC pipe, we drilled 5/8″ holes all the way through the pipe and fastened the 1/2″ pipe by pushing it through the 5/8″ pipe and anchored it in the dirt. We covered ours with AgriBon to make it insect proof. Makes it very sturdy AND you can break it down and reconfigure it a number of ways.
That sounds great Nancy, thanks for sharing how you protect your garden from nasty potato beetles. Yuck!
Love this! Like you I don't have a truck for the cattle panels. How did you secure the PVC pipe in the ground? Also, do you remember how long the PVC pipe is? Does it come rolled up or in straight pieces?
Thank you!
Hi Kelly,
Thanks! We used 4 pieces of rebar as stakes into the ground and then we slipped the PVC over the top. I hope this makes sense. Test each piece of rebar to make sure it will fit into the PVC pipe before you buy it. We discovered that not all pieces of rebar are skinny enough to fit. The PVC comes in straight pieces, you can find it in the plumbing section at HD or Lowe's. I can&
I made this today – thanks for the inspiration! Did you plant the squash inside the boxes or outside? Do you think it would work to plant them in pots on the outside and train them up the arch from there?
Oh fantastic!! I'm so excited! You are so welcome, thanks for letting me know. I planted them inside the boxes, mainly to help me fight the squash borer throughout the summer (not sure if you have that pest where you live). You could probably do pots, but they should be pretty large. Good luck, and
Use a dusting of diatomaceous earth around the stems of your squash. That should take care of the borers.
Great tip Cheryl! Eggshells would work too… Eggshells as Organic Pest Control
Amy
Amy,
Thanks so much for your inspiration!
My husband and I have reclaimed an abandoned city lot for our veggie & herb garden this year, and we constructed a squash arch for it today, based on your blog.
Thank you, thank you, thank you! I hope it holds up…time will tell 🙂
Here's a picture, if you want to check it out!
https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=
Awesome! It looks great! Thanks so much for sharing this. It will hold up, and you will love how it looks when it's covered. Would you mind it if I shared your photo on my Facebook page?
Amy
Thanks, Amy!
I don't mind at all. I wanted to share it to encourage others to try it out, too 🙂
Hope you have a fruitful season…happy gardening!
Cool, I will share it on my Facebook page later tonight. Thanks again for sharing your photo! I'd love to see more pictures once it's covered in squash.
Amy
Fabulous! I'm going to try it. It was just so great to meet you!
Great! If you end up building it, I would love to see pictures. It was great to meet you too!
Amy
love the arch idea am wanting to do one myself but what i realy was lookin at was the greenhouse around it. gives me wow some great ideas. so I'm assuming you take the greenhouse down for summer or do you move the trelis? samona dowler facebook will like your page
The arch is actually separate from the greenhouse frame. So, the arch stays up year round. But the greenhouse (which fits over the arch) comes down in the spring, and goes up in the fall. We also take the greenhouse down for the winter, so the greenhouse is only up for a few months in the fall, and a few months in the spring.
Amy
Looks absolutely amazing!!!! I can't wait until next year now.
Thank you! I can't wait to see pictures when you build your own. 🙂
Amy
It looks beautiful–and big enough to go under. I think it would be so lovely with roses too!
It looks like your hoop house must be portable? You seem to have covered the arch garden in the winter? Is that right? I hope you will share your hoop plans someday.
Yes, I made it tall enough to walk under. Though it could be a bit taller for my husband, he has to crouch down a bit. 🙂
Yes, we built our hoop house the same size as our vegetable garden so it covers the whole thing. We put it up before frost in the fall, and this year we left it up all winter. It's warm enough in there now that I can start seeding soon. Can't wait!
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What a super idea, and so decorative, too! When my husband and I finally close on the house we’re buying and I am able to plant a garden, I will definitely use this idea. Thanks for posting it!
Great! Congratulations on your new house and garden.
Amy
I used a cattle panel seems to be working well but I really like the idea of the woven fence , we always have a section left over from fencing around here… it will be put to good use this time. I use it mostly for melons , I will do some winter squashes this way this year. Great timing as I am getting ready to plant everything.
Awesome Carrie! I love it!
What size pipe did you use for this? Thanks.
I used 1/2″
I built my arch earlier this spring with my nine-year-old daughter it was a great project for us! My two questions are how many individual squash plants do you typically have a growing up the trellis, and what are the dimentions of the planting area at the base of the trellis?
Thank you!
Wonderful, I’m so excited to hear that you built your own squash arch! I’m not exactly sure how many plants I’ve put in the past few years. Probably 6 or 8 seedlings/seeds per side, then thin out the weak ones. I’m not sure what you mean by the dimensions of the planting area at the base of the trellis. If you’re asking about the dimensions of my raised beds, they are 2’x4′.
Amy
Perfect that answers my question! I’d read from another source to have only one squash plant per 4 ft wide trellis and that left me thinking I wouldn’t get much yield. I’ve got 4 plants per side in raised beds that are 1.5’x3′ which seems consistent with your planting.
Thanks for the inspiration, I’m eagerly awaiting a full squash arch later this summer!
If I buy the book Building a Squash Arch, do you send a pdf copy of it via my email? Am from Philippines. I just need a pdf copy, to avoid shipping cost .
Yes, you will be sent a pdf downloadable file. Thanks!
Amy
Hello, I loved your idea so much that I purchased the PDF and am planning on building two of these this year Such a great idea!
Two questions: I can’t tell from the pictures how ‘woven’ the pvc is in the fencing but it looks like you skipped a few fencing squares between weavings? Could you comment on that?
Also, in your experience is 3″ of rebar long enough above ground to keep the trellis adequately stabilized?
Thanks so much, this is the most functional, economical and relatively easy to build trellis idea I’ve seen yet!
Awesome, hope you enjoy it! 🙂 I loosely weaved the PVC into the fencing. Yes, just enough rebar to stabilize the arch. Once you get it in, you can readjust if you need to. You’ll see how stable it is once you put the arch up. 🙂
Amy
What length of PVC pipes did you use? How high is it? My hubby is going to build right away for me!!
Mine is about 6′ tall. The lengths of PVC you use depend on how high and wide you want the arch. The exact specs of mine are in the downloadable plans. 🙂
I see from your link that you are using the metal rabbit fencing but not seeing it at the bottom of your picture. I don’t need rabbit fencing, is this type flexible, it looks like it is? Also, you possible know how many inches the squares are and/or the mm of the wire? Great idea, I want to try it! Thanks.
This is the exact type of fencing I used (affiliate link)… Metal garden fencing
Do the squash climb themselvs or is it easy to train them to do so?
They do climb a little by themselves, but they aren’t great climbers. Here’s a post I wrote that explains how to train them to grow on the arch How to grow squash on an arch
FYI, I wanted to PIN this for use when spring finally hits MN, but Pinterest says, “Sorry! We blocked this link because it may lead to spam.” Thought you might want to know! Now I will go follow you on Pinterest and see how that works out! 🙂
Thanks so much for letting me know. Humm… shoot, sorry about that. It works for me, I wonder why it didn’t work for you. Bummer! Here’s a link to the one I just pinned… https://www.pinterest.com/pin/247909154464633846/ Hopefully that will work for you. Thanks for sharing! 🙂
Have you planted different varieties of climbing plants- squash, melons ect or do they cross pollinate?
Squash and melons do tend to cross pollinate, so if you’re worried about that then don’t plant them together. I usually stick to one type of squash on the arch, but have experimented with mixing them before. It’s fun to try different varieties. I’ve never grown melons on the arch, melons are tough to grow in our short season here in MN.
We’re in Wisconsin and this year are starting our melons early under lights and then will move them to the greenhouse before planting them outside by the arch. Maybe we can get a good harvest that way instead of direct seeding them and being disappointed because they don’t have long enough to ripen.
Yes, melons are hard with our short growing season. Starting them indoors ahead of time should help a ton!
If you did this for cucumbers approximately how many plants do you use per raised bed? My worries I may plant to many lol vs using the ground
The seed packet for the cucumbers I’m growing this year says to space them 12″ apart. I usually plant my cucumbers a little closer together than the recommendation, since they climb the trellis and have more room to grow than the bush varieties do. If you’re worried, then I would stick with the recommendation on the seed packet.
I notice in your squash trellis picture above you appear to have used a 10′ PVC pipe and a shorter section hooked together. Is the short section 5′ to make the arch total 15 foot? It seems an arch of two 10′ sections is too tall and one 10′ section too short. You could also use three 5′ sections with “T” connectors to link two arches together with short PVC sections and give the fence more support. Ideas?
You could definitely customize it any way you want. That’s part of the fun!
Very cool~ What I wd do is use zip ties to connect the fence wire to the pvc pipe.
Sounds like a great idea!
Just found your site after seeing your squash arch on Laurie Neverman’s Home Grown Food Summit presentation- really like your ideas!
Thank you Gwen!
Hi Amy,
Just wanted to let you know that we built our squash arch last Sunday. Where it was placed is a step down from our driveway which made the original length look too short, so we used 2 10 footers instead and spread the legs apart further than in your instructions. It was a bit wobbly feeling at first but adding 10 or so zip ties to each side stabilized it very well. Everyone that has seen it thinks it looks great. I’m so excited to get some plants growing on it!! Thanks again for such a nifty and easy idea.
FYI: I chose to go with the schedule-80 dark grey pvc pipe since it’s supposed to stand up to UV rays better and it’s not that much more expensive.
Sounds like you made some great modifications! I hope it will work out well for you. I love the idea of using the dark grey pvc, then you don’t have to paint it. Thanks for sharing that tip!
Perhaps this question came up in other comments but I’m wondering if you move your trellis to different garden boxes each year. I have been trying to do a sort of crop rotation in my boxes but it gets hard to do if you have permanent hard structures!
Yes, I do move it between boxes. I also use it to grow beans, and have alternated years with growing beans and squash on the arch so that I can do crop rotation that way too.
Can you tell me if it is better to plant the squash inside the arch (fencing) and leave a gap so that the vines can be brougjht through and then ran up the trellis arch or plant the squash in front of the arch and then rub the vines straight up the arch as it grows?
Thanks
You can plant the squash plants either on the outside or the inside of the arch. It doesn’t matter because as they vine out, they will grab onto the fencing and weave themselves in and out of the fencing. You do have to help them out sometimes though, here’s more information on training your squash vines to grow vertically… How To Grow Squash on a Garden Arch
Yes to hold the hanging produce. They also allow for ventilation.
OMG this is just beautiful ! To me , gardening is all about the “magical” return on my creative effort.. And this arch is truly MAGICAL..next year I’m arching away! Maybe even in the FRONT of my house. It’s THAT cool. Thanks Amy! Just subscribed tonight.
Awesome, glad you love it so much! Thanks for subscribing! 🙂
Now why didn’t I think of that? I grow a squash that apparently goes by a number of names – Trombocini and Rampicante are two of them. If I grow it on the ground it tries to take over the garden and on the fence it leaves little room for beans. It’s spring here (New Zealand) so I need to begin some serious arch making. Thanks for the timely idea.
Awesome, have fun!
I love this and it has given me an idea. I live in a little 4-plex and have a small patio. I’m going to try putting an arch at my gateway, with BIG pots on each side for the cukes, beans, and maybe something else. That way, it should look nice and I’ll be able to harvest easily.
Sounds awesome, good luck!
What a wonderful idea. I use to grow pumpkins up the front of my mobile home to help shade the house. Now Im thinking of putting an arch over my entry ramp. I was thinking cement reinforcement wire with a thicker pvc. I love the thought of editable landscaping. If I dont use the whole roll I can make tomato cages oit of some of the rest. Wow thanks for the inspiration.
Sounds great! You’re welcome, good luck!
Love this. A good way to keep the weeds out and we had to give up our garden with my mom being ill. Maybe this will work.
Awesome, hope it works for you!
Very attractive way to handle squash – well done! Blessings, Janet
Thank you! 🙂
What an awesome idea. I love how you give explicit directions! You take the time to answer all questions. Great blog!!!! Glad I found you. You make me look forward to gardening???????
Awesome, thanks!
Love it! We are working on a new property that needs tons of work. We ar working the soil now with organic compost inside our fenced chicken area. They run free in about a acre space. i am wanting to give them shade I think this might be the perfect solution and fun for the kids too! Thanks for sharing
Awesome! You’re welcome.
Amy, I too live in Minnesota, I would love to do a arch like this, but my question is which direction should a trellis like this be positioned? I worry about things behind it not getting enough sunlight… So I haven’t done one yet… Any advise? Thank you!!!!
Humm… good question. I’ve never thought about that before. I’ve never noticed stunted growth of the plants around my squash arch. But, to be safe, I think you should be good if you face it to the south/north so that it casts a smaller shadow.
Thank you for your response Amy! I am going to give it a try this year!
You’re welcome!
What a great idea! I am going to try it and let you know how it works. Also, do you think I could try something like this for my cucumber arch? It would be cheaper for me than using cattle panels.
Awesome! You could try it for cucumbers too. I like to use these smaller arch trellises for my cucumbers… Easy Homemade Arch Trellis
Amy,
This is wonderful. I built my own this weekend and I am very excited for this growing season.
I have skimmed through this entire post and comments and I have a question about something I am unclear about:
Will I be able to grow more than one variety of squash on this arch? For example, could I grow acorn, butternut, and summer all on one arch?
Also, would winter squash (spaghetti squash) work on this (my wife and I are currently debating this)?
Thanks again for posting this.
You can grow any type of squash that is a long, vining type plant (avoid bush varieties). Yes, you could mix different varieties and grow them on the arch at the same time. BUT, squash plants do tend to get cross-pollinated. So you might end up with some weird hybrids if you grow them all that close together. And yes, you can grow spaghetti squash on the arch (as long as you don’t have a bush variety of the plant).
I built my arch last spring and am thrilled to say my vines are going crazy! So far we have 4 sugar pie pumpkins and two acorn squashes growing, and lots of flowers on the spaghetti squash plant but no fruit yet. Here’s my question though – when the vines grow over the top and down the other side do you just let them grow along the ground? My husband said we should just chop them off but… We appreciate your advice!
Awesome, glad to hear your squash arch is growing well for you! I always train the vines back up onto the arch, but you certainly could just let them grow along the ground if you want to.