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How To Build A Squash Arch For Your Garden

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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, I designed and built a DIY 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 For Your Garden

Squash is a bully in the garden, and it will take over if you don’t control it. Now that I have my squash arch, the squash in my garden grows vertically, and it’s so much easier to control in my small vegetable garden plot.

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 cucumber arch trellis. But the metal garden fencing I used 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) came up with a design that uses PVC piping to support the fencing over the top of the arch.

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.

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. Be sure to use a plastics spray paint too, so that it sticks to the PVC.

My squash arch in the garden

My squash arch in the garden

Growing Squash On A Squash Arch

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 as they mature.

My favorite types of squash plants to grow on my DIY garden arch are Sugar Pie Pumpkins, Butternut and Delicata.

My squash arch with pumpkins growing over it

My squash arch with pumpkins growing over it

Amazing right? Who knew squash could be so beautiful! 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 plant control very easy, and the squash no longer takes over the garden. It also makes harvesting the squash a breeze, since I don’t have to bend down and hunt for it.

If you love my unique DIY squash arch design and want to build your own, click the button below to download the detailed squash arch instructions today!

Interested in building your very own Squash Arch?
Click the “Buy Now!” button to purchase your step-by-step instructions.

Building A Squash Arch – Step-by-Step Instructions

Step-by-Step instructions for How To Build a Squash Arch!

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If you loved my squash arch project, and want even more step-by-step vertical gardening projects, then my new book, Vertical Vegetables: Simple Projects That Deliver More Yield In Less Space is just for you! In it you will learn all about vertical vegetable gardening, and get detailed step-by-step instructions for nearly two dozen unique and beautiful vertical gardening structures and supports designed by me! Pre-order your copy today!

Learn more about my new book: Vertical Vegetables.

Products I Recommend

More Posts About Vertical Gardening

Leave a comment below and let me know what you think of my squash arch design.


Build this gorgeous squash arch to add beauty and height to your vegetable garden. My unique DIY squash arch design is an inexpensive project that doesn't take much time to make. Download the full step-by-step squash arch instructions now.

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Comments

  1. 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.

    Reply

    • Thanks! I don't think my squash 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 squash 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.

      Reply

  2. 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.

    Reply

  4. 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!

    Reply

  5. 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! 🙂

    Reply

  6. 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 your squash arch 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!

    Reply

    • 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!

      Reply

  7. Can you give the specs on the PVC? I have been thinking of trying this, love how your arch adds interest to the garden!

    Reply

    • The PVC I used is 1/2". Basically, I took a piece of the fencing to HD with me to see what size of PVC would fit. So, if you use a different type of fencing to build your arch, the diameter of the PVC might be different for you.

      Reply

      • 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.

        Reply

  9. I made this today – thanks for the inspiration! Did you plant the squash inside the arch or outside? Do you think it would work to plant them in pots on the outside and train them up the arch from there?

    Reply

  10. 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 🙂

    Reply

  13. It looks beautiful–and the arch looks big enough to walk under. I think it would be so lovely with roses too!

    Reply

  14. 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 be building a squash arch. Thanks for posting it!

    Reply

  15. I used a cattle panel to make an arch for my garden, 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.

    Reply

  17. 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!

    Reply

    • 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

      Reply

      • 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!

        Reply

  18. 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 .

    Reply

  19. 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!

    Reply

    • 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

      Reply

  20. What length of PVC pipes did you use? How high is it? My hubby is going to build right away for me!!

    Reply

  21. 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.

    Reply

    • 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.

      Reply

      • 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.

        Reply

  24. 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

    Reply

    • 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. Here’s a post I wrote about how to grow cucumbers vertically that might help you out.

      Reply

  25. 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?

    Reply

  27. Just found your site after seeing your squash arch on Laurie Neverman’s Home Grown Food Summit presentation- really like your ideas!

    Reply

  28. 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.

    Reply

    • 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!

      Reply

  29. 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!

    Reply

    • 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.

      Reply

  30. 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

    Reply

    • 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 Vertically

      Reply

  31. 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.

    Reply

  32. 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.

    Reply

  33. 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.

    Reply

  34. 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.

    Reply

  35. 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.

    Reply

  37. 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???????

    Reply

  38. 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

    Reply

  39. 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!!!!

    Reply

  40. 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.

    Reply

  41. 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.

    Reply

    • 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).

      Reply

  42. 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!

    Reply

    • Woohoo, 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 or prune them if you want to.

      Reply

  43. I’m So Glad I found this! My gourds and Squash take over my garden! I cant wait to try growing my squash vertically this year. I just happen to have some left over PVC from other projects. I’m going to also grow my beans and Cucumbers the same way.

    Reply

    • I do succession planting in my raised beds. So, I start by planting early crops like lettuce or spinach under the arch. Then I plant some nasturtium around the edges of the boxes at the same time as I sow my squash seeds to add summer and fall color to my beds.

      Reply

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Amy Andrychowicz is the creator and owner of Get Busy Gardening (getbusygardening.com), an author, a blogger, and a passionate gardener.

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