How do you set up an obelisk trellis in your kitchen garden and why would you want to? That's what we're going to talk about in this blog! We're going to put together an obelisk trellis kit and talk about what you might want to grow up an obelisk trellis in your garden. So let's get started. Now, let’s unbox this obelisk trellis and turn it into a beautiful structure that can grow our cucumbers, tomatoes, peas, all the good stuff. Purchase your own obelisk trellis kit.

What’s included:

So, I do have to say, I wanted to show you fully everything that's included in the kit including the plastic. It is kind of a bummer that there's a good bit of plastic in this kit, but I wanted to let you know. The main reason they're doing this is because it's metal and there's a lot of metal pieces included and the plastic prevents scratches. The best way we’ve found to get another use out of it is giving it to my kids to pop the bubble wrap.

This comes in just a few pieces. 

• We have the two top pieces of the arch 
• Lower stakes in a variety of sizes depending on how tall of an obelisk trellis you’re building
• Hardware that includes the finial that goes on top and any screws you’ll need to connect the pieces

Why an Obelisk Trellis?

There are three types of trellises to use in a kitchen garden and you can generally divide most trellises into those three categories.

• arch trellis
• panel trellis
• obelisk trellis



Obelisk trellises have this kind of pyramid type shape and to me they're ideal for growing in a wider garden. Whenever you have a garden set up that's at least say two and a half to four feet wide, obelisk trellises are great to place right down in the center. Anytime you're wanting to grow your vines up the center rather than on the back of the garden or between the gardens, obelisk trellises are the best thing to do. The one limitation to obelisk trellises is the fact that they come together at the top. So, if you have a lot of plants down below and they're kind of vining and going crazy, when they hit that top, they’ll spread out and run out of space to grow. That’s the only downside to growing with obelisk.

The reason why I chose to add these to my garden is I wanted to have the maximum amount of space to grow my cucumbers for the rest of the season and I knew if I just did one arch trellis I could grow between the beds but I wouldn't be able to grow nearly as many plants as I'll get to grow on the six obelisk trellises.

Materials + Construction

So really what I found with trellises, unless you buy a custom-made metal trellis or a trellis that's all one piece, it's never perfect. So it's never the situation where there's no breakage or possible rusting, but it's better and more longer-lasting than a wood option. So I still love doing metal trellises. Even if I can't get all one piece, it’s worth it. If you're in the market for a super high-end, long lasting trellis, then you could absolutely go for a one-piece-er, but this is a great starter and very affordable. It will give you tons of growing space in your garden!

Putting Together the Trellis

We've got all of the pieces unwrapped and we're ready to put these obelisks trellis together! I’m not an Ikea building person, so if I can do it, you can do it!

• The first step is to just start to get the general shape of your obelisk going. You’ll put the two arch pieces together and it’ll be obvious which piece goes on top and which goes on the bottom as there’s a bit of an indent on the bottom one.
• Inside of the hardware package you’ll find a screw and finial. You're going to put one screw underneath and then you're going to tighten it up with the finial. Don’t make it too tight to begin with, we’ll tighten it up later. This will allow us to adjust as we go. Let me say this from the beginning, you're not going to get it to be exactly the right shape. It’ll come together a bit more once you have the first hoop on.
• You’ll have 3 hoops (Depending on what size you get). This is a bit tricky, it may be helpful to turn it on its side at this point. You want to squeeze all of the sides in and slide your first hoop up - it’ll take a bit of finagling.
• Align it with the holes, there will be four. There’s a little bit of give - it’s not an exact hole. When possible, I try to push the screw in at the same spot on the hole on all four, this will hopefully make it a bit more lined up. Don’t tighten the screws super right just yet. We’ll be able to adjust this later so don’t worry if it’s wonky.
• Add the second hoop - this one's a little bit trickier because you've already got this first set up and so you may have to adjust it. Again I’m trying to go to screw it into the same spot on each rung. If you have to push the trellis to the hoop that’s alright. Don’t screw it too tightly, we’ll come back in later to finish it up.
• Third hoop! I recommend adding this onto the trellis before adding the net level of height to your trellis to avoid having to slide the hoop all the way up the full height of the trellis, it’s not a pretty sight! 
• Add the height to your trellis. Note that these all have a slight curve to them. So you just want to double check that when you insert them into the trellis system that they're going the same direction that the rest of your rods are going. There's an option basically to go one way or the other and you just want to make sure yours are going the right way. They're all going to be going with the direction of the hoop
• Slide the third hoop down the trellis to align it with the holes. This is the most precarious part and standing your trellis up in the soil of your bed may help you hold it steady while you attach the last rung. That is I would say the one downfall of this design is the additional height section, it'll attach sort of, but you have to hold it in place until it’s fully set into the garden. Nothing's perfect, am I right? 
• Stand up the trellis in the garden if you haven’t already. This is just temporary so you can straighten the rungs out and tighten it up.
• Use the wrench included in the hardware package and tighten up each segment. We found that the more we tightened it up, the straighter it got. It’ll also settle more once it’s in the garden.

You’ve Got This

So we’ve gone from box to trellis! You learn a little bit more anytime you put together something like this, so don’t give up if you get frustrated. It's never perfect, but it's very functional and I'm going to be able to grow a ton of cucumbers up these obelisks! If you're interested in purchasing an obelisk trellis or some of our other trellis kits, you can check them out here: link. I hope that you love putting trellises in the garden as much as I do. I think they add an architectural element and so much beauty and function in one little piece. It's the thing that I get asked the most about on all my posts, so I guess you guys are interested in them, too. Hopefully this gives you inspiration and know-how so that when you get your kit, you're not overwhelmed like I was when I put together the first one. You’ve got this! Thanks for bringing back the kitchen garden with me.