Make Your Own Cucumber Trellis

I was looking for a trellis strong enough to hold cucumbers in my small urban garden. I found a really great style on a gardening supply web site, but after checking into the cost, it would be over $80 including the shipping. Surely, I thought, I can make this myself for much less. I made two of them for the price of one! This is such an easy project, that I just had to share with everyone.

 The materials:
5 - 2" x 4" x 8' cedar boards
2 - 2" x 2" x 8' cedar boards
1 roll 2' x 25' green plastic garden mesh
4 - 5/16" x 5" carbolts
4 - wing nuts
24 - 3 1/2" deck screws

Equipment:
Drill with screwdriver bit and 1/4" drill bit
Circular saw
Pencil
Tape measure
Electric staplegun

The directions:
1. Using the circular saw cut all pieces of the 2"x4" and 2" x 2" into 4' lengths.
2. Lay out the frame of the 2"x4"'s so that the four outside pieces are on their 2" side and a fifth 2"x4" is centered on its 4" side in this frame towards one edge (the front of the trellis).
3. Using two screws per edge, start at one corner and work your way around the frame, being sure your screws are centered in the board.
4. When the basic frame is built, use your drill bit to drill holes in the 2"x2" about 2" down from the top. Do this on all four boards.
5. Using the drilled 2"x2" as a marker, line up the undrilled edge, with what will be the "bottom" edge of the trellis. Centering the 2"x2" over the 2"x4", use your pencil to mark the location to drill on the frame.
6. After you have drilled both frames, you can insert the carbolts into the 2"x2", then into the 2"x4" securing with wingnuts on the inside of the frame.
7. Cut 4 2'x4' lengths of the green plastic mesh.
8. Using your staplegun, line the green plastic to the outside edge of the frame, then on the center support, working from top to bottom. Then working from one side to the other.

Voila! Two cucumber trellis, which when standing, I can plant lettuce behind, since it tends to prefer cooler temps. As of this writing, I don't have any cuke vines yet, but I will post more info as the summer goes on. Plus, I have enough of the plastic mesh that I could make one more frame. All in all, the two frames cost me about $50 combined and about two hours of time.