I have always enjoyed the look of an arbor with flowering vines framing the structure, so why not use that concept in the garden as both an architectural accent and a functional growing space?
My garden path was begging for a beautiful entrance and a garden arbor sounded like just the thing!
After a trip to Home Depot for building materials, we started our project by building the raised beds that would go on either side of the archway.
4’x4′ boxes may have been a bit of overkill, however I planned to use most of the space for my kitchen garden filled with fresh herbs, so the space came in handy.
Once both boxes were built and stained, we put them in place and started on the archway.
We checked out many different design ideas on Pinterest and decided that a pergola-style arbor was the look for us!
Next, we squared and levelled everything .
The full supply list was very simple for this build:
10 – 8 foot 2×6’s
7 – 8 foot 2×4’s
1 pail of stain
20 feet of wire
And a handful of screws…
I love projects that come together in such a short amount of time with supplies that are easy to find!
After we finished staining everything (except the insides of the boxes) we ran the wire and secured it in place.
The next step was to fill the boxes with soil, plant them, and then wait…
I am a fairly patient person, however I was anxious to see how our new garden arbor would look once the vines had grown up and over the trellis…
There is no rushing plants, so I was forced to wait!
I planted scarlet runner beans, purple runner beans, and sweet peas as the vines to climb the trellis and filled the rest of the boxes with flowers and herbs like basil, oregano, thyme, mint, and chives.
Check out my top 10 herbs for a kitchen garden.
Never having grown scarlet runner beans before, I was impressed with how prolific and bright their red blossoms are (not to mention beans that grew up to 12 inches long)!
The beans had to be trained to wind around the wire every couple days as they grew, however the sweet peas did well attaching themselves on their own.
Check out my blog on how to grow green beans!
It took most of the summer, but by mid-August I had the lush look I had hoped for!
The canopy of green, accented by bright flowers and peppered with veggies ready to harvest made it all worth the wait.
Stay tuned for our DIY arched trellis build!
Old House on the Prairie 
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