DIY Raspberry Trellis

Raspberries will grow happily without any support at all, but having a raspberry trellis /support system makes gardening easier for you!  If left to their own devices, raspberries will form an arching plant about 7 to 9 feet tall.

Making a support keeps these plants neat and tidy, enables easy walking between rows, and makes harvesting convenient.

This raspberry trellis is simple and easy, no carpentry needed!

Materials you’ll need for your DIY Raspberry Trellis:

6 foot tall stakes or posts, Wire(10 or 12 gauge galvanized wire works well), Mallet, Old carpet or cardboard

Step 1- Outline your raspberry patch

Start by outlining the confines of your raspberry beds. Mine are 3′ x 12′.

Three feet depth gives you the ability to reach into the center of the patch from either side, not missing any juicy treasures!

If your raspberries are growing along a fence or wall, keep the depth of your bed at 18″ so you can reach in to harvest easily.

Lay down strips of old carpet, wood, or even cardboard boxes around the bed you have outlined, creating a border and barrier so your new raspberry shoots will come up in your patch, not in your path.

I use wide pieces of old carpet between the rows in my raspberry patch and it prevents weed growth and directs new raspberry shoots to come up in the bed.

 Step 2- Put in support stakes or poles

Now that you have outlined your patch with some kind of barrier border, use a mallet to drive a stake into the soil at each of the 4 corners of your bed until it is about a foot into the ground.

Firm the ground around the stakes.  If your bed is longer than 6 feet, you’ll need a support stake half-way between corner stakes on the long side of your beds.

You can use metal fence stakes, rot-resistant fence poles, old closet dowels, or anything you have on hand.

Metal fence stakes worked well for me, and they have little notches to help hold the wire in place.

 Step 3- Wrap wire around the stakes

You’ll need 2 wire supports, horizontal to the ground at about 18″ from the ground and also up near the top of the stakes.

Start with the corner stake, with the wire measuring approximately 18″ up from the ground,  and wrap the wire around the stake a few times.

Stretch the wire to the next stake, repeating the process until you have outlined your bed and returned to the original stake.

Repeat with another wire near the top of the stakes.

 Step 4- Tuck those raspberries into bed

Tuck your raspberry canes all inside your wire outlined bed.
Step 5- Prune back your canes

Prune your raspberry canes off at about 6 feet. Using your corner support stakes as an approximate height guide, prune back all the plants.  You’ll need to do this a few times during the growing season to keep them easy to manage.

Step 6- Maintenance

Tuck all new green growth that has sprung up from the ground in the spring back behind the wire supports as they grow.  The wires serve as a cage to keep the plants confined within the raspberry patch.

They grow very fast, so regularly tucking them behind the wires will keep them tidy.

There is no need to tie up the canes.  Once the canes hit the 6 foot mark, off with their heads.  You’ll have a very manageable, fruitful raspberry patch!

About the Author-Diane H.

I love to garden!  For me, it is miraculous to see plants grow, nourishing and therapeutic to work in the garden, and health-building to eat your own homegrown foods. Fresh raspberries from the garden can’t be beat! I am not a fan of backbreaking work, though, so the easy way in gardening always has appeal to me.  My husband and I are the parents of 7 children whom I home schooled. We live on 7 acres in the Rocky Mountains, with a short growing season.