I imagine most of us have at one time or another planted climbing plants to grow up a wooden or plastic garden arch or a pagoda. Garden arches are a great way to support climbers and they can become an attractive feature in the garden.

However, they can be very flimsy, and the wooden varieties can rot and degrade in quite a short space of time. The limited number of metal garden arches are often poorly made from very poor quality and thin steel. They don’t last long.

However, for those looking to add vertical growing space to their garden there is a new solution. Direct Plants have just released their new vertical growing arch.

You can see it here.

How to build a growing arch tunnel

You can see the full process in the video below. But to summarise; ideally you need two people to erect the growing arch though it can be done by a single person. But a job shared is always easier.

The step-by-step process to building your growing arch is:

• Use sticks and string to mark out the position of the growing arch.
• Put in the ground posts. Ensure they are vertical and hammer them into the ground leaving only 6 inches above the surface. This can be hard work and hammering the posts does take some effort.
• Put the arch poles into the ground posts.
• Lay out the side bars.
• Add the fixing pieces to the half arches.
• Thread the side bars through the couplings and tighten.
• Staring at one end of the arch and working your way along, join the two pieces of each arch with the central connecting fixings.
• Adjust the fittings to make sure everything is level.

You can see a growing arch tunnel being built in this video.

Why buy a growing arch from Direct Plants?

As you'd expect we make our growing arches here in our Norfolk workshops. Like our polytunnels we only use the finest quality materials. Our arches are made to last and are made from thick walled galvanised high-tensile steel.

They are incredibly strong, and this combined with their aerodynamic design mean they are perfect for even the most exposed and windy sites.

Our growing tunnels are available in both 10- or 14-feet widths and from 16 to 48 feet long. If you have a plot, you can use our growing arch for fruit, climbers, and roses amongst other plants.

Be careful when you choose the site for your arch. Once erected they are not designed to be moved. The ground posts are hammered deep into the ground so removing them would be very difficult. Make sure the site you choose is the one best suited to your new growing arch.

Easy to build

As we described above our growing arch tunnels are quite easy to build with two people. Once completed they are full adjustable so you will get the perfect result for your new venture into vertical gardening.

What is vertical gardening?

Vertical gardening is becoming more popular and will add character to your garden and is also a practical way to increase yield from vegetables while maximising the space you have available for planting. Basically, you're able to grow more plants in less space.

Another benefit from growing vegetables and plants off the ground is that they are less susceptible to pests and disease. The crops too are easier to harvest as they hang down from the arch. Which certainly saves the back pain from scrambling around picking vegetables from the ground.

What can you grow on your arch?

It's not just fruit and vegetables which are suited to growing on an arch. Climbing plants and roses in particular look spectacular when grown on an arch. And of course, when you have a growing tunnel with multiple arches you can create a spectacular walkway.

Buy your new growing arch

Remember you can choose from either 10- or 14-foot-wide arches with lengths of up to 48 feet. Click here to see our range of British manufactured 10 feet wide arches or here for the 14-foot versions.