How to Cover Lattice on the Front of the House

Training Vines to Cover the Trellis

• 1

  Contact your local utility companies to mark the location of all pipes and cables in the area where you need to dig.

• 2

  Incorporate a layer of organic material that is two to three inches deep into the top six or eight inches of soil in your planting area. If there are any utility cables or pipes, dig by hand, never with a tiller or other power equipment.

• 3

  Dig a planting hole for your vine slightly beyond the roof's dripline so the vine receives a good soaking when it rains. Plant the vine at the same level it was growing in its container and mulch over the root zone to conserve moisture and discourage weeds.

• 4

  Supply a temporary bridge between the plant's crown and the bottom of the permanent trellis if the new plant isn't long enough to reach the permanent trellis. Loosely tie soft twine to your vine and tie it to your trellis until it establishes itself.

• 5

  Plant a trellis on a porch or other hardscape by using a well draining planter box that is as wide as the trellis and at least 12 inches deep. Elevate the planter with commercial pot feet or bricks to aid drainage and to prevent damage to the porch floor. Fill the planter with commercial potting soil, not soil from the garden. Choose a vine that's hardy at least one planting zone colder than your location. For example, if you live in U.S. Department of Agriculture plant zone 7, your vine must be hardy to at least zone 6 to withstand the extra stress of growing in a pot rather than in the ground.

Hiding Trellis on the Foundation

• 6

  Contact the utility company to mark the location of pipes and cables. For safety, always hand dig near them.

• 7

  Prepare the planting bed in front of the trellis, making sure you retain a slight slope away from the house for drainage. It's common for the soil around house foundations to be full of construction debris. Remove as much debris as possible and amend the soil with organic material, such as compost. Make the planting bed generous in size, with a curving outline unless your home is very formal.

• 8

  Leave a 12- to 18-inch-wide space between the trellis and the anticipated outer perimeter of the back shrubs for easy house and garden maintenance, especially if you need to remove the trellis to access a crawl space. Make the planting bed wide enough to accommodate the mature size of your shrubs.

• 9

  Choose plants to complement the style of your home. Cottages and modern homes look best with informal groupings of unpruned shrubs, ornamental grasses and large perennials, whereas clipped hedges or massed evergreens suit traditional and formal homes. Choose shrubs that are the same height or only slightly taller than the trellis unless you're willing to prune the shrubs several times each year.

• 10

  Mulch the entire planting bed, including the back easeway, with a kind that is appropriate for your house style and landscape. Gravel and stone mulches work well with modern homes, especially in the Southwest, but be aware that those mulches transmit a lot of heat to the root zones of your shrubs. Ranch-style homes, cottages and homes on wooded lots look best when the planting beds around them are mulched with shredded bark. You can also plant a ground cover, such as ivy or periwinkle, in place of mulch.