Tip of the Week: Vertical Gardening

Posted in Gardening Tips on July 13 2009, by Sonia Uyterhoeven

Sonia Uyterhoeven is Gardener for Public Education. Join her each weekend for home gardening demonstrations on a variety of topics in the Home Gardening Center.

The best way to handle life’s ups and downs is to make a commitment to vertical gardening. I have, and it has always led me to new ideas and creative ways of growing my vegetables. Why garden vertically? With an annual vine, a clematis, or a climbing rose, it seems pretty obvious. So why not, then, bring this gardening technique into your vegetable garden?

Saving space is an obvious reason for growing vertically, but vertical crops are also easier to harvest and are less susceptible to diseases. The crop is lifted from its usual place on the ground where it fights for sunlight and good air circulation. I notice a big different in my cucumbers when I grow them up a tepee or a trellis versus letting them sprawl on the ground. 

This year I will be experimenting with A-frames that have a grid or wire mesh on either one or both sides. I will be growing cucumbers up these structures, but I could just as well be trying melons, squashes, gourds, or tomatoes. (If you are growing a vegetable that will eventually produce heavy fruit, give the fruit extra support by either cradling them with an old pair of panty hose or a nylon or mesh support.)

I am more of a practical woman. What I like so much about these vertical frames is that there is space underneath that can be used to plant lettuce, beets, or any fast-growing crop that will capitalize on the good light while the vine is young and then adapt graciously to the part-shade that the vine eventually casts.

For my tomatoes, I started off as a kid with the indispensable tomato cages that my father lovingly built for me out of 6-inch wire cloth and rebar. They were terrific for supporting my tomatoes and required little work. I would reach my hands in to prune the tomatoes and pinch off the suckers and then later to harvest.

Now I often grow tomatoes on solid stakes that I drive at least a foot into the ground to give my indeterminate tomatoes the support that they need. As long as you keep up with the tying and the pruning, you will be fine.

Last year I began experimenting with a number of products from the Gardener’s Supply Company. I love their tomato ladders that look elegant during the season and neatly slip into each other for easy storage during the winter months. Make sure you buy the extensions if you grow indeterminate types.

I also bought a spiral or a coil to experiment with propping up pole beans and tomatoes. These vertical supports make the garden look fun and interesting. They give some nice height and structural interest to my vegetable patch.

Vegetables have different ways of climbing, and many will need your attention and a helping hand. For instance, peas climb with tendrils that latch on to support as if they were tiny fingers wrapping themselves around a structure. As pole beans climb, the entire stem twists and wraps around the supporting structure.

Melons and squashes have tendrils like peas but not as many, so often a helping hand is needed. I usually end up using sturdy garden twine to affix the stem to a tepee or trellis. Tomatoes, especially cherry tomatoes, are wonderful to grow up a grid or a trellis. They will also need to be tied for support. Many of my cherry tomatoes grow 8- to 10-feet tall on my permanent structures in the garden, with the fruits dangling from above.