High-Rising Edibles
By Kris Wetherbee

Utilizing the third dimension to grow vegetables and other edibles makes optimum use of available garden space and offers many other advantages.

Are you crazy about cucumbers but hate how they can overrun your vegetable garden? Tempted to grow winter squash but don’t have the room? Do you love the flavor of ‘Brandywine’ and other indeterminate tomatoes but have had to give up on them because they sprawl all over the ground?

Even when garden space is limited, you can still grow space-hungry vegetables such as squash, melons, and tomatoes. Growing vegetables and vining fruits on an arbor or vertical trellis is the most efficient way to accommodate these plants.
Necessity led me to that discovery nearly two decades ago when my husband and I were certified organic market growers. Our market garden consisted of about 8,000 square feet of space. While that may seem like a lot to someone growing vegetables for personal use, it’s really not very much for a commercial operation.
Taking advantage of the vertical dimension immediately increased our yield per square foot of growing space and allowed us to diversify our offerings because we could fit more plants in a given area. Once we began refining our growing practices and integrating tips from other gardeners, we discovered even more benefits to vertical gardening.

Additional Incentives

“Trellising makes for a more orderly garden and, most importantly, brings more sun and air to the plant surfaces,” say Gabriel S. Murphy, chef of Gogi’s Restaurant in Jacksonville, Oregon. Owned and operated by Gabriel and brother Jonoah Murphy, much of the restaurant’s produce comes from their one-acre Applegate Valley farm.
For the Murphy brothers, trellising their cucumbers, melons, beans, winter squash, and tomatoes helps bring a superior quality to the produce. Growing vertically eliminates soil contact so vegetables and fruits stay cleaner and are less likely to rot. Fruits are quicker to ripen and often more flavorful due to the additional sunlight exposure. And since the veggies and fruits are more visible and not hidden beneath lush growth, they can be harvested at their peak of perfection.

Trellising helps minimize mildew and other plant diseases. “An easy way for plants to contract a disease is by getting leaves wet,” says Josh Kirschenbaum, product development director for Territorial Seed Company in Cottage Grove, Oregon. “Foliage that’s held off the ground is less likely to get wet from routine waterings and, consequently, less likely to become diseased.” When trellised plants do get wet, the added air circulation helps leaves dry out more quickly.

In addition, trellising saves strain on your back because there is minimal bending over needed to harvest crops. Compared with standard growing practices, less watering, weeding, and feeding is needed to produce the yield from vegetables grown on vertical supports. “Trellised edibles can also make a wonderful living fence or privacy screen,” adds Kirschenbaum.…

Trellis-worthy Edibles

Any vining or sprawling plant with fruits smaller than a bowling ball can be trellised as long as they are grown on a sturdy, tall structure that is strong enough to support the weight of the mature plant and resulting fruits.
Lightweight trellis structures are often adequate to support the weight of cucumbers, pole beans, and peas. Those needing sturdier support include indeterminate tomatoes (which keep growing and producing fruits until frost), non-bush varieties of summer squash, and small-fruited winter squash. A heavy-duty trellis is required to support the weight of non-bush varieties of small melons or pumpkins (bowling ball size or smaller), determinate tomatoes, and winter squash.
Depending on the mature fruit size of the variety - a melon the size of a bowling ball can weigh up to eight pounds - you may also need to attach a sling made of nylon stockings or other stretchy material to the trellis and place the developing fruit in the sling. The added support will ensure that the fruit stays on the vine and doesn’t cause the vine to break.

Standing Tall

A variety of trellis systems can be used to grow vegetables, from cages to poles, stakes, string, trellises, and arbors. Plants are typically grown up plastic or string mesh, chicken wire, or hog panels, or by hand-strung twine or wire attached to trellis supports made of metal, wood, bamboo, plastic, or PVC pipe.…

Author Kris Wetherbee and her husband, Rick, grow vegetables, fruits, and ornamental plants in their Oakland, Oregon, garden.

Photo credit: Runner beans on wooden trellis by Rick Wetherbee
 

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