Growing vertically isn’t anything new, it’s been around since ancient times. Whether you live in the city, suburbs or in the country, vertical growing can work for you!
What a totally genius idea with this ‘over-door shoe holder’! For those without a lot of ground space, this is a great way to create some great results in your growing efforts!
This planter was quite possibly the first “Topsy-turvy”! Using a 5-gallon bucket that hangs from a rafter allows you to grow something in the top as well! Just remove the lid and plant! I like the fact that it could be kept on your porch or back patio, easy picking for meal-time!
In my garden, I am busy with a lot of different forms of vertically growing. Front and center is the basic tri-pod of stakes for my cucumbers to grow up. You don’t have to spend much money to create trellising for your plants. Last year, we picked up sticks from the woods and tied them together. It was primitive, but nostalgically beautiful.
My green bean trellis is starting to look like something painted by Picaso (a mess of a picture that doesn’t make much sense!) but it’s working. I started out with stakes, similar to the cuke set-up, but decided that some leftover 20′ cattle panels could prove to be useful in the garden.
First, my dad and I made an arch with the metal panel….very interesting but not useful in terms of growing beans.
Later, my son and I just put it up with the posts. I’m very pleased with it this way. Remember, however, that if you want to keep the fresh vegetables coming, you must “succession plant“. Therefore, I laced a few stakes into the cattle panel for the next set of seeds to grow up. This will help me to recognize which plants are which as well.
My grapes are just short of reaching the trellis we built for them. Rather than have them drag on the ground, I decided to train them, with just a little yarn, to the trellis.
Oh, so close! Grapes have been incredibly slow in their progress. They are fully fertilized and the soil is kept loose around them. The plot drains well too.
Even the simple tomato cage is a form of verticle growing! If not caged, the tomatoes just lay on the ground and the plant doesn’t do as well either.
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Do YOU utilize vertical growing? What has worked for you?
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About kmorris
The shoe holder–never thought of that! Clever!
Dear Living So Abundantly,
Isn’t that so cute? Wish I had thought of it!
I love all of the vertical possibilities! You have given me a great idea for our grapevines! Thanks for sharing!
Daisy,
You are so welcome!! Thanks for commenting!
love the photos! my fav was the shoe holder…awesome idea!!
Georgia,
Wasn’t that so cute??? Thanks for commenting!
Yes, we grow some things vertically. We used to live in the country where there was plenty of room for anything we wanted. We’ve lived in our current house (near a city, and part of a home-owners association – yuck) for three years, so we are way more limited. This is the second year we’ve grown veggies in the back yard by putting in raised beds. The first year it was pretty much limited to the area around my deck so we tied twine to the deck rails to support the tomatoes and allow the cukes to run up. This year we hung trellis netting from the deck to allow cukes and beans to climb. Personally, I love the way the veggies wrap around the rails and spill over onto the deck. Since the tomatoes are in the new raised beds, away from the deck this year, we’ve run twine in between the stakes in order to help keep the plants somewhat contained and growing upright instead of all over. Also, this is the first year we’ve tried the tomato towers. I have one around a volunteer tomato that came up in one of the flower beds in the front yard. I kind of like having in right out there in front of the house.
I love the over the door shoe organizer! That would be great for city folks or even apartment dwellers who want fresh herbs or lettuce without sacrificing space.
Libby,
Exactly what I was thinking!! Thanks for commenting.
Great ideas! I will have to use some of these next year–this year I only caged my tomatoes, and my cucumbers are trailing all over the place, along with the pumpkins…
Michelle,
You could still grab some long sticks, tie them together and get those cukes off the ground. Good luck!
We almost did the shoe holder thing, there is a website called Woolly School Gardens. We were going to do this for our homeschool group, but not this year.
As in previous years, we have taken old flower pots- hanging- and converted them to the Topsy-turvy pots- with a tomato on the top and through the drain hole. Have filled our porch with a door frame like structure to hold them – it has given us cherry tomatoes and lots of shade. We reuse the dirt since the fertilizer is only about 3-6 months old.
Over the years we have experimented- watermelons in apple trees, tomatoes and green beans in trees. The watermelons were double the size we have ever grown. The beans crawled all over, and the tomatoes- well they didn’t make it into the house with our son climbing after them. This year we have peppers that have grown a year and a half- yes- they wintered over the cold season inside and have survived. There are tons of blossoms and a small pepper waiting to be picked. Today we picked up more salad greens and herbs to change our landscaping into edible lawn instead of mowing lawn. The thyme stays shorter longer, smells nice when you walk on it too. We are training cucumbers to grow up a fence this year. The potatoes get the pizza garden- planted on top of cardboard then covered with tons of grass clippings… They have grown to almost a foot high so far. I dislike weeding. The pots keep the animals out and there is less damage from snails and slugs.
Hey Laurie,
Wow, you are busy! I am curious about the watermelons in apple trees, how did you do that?
We just use the old hanging flower pots for everything- a watermelon plant was purchased at the nursery and we stuck it into the pot, hung it from a higher tree branch and made sure it was watered. (Of course this year we are making sure all the pots have holes for more drainage.)
Laurie
We do vertical growing with our grape vines, and in our vegetable garden with the peas, beans, and tomatoes. I love seeing the grape vines in various spots in our very small quarter of an acre. We even have one growing over the railing on the back porch, giving us grapes and shade from the afternoon sun.
Barb,
It’s amazing how much food you can grow vertically! Great job!
I love the shoe organizer idea! We want to try some hydroponic gardening! We live on a boat, and we cannot have dirt… Maybe we can adapt it somehow…