Vertical gardening allows for more vegetables, flowers in less space: How to get started

Remember that fairy tale about Jack and the Beanstalk? It’s probably the most famous example of “growing up” or vertical gardening.

“Growing up” expands your garden’s potential because growing vertically increases the number of plants that can be grown in an area. For example, one butternut squash plant can easily take over a 4-by-8-foot bed. Growing it upright allows more to be planted in that same amount of space.

With more plants, yields increase. Soil-dwelling pests are thwarted by putting plants out of reach. Better air circulation around plants minimizes problems like powdery mildew. Vertical growing can also provide an aesthetic boost to your yard.

Derek Fell, a Brit transplanted to the Northeast U.S. and ultimately to Florida's Sanibel Island, wrote "Vertical Gardening: Grow Up, Not Out, for More Vegetables and Flowers in Much Less Space." Much of the following information comes from his book, which describes numerous structures, plants, and techniques for vertical gardening.

Plant the seed

Want to try vertical gardening without extra work and expense? Use what you have.

Fell recommends using a chain-link or split-rail fence for growing grape or kiwi vines, as well as flowering vines like clematis. This can also help hide an unwanted view in your neighbor’s yard.

Have an old broom handle? Drive it into the ground and train your summer squash, like zucchini and yellow squash, to grow up the handle rather than spread over the ground. This creates more planting space and makes it easier to spot the dreaded squash vine borers that attach to the lower stem. Rise and Shine hybrid summer squash was bred for growing vertically.

If you’re lucky, like me, and have neighbors who grow bamboo, ask for some. They may not mind someone helping them trim it back. Use the bamboo canes to build scaffolds, obelisks, or teepees. They are ideal for Red Malabar spinach, pole beans, peas, acorn squash, and “trombone” zucchini. Derek Fell recommends Dragon’s Head and yellow-groove bamboo.

With two uprights, you can train your tomatoes up garden twine suspended from a crossbeam. Specially designed garden clips hold the plant securely in place on the twine.

Have pallets lying around that you saved because “I could use them for something”? Stand two pallets up, leaning against one another to create a teepee for heavier fruit like melons (e.g., Moon and Stars watermelon) and winter squash. If you have some spare lumber or nursery pots, you can attach them to the pallets as little shelves to keep fruit off the ground.

Watch it grow

As your enthusiasm for vertical gardening undergoes a growth spurt, try these more involved projects.

Use builder’s wire, garden netting with a 4-to-6-inch grid, or cattle panel secured to upright supports for growing cucumbers, loofah, and Chinese long beans. Chances are you have some metal poles, stakes, or T-posts in your garage or shed that might do nicely. The Lemon Cucumber grows well in this area, producing an abundant harvest of round, yellow fruit.

A trellis is one of the most common methods for vertical gardening. Made out of wood, vinyl, or bamboo – freestanding or against a wall or fence – a trellis has a frame with square or triangular crisscrossing slats that allow plants to climb upward.

Derek Fell suggests trellises for twining stems like pole beans, tendrils like sweet peas, holdfasts like Virginia creeper, aerial roots of trumpet vine, and the thorns of rambler roses. Twine, clips, and twist ties can be used to train plants into an upright growth habit. Moonflower and morning glory adapt easily to trellising.

Use hanging baskets suspended from shepherd’s crooks in the garden to add interest without taking up valuable real estate. Derek Fell recommends strawberries, Tumbling Tom tomatoes, and petunias as good choices for cascading plants grown this way. Stacked planters are great for growing greens and herbs with a minimal footprint.

Reach for the sky

Want something bigger for plants like passion vine? Use two trellises several feet apart, joined by a rounded top piece to make an arch that serves as an entryway from one part of the yard to another.

The big brother of the arch is the arbor, which is elongated to form a tunnel – ideal for grapes.

Taking the arbor up a notch, the pergola creates an outdoor room suitable for hammocks, seating, and more. Hummingbirds love the coral honeysuckle on my pergola.

Festoons, popular in French gardens, consist of single uprights and crossbeams to create a windowpane effect.

Have some fun along the way

Some options for vertical gardening are a little off the beaten path. As the poet Robert Frost suggested, sometimes you have to take the road less traveled to make a difference – in your garden.

Fell describes a fanciful trellis made from rusted bicycle wheels stacked and held together by wire, perfect for growing plants like orange climbing nasturtiums. Similarly, old ladders can be repurposed.

Upside-down planters turn hanging pots on their heads – literally. These heavy-duty cloth bags are suspended by handles, with plants growing out of a zippered hole in the bottom. Extra-dwarf bush tomatoes, like Orange Hat, which grows only six to nine inches tall, are ideal for this method and make a fun, edible addition to a patio or porch.

Pocket planters function like those over-the-door shoe storage contraptions. Suspended against a fence or wall, each pocket contains a compact plant like pansies, lettuce, or cascading herbs like oregano and thyme.

Hopefully, these ideas inspire you to create your own backyard fairy tale with vertical gardening. Give it a go. After all, the sky is the only limit.

Mary Janik is a Master Gardener Volunteer with UF/IFAS Leon County Extension, an Equal Opportunity Institution. For gardening questions, email AskAMasterGardener@ifas.ufl.edu.