June 23, 2011

In the intensively planted urban/suburban garden every square foot is valuable garden real estate. Whenever I can go up to increase vegetable production, I do. Think vertical when selecting seeds for cucumbers, green beans and peas.   You might choose bush varieties when space is not limited or if young children are grazing in the garden.

A simple trellis will do. My son built this one as a Christmas present, fabricating it from metal and wood in his college’s architecture shop. It’s presence in my garden makes me think of his very good years at Cal Poly San Luis Obispo. My next thought is of cucumbers sprawling over the clay soil in my Dad’s garden in San Clemente. He had plenty of room for them to roam. Gardening is also about memories. 

Now, back to “vertical gardening”. If the possibility intrigues you, google the phrase to see what inventive gardeners have devised. In Tokyo, farmers grow vertical whenever possible. To read more, go to this blog for images and details. On the same blog see a squash trellis.

To get your cucumbers out of the dirt, try an arrangement like the one pictured here. You can buy the trellis from Gardener’s Supply or build a similar one from repurposed wood scraps.

I’m intrigued by the possibility of growing lettuce under the leafy canopy provided by the cukes. With vertical cucumbers you have fewer oddly shaped fruit and less disease and rot.

Now I need a way to grow my compact butternut squash more compactly.