How to Grow a Vertical Garden

Grow vertically to expand your garden space, create privacy, and add beauty to bare walls and fences. This century-old technique is useful in small space gardens and large-scale landscapes, adding beauty from the ground up. Training vines up a trellis, onto a fence, over an arbor, or onto any type of DIY or purchased plant support is one form of vertical gardening. Use a vine covered trellis to create an inviting entrance into your yard or to delineate garden spaces. Include a flower covered obelisk as a focal point in the garden or cover a fence with plants to screen an unwanted view. Try growing beans, peas, melons, cucumbers, and flowering vines on purchase supports or those made from landscape trimmings or found items. You not only save space but also help reduce disease problems by increasing airflow and sunlight throughout the plant. Prevent damage by securing large fruit to the support with cloth, netting, or macrame slings. Add some fun, save money, and reduce waste by giving discards a second life as plant supports. Here are a few ideas to help you get started. Use perennial vines like the native honeysuckle vine, clematis, or climbing roses for years of color. Add an annual vine like hyacinth bean or cardinal climber to quickly cover the trellis while waiting for your perennial vine to reach its mature size. Plant two vines with different bloom times to extend the colorful flower display or look for those that bloom at the same time to double your floral impact. Create a living shade canopy using larger vines like grapes, kiwi, Virginia creeper, and American bittersweet trained over arbors, pergolas, and other structures to provide needed shade. These deciduous vines drop their leaves in winter allowing warm sunlight through. When leafed out they provide welcome shade during the warmer growing season. Keep in mind the impact these vines have on plants growing under the shaded structure. Some plants will appreciate the shade while sun lovers will decline. Select plants that are suited to these growing conditions then consider any mess from falling flowers and impact from any edible fruit like grapes that provide tasty treats for you and uninvited guests like squirrels and birds. Teepee supports made of large branches have been used for decades to support beans and peas. Vine covered teepees can be used to create a bit of shade and a focal point in a vegetable and flower garden. Use them to create a fun hideout for gardeners of all ages or lower the roof and up the fun with a growing tunnel for the younger gardeners in the family. Use containers, hanging baskets, and tall narrow plants to add beauty at eye level, create privacy, and block unwanted noise. Strategically place vertical gardens to preserve views you want to keep and screen those you want to hide. Check the tags to make sure whatever plant you select will thrive in the growing conditions and fit in the available space once it matures. Espalier trees are living works of art that can create open screening or dress up a bare wall or fence. Fruit or ornamental trees can be pruned into a decorative pattern. This is not something for those that are reluctant, unwilling, or unable to regularly prune these plants to maintain their desired shape. Green walls are another way to add greenery to your outdoor rooms or where planting space is unavailable. You'll find a variety of options available for purchase, plans to make your own, or consider creating your own unique container. Whatever option you select, make sure it's secure once in place, weatherproof, and is relatively easy to maintain. Here are a few ideas to help you get started. Vertical gardens looking their best with proper care. Water thoroughly as needed and keep in mind that the smaller the container, the more often you'll need to water. Make sure plants from top to bottom receive sufficient moisture and make the job easier by using self-watering containers or watering systems. Apply Milorganite, a low nitrogen, slow-release fertilizer, at the season. It provides months of nutrients for your plants. Make a second application mid-season if needed. The possibilities for going vertical are many and varied. Do a bit of research to find or create the best vertical gardens to use in your outdoor space.