Vertical Vegetables Creative Gardening Techniques for Growing Food Up in Small Spaces

At last, an innovative solution for urbanites, apartment dwellers, and anyone who wants to grow food in small spaces — grow up! 

Vertical Vegetables & Fruit shows how easy and fun small-footprint food gardening can be. Low maintenance and big harvests are just two of the benefits of using teepees, trellises, cages, hanging baskets, wall pockets, stacking pots, and multilevel raised beds to grow vegetables and fruit.
 
Whether your soon-to-be garden is an alley, a balcony, a rooftop, or just a windowsill, master gardener Rhonda Massingham Hart provides expert advice for constructing the site, preparing the soil, and planting and caring for vegetables and fruits to produce a hearty harvest. From beans on a tepee to tomatoes on a wire archway, melons on a slanted fence to cucumbers on a trellis, kiwis on a clothesline to strawberries in a pot, there are simple growing guidelines here to fit every gardeners favorite tastes and site. 

For experienced gardeners looking to try new techniques as well as first-time growers with tiny growing spaces, Vertical Vegetables & Fruit is the space-saving, harvest-enhancing guide to producing a bounty of fresh food in any location.

For gardeners working in confined spaces, Rhonda Massingham Hart presents an ingenious solution for maximizing productivity: grow up With tepees, trellises, hanging baskets, cages, wall pockets, and multilevel raised beds, you can reap bountiful harvests in even the tiniest growing areas. From kiwis on a clothesline to tomatoes dangling outside a window, Vertical Vegetables & Fruit shows you how to construct and maintain a thriving and abundant garden in whatever small space you have available."

Limited Space and Little Time to Garden? Try Growing Your Food Up

In a very small footprint, you can take advantage of vertical acreage by planting vegetables and fruit that climb, ramble, and twine toward the sun. Small, contained spaces also minimize weeding and pest control and maximize your harvest.

Begin with peas and beans, the stars of climbing vines, and then explore the vertical possibilities of other popular garden foods:

* Grow tomatoes in a hanging planter; pick them off the dangling vines
* Train cucumbers along the sloping sides of an A-frame trellis
* Tie melon vines to a fence and use slings to cradle the heavy fruit
* Weave sweet potato vines through a trellis; enjoy the foliage as a decorative plant and dig the potatoes for dinner
* Confine sprawling squash plants to a tepee instead of having them take over valuable garden space

Master Gardener Rhonda Massingham Hart is the author of Dirt Cheap Green Thumb,  Deerproofing Your Yard & Garden, Squirrel Proofing Your Home & Garden, North Coast Roses, and Trellising. Rhonda has written articles for a variety of magazines, including Flower & Garden, Woman’s Day Better Living, and Fine Gardening magazines. Her desire to deer- and squirrel-proof comes from her mutual respect for people and animals and from a desire to incorporate wildlife into our yards and lives. She has lectured extensively on pest proofing and organic gardening techniques and taught continuing adult education classes at her local community college. 

Part I: The Whys, Whats, and How-Tos of Making Food Grow Up
1 It's Time to Grow Up!
2 Making the Most of Materials
3 Traditional Techniques: Tepees and Trellises
4 Not-So-Traditional Tricks: Hanging, Stacking, Towering, and More

Part II: Vertical Annual Vines
5 Beans
6 Peas
7 Tomatoes
8 Cucumbers
9 Squash and Gourds
10 Melons
11 Sweet Potatoes

Part III: Fine Perennial Fruits
12 Blackberries
13 Raspberries
14 Strawberries
15 Grapes
16 Kiwis
17 The Essentials of Espalier

Appendix 1: A Note on Recommended Varieties
Appendix 2: Direct Seeding
Appendix 3: Growing Your Own Seedlings
Appendix 4: Hardening Off Tender Transplants