Okay, i should be in bed but instead im browsing through garden pictures thanks to lovely google, and im completely fascinated by vertical gardening! I always thought it wouldnt be possible with watermelons and pumpkins, obviously i know you cant do the bigger varieties without some serious structural support, but im curious to see if anyone else is venturing into this area this coming season. Id love to see pictures of current vertical gardens and past ones as well! Any tips are much appreciated, Ooo, how do you keep the stems from snapping? Nylons? I need ideas and this forum never fails!
Cucumbers and beans but not watermelons or pumpkins. The vertical structure for cucumbers that I use is made from three metal poles from an old swing set, two sunk in concrete with the third attached across the top then chicken wire attached to the poles using zip ties. This is the only good photo I can find of it, taken in early '06, I didn't grow cukes that year..... Vertical structure for cucumbers, etc. ( photo / image / picture from toni's Garden ) Using something like this for watermelon and pumpkins should work. Maybe growing smaller varieties would work best since they won't weigh anywhere near what the larger ones do and using concrete reinforcing wire mesh instead of chicken wire. Make hammocks out of the legs from pantyhose to hold them once they get to be too heavy for the vine to support alone. You might have to replace the hammocks a they grow.
Cantaloupes do nicely vertically. I use the plastic mesh bags that onions come in to hold the fruit. I'm going to try vertical cucumber vines this year--last year they sprawled all over, got mixed in with the tomatoes, and generally were untamed. For trellises I use the old wrought iron railings that we took down from our entryway, and the bars that were over the patio doors. Don't like being fenced in myself, but they sure work for trellises when supported by T-bars sunk in the ground.
4 pole TeePee type trellises should give4 you great support for large mellons allowing you to put in hamocks, slings and other supports between the poles. I plan on doing Cukes, peas, Zucchini and whatever els eI can get to grow this year vertical. Hope to have a trellis arch made soon for growing them. Made from pvc and medium gauge wire fencing for support and regidity.
Wow, Some great insight! I deliver for pizza hut so I come across some incredible find people are tossing out that work well for the garden like my newest find a 4 sectional plastic security fence made to be a pen of some sort lol, Im plnning on setting it up and making a sort of teepee out of it. It should end up being the perfect size for my daughters garden that she asked for this year, But if I come across an iron fence, ITS MINE!LoL. I was planning on doing some bamboo teepee trellis this year for my greenbeans and hopefully some longbeans. I'd love to try the teepee for larger melons, I always get pillbuggs trying to make their homes inside Do you think bamboo would work? or am I better off with the pvc? Do you think the gauge of the pvc would matter? Thanks so much for the ideas, Keep em coming!
For melons, trees would work best IMHO. BUt 2 inch PVC should prove to br strong enough with the kind of weight the melons can take on. I suppose any material will work if you make slings that sit on the ground to support the melons.
Small Teepees and other similar crafted supports could be very useful for this, A series of 2-3 trough type structures could hold a good 10-15 melons on each and help them keep a perfect shape.
