trellises

Want to grow a lot of food in a tiny bit of space? Grow upwards with vines on trellises!

Vining plants can do a lot with very little. They badly crave the sunlight and are willing to run, jump, and climb to get it. I’m talking more than beans, but also peas, cucumbers, watermelon, squash, pumpkins, grapes, and certain types of spinach.

Most of these plants only make a couple leaves when they are young. They then send up an arm that spins round and round looking for the nearest tree, fence, or tall plant. Once they grab on, the plant can really thrive. It shoots up towards the sky, makes tons of leaves, and uses all that sunlight energy to create an abundance. In order to give the plants what they need in the absence of trees and fences, we can build trellises. This way you can grow giant bean plants out of small pots on a patio or driveway.

Trellises can look tons of different ways and its mostly dependent on the space and materials available. Here we have a bunch of branches tied together with vines, but you could give a second life to materials you might otherwise throw away. The point is to make something that the plant can grab onto and something strong enough to hold up the plant and fruits. For pumpkins and squashes you will likely have to put extra support to hold up the heavy vegetables.

Trellises also can give support to blackberries, tomatoes, tomatillos, and peppers, making the most of a small space and helping the plant produce as much as possible.

It’s best for the garden if you build the trellis before planting the seeds. That way you disturb the soil before planting and it has time to recover. Put the feet of the trellis close to the seeds and they plant will figure out the rest. If this isn’t possible, build the trellis around the plants, using vines or twine to attach the plants to the trellis. Multipurpose trellis allow you to rotate crops year to year with the same structure.

Source: Bill Mollison, “Permaculture: A Designer’s Manual”.