Small space gardening is awesome- who doesn't want to get more produce from a given spot? Once you're up and running, it may actually be easier and more efficient to maintain than traditional garden plots. In fact, some small-space-friendly principles are just as useful to people who have a lot of room to grow stuff.
Growing vertically is a major theme in small-space gardening. While it is not exactly rocket science, I still want to devote at least one blog post to it, since it is one of those simple things that often provides the best results at the smallest expense of time, effort, and money. And it is overlooked far too often.
Vertical gardening takes advantage of the fact that most plants are really happy to grow upward if they are provided with some kind of structure to climb. That's my main point; I could stop writing now, but I won't, so stay tuned for more detail. Lots of plants can do fine when they are left to sprawl across the ground, and if this approach works for you in a particular situation, then that's great. Move along and enjoy the rest of your day! If you're interested, however, here are three reasons (there are more, of course) why vertical gardening makes sense:
1) Healthier plants
Some plants will be healthier when they are kept up off of the ground- this approach helps ensure a good airflow around the base of the plants, which can help excess moisture to evaporate rather than provide a breeding ground for mold, disease, and who knows what else. It also provides less nooks and crannies for mice, insects, and other pests to hang out.
2) Larger yields
Some plants will grow and grow and grow when they're given the opportunity, so if you build a simple trellis (it can be quick & dirty or fancy, or somewhere in between. Whatever works.)... your plants will get bigger and you might just get more produce. Logical, right?
3) Better produce with less waste
I got sick of finding over-ripe, mushy, maybe even inedible tomatoes that I missed the first time because they were buried under tons of foliage. I hate to waste food, and I'd rather pick stuff at its peak- this is easy when plants are grown up high and trellised out so you can easily see how things are ripening. A good trellis makes it easier to monitor the health of your plants and the ripeness of your coming harvest.
For example, I started out growing tomatoes in the ubiquitous wire cages that are about 3 feet tall. I did this for years, because that was the only way I knew how, and it worked out ok. But then I heard somebody- local superstar (in my book) Carly Gillespie, from Wasatch Community Gardens- talking about her tomato plants getting to 7 or 8 feet high, and I was blown away. Seduced by the promise of growing such whoppers, I came home and built a simple trellis- I mean really simple, just using scrap wood and about 20 minutes of my time. I built it 6 feet high, and when I planted my seedlings, it looked just ridiculous. "These plants will never get tall enough to need all this height," I thought. Boy was I ever wrong (I guess there's a first time for everything). Our plants blew past the 6 foot mark and I had to add on another foot of structure to the top of the trellis. This year, I'll be building a trellis 8 feet high.
In addition to looking awesome, our three "walls" of tomatoes provided far more produce than the old cages allowed for, and they made it easier to keep an eye on the ripening fruit so that they could be picked at their peak. While I didn't weigh the total amount of tomatoes we produced- I'm curious, but far too lazy- our 25 plants kept us in fresh tomatoes through December, and the gallons of fresh salsa I consumed (yes, gallons) were fantastic.
If you have any questions on building trellises or other supports, just ask!
