A surprising number of annual crops benefit from the support of a trellis. Because we love trellised crops and because we’ve been trialing a ton of varieties, we started carrying a selection of Renee’s Garden seeds in our shop! Here is a short list of some of our favorite crops and varieties to grow vertically in the garden and links to our store where you can find our favorite types:
Beans: This classic garden crop comes in 2 main growth forms: bush types and pole types. Pole beans should always be grown on a trellis. They are very vigorous growers that have tendrils and a habit of wrapping their entire stem around whatever vertical support they can find. This makes them extremely easy to support and we’ve grown pole beans both on vertical strings and right on the posts of our trellis. They’ll wrap themselves around either structure and rarely need any additional training after they initially find the trellis and start wrapping.
Varieties we recommend: Emerite Filet, French Gold Filet, Kentucky Wonder, Painted Lady Runner Beans
Cucumbers: Another very popular crop that benefits tremendously from trellising. Cucumbers can be left to sprawl on the ground, but their fruit become very susceptible to insect damage and rot when grown this way. Sprawling cucumber fruits can also be very difficult to locate in all of the vegetative growth of the plants, so even quality fruits can be missed. Fortunately, like beans, they are very easy to train on a trellis. We prefer to grow them on vertical strings hung from the top bar of the trellis. We drape a piece of twine over the top and secure both ends of the string in a trellis clip at the base of the plant. No knots required! Cucumbers have tendrils and do wrap themselves, but grow best when given a little extra attention to keep them on course. Add a trellis clip or gently wrap your plants around the twine every week or two in the early season. After a few weeks, they’ll be well secured to the string and unlikely to need any additional intervention.
Varieties we recommend: Straight Eight, Suyo Long, Tasty Treat
Eggplant: While eggplant aren’t vines, they can be very top-heavy. Eggplants can grow up to 4-5 feet tall and heavily-loaded plants can topple over under the weight of their fruit. These plants certainly don’t require a trellis, but do tend to be more tidy and less likely to fall over and break if grown with support. To trellis eggplant, drape a string over the top bar of your trellis and secure both ends in a trellis clip at the base of the plant. Gently wrap the stem in the twine, or add an additional trellis clip, 1 or 2 times as the plant grows and that should provide enough support to keep it upright for the entire season.
Varieties we recommend: Italian Violetta Lunga
Melons: Melons are a vining plants with tendrils, so perfect for trellising. Larger melon, like full-size watermelons are best grown on the ground, but fortunately there are a lot of smaller-fruiting melons available that grow perfectly on a vertical string and take up much less space in the garden!
Varieties we recommend: Tuscan Retato Degli Ortolani
