Gardening Vertically: Fad, Emerging Frontier or Long-Overlooked Art Form

Article by: Steve Townsend

Sure, it makes sense that there's a buzz about vertical gardening-there are lots more of us to feed these days with much less productive land. "Let's make the best use of our diminishing resources,"Â many are saying. And likely there are also those who dismiss vertical gardening , Using Push Reel Mowers as a fad. Mostly, though, I hear talk about increased yields. However, I suspect there are vertical gardeners like myself who have been surprised by another aspect we hadn't expected.

"Necessity is the mother of invention,"Â is a clichÃƒÂ© often quoted, and human food , Garden Art Ideas -- How to Make Your Planters Into Beautiful Garden Art requirements necessitate sponging-up sunlight at smaller and smaller focal points. My wife, Vicki, and I have a small yard, , Waterfalls and somewhat out of necessity we began years ago building , Outdoor Lighting Fixtures what began as rather makeshift trellises. Somewhere along our way, it had dawned on us that vining plants, , Ultra Violet Pond Filter such as cucurbits, those that produce melons, squash, cucumbers and pumpkins, are much like grape vines, their vines produce tendrils that secure to structures so they can climb as they grow. , Container Gardening: Urban Alternative for Plant Lovers

Commercial farmers still grow , Choosing Gardening Tools cucurbits on the ground, but home , Books About Landscaping gardeners realized long ago that these vining plants , Outdoor Accessories: Fashion that Goes Beyond Furniture are more adapted to growing , Xeriscaping is Waterwise Gardening upward. Of course, home , Growing Sweet Peas gardeners support cucurbit vines on trellises of all sorts and have devised many ingenious, albeit awkward, means of providing support to heavy melons, pumpkins or squash while they are yet ripening and suspended.

We began to desire a more scientific and artistic approach to vertical gardening , 5 Backyard Patio Ideas and to building , How To Build A Waterfall a vertical garden , Butterfly House in the Flower structure. We searched in vain for a guidebook to how to , Great Gardening Gift Ideas build one that is both aesthetic and engineered to be vine-friendly, and finally resigned to sketching our own design , What You Should Know About Miniature Roses and years ago we built our first vertical garden , Let Life and Energy Flow from the structure. As the next season , Local Flower Shops progressed, we were amazed to see squash and melon vines rise to heights over our heads.

Each year since, we have been delighted by astounding yields and our harvests of both heirlooms and hybrids (see photos at our website). We have harvested mouth-watering melons whose flavors are unmatched by the "store-boughts,"Â and we store enough squash each year that it is mid-April before we cook and savor the last of our trophies. As pleasurable as it is to bite into these orbs of sweetness and palate sensation, though, there is another thrill exclusive to vertical gardening , Invite Spring Early - Grow in Your Basement that may eclipse these joys.

Vines grown vertically are artful all by themselves as they twist about and their tendrils reach and spiral. We've observed, though, that with a little pruning , A Rose is a Rose? and directional coaxing using garden , Maintaining Your Landscaped Yard ties, they can be guided to achieve magnificent form and function. Each day of the growing season , Decorating Outdoor Decks and Patios With Themes we can step over to our vertical garden , Hydroponics ing - An Introduction To Hydroponics Gardening For Beginners (Part 3) Lighting to find wondrous surprises.

The magnificence of vines grown vertically tugs gently at our subtler nature , Choosing the Right Mower until we begin to awaken to a certain glimpse of the sublime. The joys experienced when tending vines may be akin to what one feels when listening to corn grow , Outdoor Lighting Fixtures during the hush of dawn. I 've fallen into awe sometimes while cultivating and coaxing vines to grow , Great Gardening Gift Ideas left or right or up or down to fill our garden , 7 Natural Stone Pebble Projects For Every Home structure. I am eager already for next season, , Improvements in Robotic Lawn Mowers when I will experiment again with varieties strange to me and surely be amazed anew.

Â©2005 Steven J. Townsend. All Rights Reserved.

Steve and Vicki Townsend share hundreds of vertical gardening , Daylily "Red Hot Returns" shortcuts and secrets in e-books you can download at http://www.gardensup.com.

What's Inside
Italian Vegetable Seeds - Some might ask, "Why grow , Care of Dendrobium Orchids Italian vegetable , Landscaping Tips: Koi Pond Aeration Needed for Healthy Fish seeds?" Why bother with going international when there are already plenty of seed , Vegetable Container Gardening companies in the U.S.?One reason is that there are Old World strains that just 'have that certain taste' that com...
Landscape and Outdoor Lighting - Less is Definitely More - When lighting your garden, , Choosing Lawnmowers For Cutting Grass On Tennis Courts less is definitely more. Flood , How to Make a Weed Dabber lighting is fine for a traffic intersection, but at home , Teak Furniture: The Premier Outdoor Furniture it is energy , Send Flowers Online inefficient, expensive and creates light , Pond Liners - Which One to Use? pollution. You and your garden , Setting Up A Goldfish Pond deserve better.Outdoor lighting is most...
Teak Adirondack Chairs - Outdoor furniture , Want to Build a Pond? constructed with teak wood , Growing Organic! Herbs, Flowers and Fruit is a favorite among consumers due to the beauty and durability of the individual pieces. For this reason, a wide variety of outdoor furniture , Do It Yourself Landscape Design - Where To Begin is made using teak ranging from teak Adirondack chairs , The Truth About Mosquitos and Water Gardens to cl...
Quickly Grow a Natural Privacy Screen or Sound Barrier - The Perfect Fast-Growing Evergreen Screen This week we are featuring an evergreen that is not only fast growing, , Landscaping Lighting Techniques beautiful , Transplanting Trees and low-maintenance, but provides the perfect privacy screen - 'Thuja 'Steeplechase.' 'Steeplechase' is a...
Tips On Lawn Aeration For A Beautiful Healthy Yard - One of the keys to having a healthy , Hydroponics Gardening - An Introduction To Hydroponics Gardening For Beginners (Part 6) The Autopot and lush lawn , Using Vines to Beautify Your House is to aerate it when needed. Sometimes what you may think are insect, under watering or fertilizer problems, are actually happening simply because you are not aerating the soil , Traditional Wisdom or Old-fashioned Nonsense? as frequently as you...
10 Tips to Care for Your Antique Ceramics - To care for your antique ceramics you need a gentle touch and they’ll last you a long time. This month we’ll give you some useful tips , All About Tulip Gardens to help you care for them.1. When you are cleaning delicate ceramics, remember to use a soft-bristled bru...
The Truth About Geraniums - A rose , Riding Lawn Mowers Parts by any other name would smell as sweet. But would there be confusion on what plant , Lawn Moles and Proper Lawn Care you are talking about? There is with Geraniums.Does the idea of a Geranium conjure up an image of a quaint Greek fishing village with window , Garden Planning boxes pla...
Garden Makeover On A Budget - There's been a huge increase in the popularity of garden , Growing and Preserving Cut Flowers makeovers. Teams of people come in and transform your garden , Deck Swing Buying and Assembling Tips in less than a day. But how can you save , Your Garden - Growing from Seed money by avoiding the experts and costly plants , How to Buy a Porch Swing and perform a garden , Sowing an Annual Flower Border makeover miracle...
Re-Potting Your Orchids - This months topic will take us two newsletters to cover. It is about re-potting. We have been asked by customers, "when should my orchid , Everything You need to Know to Set up Your Square Foot Garden be re-potted". I will cover this subject by orchid , Lap Pools – Great Exercise Inside Or Any Size Backyard genera. In this months newsletter I will cover phal...

Gardening Vertically: Fad, Emerging Frontier or Long-Overlooked Art Form

Landscape Gardening

Seasonal Gardening