Gardening Vertically: Fad, Emerging Frontier or Long-Overlooked Art Form
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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," many are saying. And likely there are also those who dismiss vertical gardening , Choosing the Right Mower 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," is a cliché often quoted, and human food , Dog Damage to Lawns requirements necessitate sponging-up sunlight at smaller and smaller focal points. My wife, Vicki, and I have a small yard, , Variety In Garden Plants - How To Choose The Best Plants For Your Garden and somewhat out of necessity we began years ago building , Gardening - Hibiscus Plant Care what began as rather makeshift trellises. Somewhere along our way, it had dawned on us that vining plants, , Variety In Garden s - How To Choose The Best Plants For Your Garden 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. , Re-Potting Your Orchids Commercial farmers still grow , Your Cottage Garden cucurbits on the ground, but home , The First-Time Vegetable Gardener -- Some Pathways to Success gardeners realized long ago that these vining plants , Remove the Gorilla if You Want to Sell Your House are more adapted to growing , Yellow Headed Spruce Sawfly upward. Of course, home , How to Start Your Lawn by Seeding or Sod 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 , Quick Lawn Care Tips For Achieving the Perfect Lawn and to building , Ornamental Fountain a vertical garden , Getting Rid of Pests with Less Chemicals structure. We searched in vain for a guidebook to how to , This Is How You Grow Sprouts build one that is both aesthetic and engineered to be vine-friendly, and finally resigned to sketching our own design , Waterlilies and years ago we built our first vertical garden , Landscaping Lessons-Proper Placement Of Trees In Landscape Design structure. As the next season , Landscaping Lessons-Proper Placement Of Trees In Landscape Design 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," 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 , An Introduction To Vinyl Fences 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 , Creating A Balcony Garden Oasis and directional coaxing using garden , Lawn Mower Safety ties, they can be guided to achieve magnificent form and function. Each day of the growing season , Lawn Mower Safety we can step over to our vertical garden , Colour in the to find wondrous surprises. The magnificence of vines grown vertically tugs gently at our subtler nature , Outdoor Living Cleanses The Mind, Body, and Spirit 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 , How to Start Your Lawn by Seeding or Sod during the hush of dawn. I 've fallen into awe sometimes while cultivating and coaxing vines to grow , Re-Potting Your Orchids left or right or up or down to fill our garden , How to Start Your Lawn by Seeding or Sod structure. I am eager already for next season, , How Vacuum Formed Molds Are Made when I will experiment again with varieties strange to me and surely be amazed anew. ©2005 Steven J. Townsend. All Rights Reserved.Steve and Vicki Townsend share hundreds of vertical gardening , The Secret To Healthier Plants? Let's Ask My Grandfather shortcuts and secrets in e-books you can download at http://www.gardensup.com. |
  
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