Growing Vegetables Vertically

by Homayun
(Iran)

Hi. I have very small space for growing vegetables. I intend to use my court walls and grow my veggies on them vertically, but I don't know how much and what fertilizers are uses to growing them as fast as possible. Would you please help me?

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Growing Vegetables Vertically

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Nov 16, 2009

How to Grow Vegetables Vertically
by: Countryfarm Lifestyles

Growing vegetables vertically makes a lot of sense if you don't have the space. However, even if they are being grown vertically, you will still need to make sure that they have at least 6 hours of sunshine, and the area is not shadowed by other plants or buildings.

There are some vegetables that make more sense in growing this way, because they need staking in the first place. Vegetables that do well grown vertically are Lima beans, green pole beans, cucumbers, melons, peas, squash, and indeterminate (tall-growing) tomato plants. Sweetcorn can also be grown with beans planted in between them, so that the sweetcorn acts as a support for the beans, which will use the corn to grow up.

The one thing you will need to worry about is whether your support system that you have for your plants is strong enough, especially for the heavier crops like melons and squash. Building a trellis along your wall will be good to get your vegetables to grow vertically. You will need to tie your vegetables to the trellis at different stages of their growth. Use fabric to do this to prevent damaging the stems.

You can also make cages for your tomatoes out of steel rebar, or use 3 bamboo stakes tied into a pyramid shape and lashed together at the top.

The best type of soil to use for vertical vegetable gardens is silt with some quartz and other fine organic particles. The next best soil is a loamy soil, which is a a combined mixture of 40% sand, 20% clay and 40% silt. Make sure that you add plenty of organic matter to your soil in the form of animal manure and compost. A handful of blood and bone is also beneficial.

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