Veggie Vines

Many people with small vegetable gardens train all their vines to grow upwards. One year I had a cantaloupe vine that inadvertently grew up a fence and I had to support the heavy fruit with old nylon stockings. It was a fun project, but very time consuming.

I have been growing bush cucumbers for years and they are tasty, prolific and conserve space in the urban garden. Next year I intend to plant bush watermelon and possibly bush pumpkin. Right now my single pumpkin vine, located strategically in the very corner of the garden, runs behind my arborvitae one way and along the garage another. I caught it when it was young and directed it out of the garden proper. The vines like scooting across the wood-chip paths.

The bean vines scramble up a trellis by the fence that hides the woodpile. They always end up over the fence and the woodpile, making picking an adventure. Since I plant the beans in the same little spot every year, I heavily compost the soil there. It seems to work.  Also, a volunteer stand of bee balm next to the planting repels Japanese beetles.

The snow pea vines have their own makeshift trellis next to the potting shed; they too are always planted in the same spot, and they like it there.

It’s shaded and cooler in the afternoons. This year I tried an experiment and planted snow peas in different places among the flowers and shrubs. The only vine that produced was planted around a young crabapple tree up front. The vines attached themselves to the tree bark. Next year I’m going to see what happens if I plant snow peas on the south facing fence among the day lilies.

Tomato vines get special treatment in the Garden of Nemesis. After fooling around with tomato cages for a few years, we now build a fence support.

The temporary fence can be dismantled at the end of the season, is easily stored, and takes very little time to reassemble in a new place the following spring.

My husband pounds in four metal fence posts with about four feet in between.

Then we attach plastic mesh for the vines to climb on. We like to use the Velcro that comes on a roll to secure the plants to the mesh, that way we can cut whatever size we need. About half the tomatoes planted are determinate, so will quit vining after a time and concentrate on making fruit.

I allow several feet on either side of the tomato fence in which to stand while picking. If we place the fence next to an already existing footpath, we can save another few feet in the garden.

I place old rugs and carpets on either side of the fence to keep the dirt from splashing the plants during the rain, the weeds from growing and to retain ground moisture. I like the idea of picking from a standing position rather than bent over and the fruit is always clean.