Can I grow crops vertically?
- Should I plant seeds or seedlings?
- How should I space my plants?
- Can I grow crops vertically?
- How do I make a marker?
- How do I plant seeds in soil-beds?
- How do I transplant seedlings?
With Mittleider gardening, you can grow plants both horizontally and vertically. Some plants are normal climbers, for example: pole beans, pole peas, and certain squashes. Other crops can be made to grow vertically. These include tomatoes, cucumbers, and melons.
Growing crops vertically has these advantages:
- More plants can be grown in a small area.
- Better quality crops are produced because of the extra light each plant receives.
- Plants are easy to feed, water, prune, and harvest.
- The fruit does not sunburn and the vines and leaves are not damaged during harvesting.
- The fruit does not mildew, get eaten by bugs and animals, or get stepped on.
Learn More
- Using A-Frames The Mittleider Gardening Course (p. 14)
- Pruning The Mittleider Gardening Course (pp. 64-66)
- Growing Tomatoes Vertically Let’s Grow Tomatoes(pp. 64-69)
There are two ways of growing crops vertically. You can use stakes, or you can use A-frame structures.
Using Stakes to grow crops vertically using stakes, you need 2" x 2" x 10’ long stakes. These are driven 10 inches into the ground in line with the row of plants. Stakes should be 30 to 36 inches apart in the row. The plants are tied to the stakes.
Tips
Paint your stakes white to improve their appearance and durability.
After the growing season remove the stakes and store them for next year.
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What's New
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Tip of the Day
It's Spring Planting Time! For those of you in the Northern hemisphere who have winters, March and early April are the time you need to be preparing your soil and planting the hardy vegetable crops such as radishes, peas, cabbage and broccoli.
The freeze/thaw cycles of winter have broken up and loosened most soils, so as soon as it's not muddy, go in and give everything a good weeding with the 2-way hoe (see Tools). Weeding thoroughly this early gives you the upper hand, and is very important.
If you grew a Mittleider garden last year, your beds will be easy to re-make. Just apply Pre-Plant and Weekly Feed to the bed area, then till them in, place strings on your stakes, and re-make the beds.
Be sure to re-check the level of each bed accurately, since they may have changed a little. Do not be satisfied with anything more than 1" fall in a 30'-long soil-bed. Good Gardening!
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