UNDERNEATH THE ARCHES

Last year Emma Bailey, gardening writer and keen plotter, trained her pumpkin plants to grow vertically, and never looked back... or down

- Emma Bailey

Many of us dream of growing an abundance of fresh fruit and vegetables in our gardens or at our allotment plots but these days having enough space to do so can be an issue. With allotment plots being halved and back gardens seemingly becoming smaller or sometimes completely absent from newer properties, you can begin to feel a bit limited.

This is where vertical vegetable growing could become the answer to all your problems. When horizontal space is limited, why not look up instead? You will be surprised by just how many vegetables are quite happy to heave themselves up over trellis and structures. Last year, I grew pumpkins over an archway that I had reinforced with bamboo canes and garden mesh.

SPACE SAVING

Pumpkins may not be a plant you automatically assume will happily scale to great heights but, in fact, they are often more than willing to climb. Pumpkin plants produce tendrils on their stems (those long, thin, green things). These tendrils wrap themselves around structures or nearby plants and help to heave the plant upwards. It’s a survival method and allows the plant to spread out, collect more sunlight and smother its opposition. When utilised by a gardener, it can be a great way of saving space in the garden.

Growing pumpkins vertically or over an archway has other benefits too. I used to grow mine on the ground, only for ravenous and often surprisingly speedy slugs to decide they would make a great midnight feast. Though not all slugs are acrophobic, it is true that sometimes there is safety in height. In much the same way as a human might scramble up a tree to avoid a hippopotamus attack, pumpkins grown off the ground can avoid a multitude of dangers.

MINI VARIETIES