8 Vertical Garden, Plant Support & Trellis Ideas for your Summer Veggie Garden!
I’ve been meaning to set up vertical support in the veggie garden but didn’t have time to last year during our first summer of gardening here on this property. Trellises and other vertical support can save an amazing amount of space in the garden and can really maximise the amount of things you can grow simply by taking these upwards. At my parent’s place, my dad would grow squashes and cucumbers up the wire fence they had surrounding the veggie garden and it was simply such a great use of space being able to take the vines off the ground. So with more time to prepare for summer this year, I’ve set out to create a system of trellises and vertical plant supports throughout the garden to make the most of the space I have, with the help of our friends from Whites Group (I’m sure you’re familiar with them as you can find heaps of their garden items at Bunnings)!
WHY USE TRELLISES & VERTICAL PLANT SUPPORT?
There are so many fabulous reasons!
Gives climbing veggies the support they need
Saves veggie garden space by training plants to grow vertically and use the airspace instead
Provides better air circulation between plants and decreases the chances of getting diseases that might occur due to lack of air flow around plants
Looks beautiful in the garden and can act as a feature wall!
PLANTS SUITED FOR Trellises:
The following plants grow in a vine-like fashion and so would be best suited to have vertical support.
Indeterminate tomatoes (tomatoes that grow like vines, which are most tomatoes)
Cucumbers
Climbing Beans
Squashes, pumpkins
& many more!
The following plants don’t grow in a vine-like fashion but would still appreciate support to keep them upright!
Eggplants
Capsciums & chillis
Determinate tomatoes
& many more!
For our summer garden, I’ve installed the below trellis ideas!
Freestanding PLANT TRAINER PANELS
I just have a thing for mesh panels in the garden - they are such a feature item in my eyes and every time I see one in a garden I just think well ain’t that gorgeous!!! This season I’ve installed 2 (update: now 3!) of these Whites Grip & Grow Freestanding Plant Trainers in the garden (I went for the larger size, 1600 x 600mm). I love these because they’re just so easy to use. They come with two feet which you simply push into the ground - how easy is that! The frame is ribbed as well so that any plants you’re training can easily grip on. This summer I will be using them to grow some climbing beans: some climbing butter beans & rattlesnake beans.
DIY Vertical panel SET-UP
If you’re looking for something super secure or you want to grow heavy veggies vertically, then you can consider a DIY vertical panel set up using the below Whites Grip & Grow Wall Frame - this one is much larger in size than the one above at 180cm tall and 100cm wide. But it doesn’t come with feet so you will have to fashion your own! This is where two star picket posts come to play - I used 2 x 180cm star pickets and pushed them into the ground (you can use a stake driver if needed). The star pickets come handy as they have holes along the side which allows you to easily secure the panel to the star pickets using galvanised wire.
I have a lot of beans I’m planning to grow this summer so I’m going to be using these to train more beans up - this year I’m planting some purple king beans & scarlet emperor beans. But I can also see this set up being more than secure for cucumbers and squash. And one day I’d love to set up more of these panels using star pickets and grow a big passionfruit vine over it!
ROUND Cage Plant Trainer
Something you’re more than likely familiar with is the humble round cage trainer, often known as a tomato cage. Though I’m actually planning to use try these for my capsicum plants this year. They’re still teeny tiny but once they grow up they’ll definitely appreciate the presence of this structure to keep it upright and give it support when its fruiting during the season. This particular one I’m using is the Whites 1.2m galvanised vegetable cage plant trainer - you can also get coloured versions here as well.
So if I’m not using tomato cages for my tomatoes, what am I using?
ARCH SUPPORT
I’ve decided this year to guide my indeterminate cherry tomatoes up our existing garden arches as well as use some DIY tomato cages (below). The existing garden arches that I have installed in the garden are really simple and plain. Whilst they give a great arch structure, it doesn’t have enough support built into it to climb veggies across so in the past I’ve used twine to secure my plants and to zigzag up the arch to create more support. This season, I’ve got an even better and more permanent solution - I came across this roll of tomato mesh (had no idea you could buy mesh like this before!) This roll of tomato mesh is 1.2 metres in width and our arches which are installed two next to each other, are just under that in width making it perfect for trailing this mesh on across for more support. I secured it with galvanised wire ties. This will be perfect for our cherry tomatoes this season!
Note I always get questions about these arches - they’re from Bunnings but if you’re thinking of getting these arches, they’re not particularly strong so I wouldn’t recommend climbing anything heavy on top. I’ve used them for cherry tomatoes, cucumbers (last summer), snow peas, nasturtiums (this winter) and would be comfortable using them for beans but I probably wouldn’t grow squash, pumpkins or anything heavy like that.
DIY tomato cages
For my non-cherry full sized indeterminate tomatoes, I’ve made my own DIY tomato cages. I’ve used the same Whites Tomato Mesh roll as above, cutting them around 160cm in length/circumference and joining the ends together with galvanised wire tie to create a cage that’s around 50cm in diameter. If you have lots of space, up to 60cm diameter would also be a good size as well. Attach two garden stakes to opposite ends of the cage to secure it into the ground and also plant your tomato in the middle of the cage with a stake as well. That way, the tomato has a stake supporting its central leader and also has the DIY cage around it supporting the plant as a whole and keeping all its branches in check! I used a 1.8m PVC coated garden stake for my tomato and 1.5m garden stakes to secure my cages.
Veggie trainer (triangle)
Another super easy solution to keeping all your veggies upright include this triangle plant trainer over here which I’m using to support my determinate tomato seedlings. They’re super easy to use as you just stick them into the soil and they stay put and when they’re not needed, you can simply fold them up and store them flat.
Veggie trainer (tall & freestanding)
One more veggie trainer that I am trialling this season is the Grip & Grow Freestanding plant trainer. It’s really tall and reaches around 180cm height and has feet you just stick into the soil making it easy to set up. Given its height, it’s almost like an arch without the top so I’m going to use this to train and support my cucumber vines. The top panel of this one can easily be removed for storage as well and the width of this one will give good shape to my cucumber plant as I can train a few stems across its width.
the humble garden stake
I’m rounding off this list of ideas with the humble garden stake! I always pick up a pack of garden stakes every time I pass by them whilst shopping as they seem to have so many different uses and can be put together to create your own structures as well (like triangle teepee shapes!). Over here I’ve given my eggplants support with these garden stakes which come in a pack of 6 here. Remember to always plant your stake first where possible before you plant your seedling so that the roots don’t get damaged. When these egg plants grow larger, if they need more support I’ll add in a few more stakes and maybe use some twine to support the fruits.
I’m also planning to grow some Malabar spinach (a summer spinach option that climbs like a vine - check it out!) up some of my stakes which will be a great use of vertical space too.
With all these trellises set up this year I’m feeling as organised as ever and super excited to see how my summer garden turns out! Last year when I didn’t have time with proper trellises, things always felt a lot messier and I was always trying to get my vines off the ground. This year I feel like I can fit a lot more than I previously thought I could into our garden beds so I can’t see how everything pans out throughout the season!
Hoping to update this post to share some updates on how everything’s growing in their new homes, but for now, I hope you found some ideas on how to support your veggies this summer!