Vertical Growing — Trellises, Towers & Hanging Gardens
9 min read
What You'll Learn
Maximize your growing space by going up. Learn about trellises, grow towers, hanging baskets, and other vertical methods.
The Only Direction Left Is Up
When space is limited — and even when it's not — vertical growing is one of the smartest strategies you can use. Growing upward instead of outward lets you produce more food in less floor space, improves air circulation around plants, makes harvesting easier, and can create living walls that are genuinely beautiful.
In this lesson, you'll learn the main vertical growing methods, which plants climb naturally, which need help, and how to set up each system.
Trellises — The Classic Vertical Support
A A framework of bars, wires, or strings used to support climbing plants. Trellises can be freestanding, wall-mounted, or built into raised beds. is the simplest and most versatile vertical growing structure. It's essentially something for plants to climb on — a frame, a net, or even a piece of string.
Plants that naturally climb:
- Peas — use tendrils to grip. Any thin support works.
- Beans (pole varieties) — twine around poles and strings. Incredibly vigorous.
- Cucumbers — grip with tendrils. Cleaner fruit when grown vertically.
- Tomatoes (indeterminate) — need to be tied or caged, but benefit hugely from vertical support.
- Squash and melons — can be trained vertically with support slings for heavy fruit.
DIY trellis options:
- String trellis — stretch twine between two posts or from a raised bed to a horizontal beam. Costs almost nothing.
- Cattle panel trellis — a rigid wire panel (available at farm supply stores) leaned against or attached to a frame. Incredibly sturdy and lasts forever.
- A-frame trellis — two panels hinged at the top, folding into an A shape. Freestanding and portable.
- Bamboo tepee — 4–6 bamboo poles tied at the top. Classic for pole beans. Place in a circle and let beans climb.
- Wall-mounted lattice — screwed to a fence or wall. Good for cucumbers and small melons.
Tip
When growing cucumbers and small melons vertically, the fruit hangs naturally and grows straighter than when sprawling on the ground. You also avoid the pale spot that forms where the fruit rests on soil. Better looking, better tasting, and takes up a fraction of the space.
Grow Towers — Stacking Your Space
Vertical gardening systems that stack multiple planting pockets or rings in a column, allowing you to grow dozens of plants in the floor space of a single pot. take vertical growing to its maximum efficiency. A single tower can hold 20–30 plants in the same footprint as a standard pot.
Types of grow towers:
- Pocket towers — a vertical column with planting pockets on all sides. Great for herbs and strawberries.
- Stacking planters — tiered pots that stack on a central pole. Each tier has 3–5 planting spots.
- PVC pipe towers — DIY towers made from large-diameter PVC with holes cut for planting. Very cheap to build.
- Wicking towers — towers with a built-in water reservoir that wicks moisture up through the growing medium. Low maintenance.
Best plants for grow towers:
- Lettuce and salad greens — lightweight, compact, fast-growing
- Herbs — basil, cilantro, parsley, thyme, chives
- Strawberries — trail beautifully from tower pockets
- Small flowers — nasturtiums, petunias, trailing varieties
Did You Know?
A single vertical grow tower with 30 planting pockets can produce as much lettuce as 15 linear feet of traditional garden row — in a footprint of less than 2 square feet. That's a 90% reduction in space with the same yield.
Hanging Gardens
Hanging baskets and overhead planters use space that would otherwise go completely unused — the air above your head.
Best candidates for hanging gardens:
- Strawberries — trail beautifully, produce fruit that hangs clean and visible
- Cherry tomatoes — tumbling varieties (like Tumbling Tom) are bred for hanging baskets
- Herbs — trailing rosemary, thyme, oregano, and mint
- Trailing flowers — nasturtiums, petunias, calibrachoa
- Lettuce — loose-leaf varieties in hanging planters
Hanging garden tips:
- Use a quality potting mix with extra perlite — drainage is critical in hanging containers
- Water more frequently — hanging containers dry out faster due to air exposure on all sides
- Use a swivel hook — lets you rotate the basket so all sides get even light
- Choose the right weight — a watered hanging basket can be very heavy. Ensure your bracket or hook is rated for the weight
Tip
If you have a balcony railing, railing planters are essentially free real estate. They sit on top of the railing without taking up any floor space and can hold herbs, lettuce, or trailing strawberries. Check the weight limit of your railing before loading them up.
Espalier and Wall Training
The horticultural practice of training trees or shrubs to grow flat against a wall or wire support, typically in decorative patterns. It maximizes sun exposure and fruit production in minimal space. is the art of training fruit trees to grow flat against a wall or fence. It sounds fancy, but the concept is simple: instead of letting a tree grow into a big bushy shape, you guide its branches to grow in a flat plane — like a living fence.
Why espalier works:
- Uses almost no floor space — a tree 1 foot deep can produce as much fruit as a 15-foot wide freestanding tree
- South-facing walls provide extra warmth, extending the growing season for fruit
- Every branch gets maximum sun exposure
- Easier to harvest — all fruit is within arm's reach
Good candidates for espalier:
- Apple trees — the classic choice, very flexible branches
- Pear trees — respond well to training
- Fig trees — love warm walls
- Cherry trees — fan-trained varieties work beautifully
This is an advanced technique, but it's worth knowing about — especially if you dream of growing fruit but think you don't have room.
Designing Your Vertical Plan
Here's how to integrate vertical growing into your garden plan:
Start with your tallest structures on the north side — trellises, towers, and tall plants placed on the north side of your garden won't cast shadows on shorter crops. This is the most common mistake new vertical growers make — putting a trellis on the south side and shading everything behind it.
Layer your heights:
- Back row (north): Tall trellised plants — pole beans, cucumbers, tomatoes
- Middle: Medium plants — peppers, eggplant, bush beans
- Front row (south): Short plants — lettuce, herbs, radishes, strawberries
Use every surface:
- Fences → mount lattice or string trellis
- Walls → wall-mounted planters or espalier
- Railings → railing planters
- Overhead → hanging baskets from hooks, pergolas, or beams
- Posts → tower systems attached to deck posts or fence posts
Tip
A south-facing fence is one of the most underutilized growing spaces in most backyards. Mount a cattle panel or lattice to it and you have instant vertical space for climbing crops — plus the fence retains heat, creating a warm microclimate behind it.
What This Means For You
Going vertical isn't just for small spaces — it's better growing:
- Trellises are the simplest starting point — string or cattle panels for peas, beans, and cucumbers
- Grow towers maximize production per square foot — ideal for herbs and lettuce
- Hanging baskets use unused overhead space — strawberries and trailing herbs
- Espalier lets you grow fruit trees flat against walls — advanced but incredibly space-efficient
- Place tall structures on the north side to avoid shading shorter plants
- Layer your heights from back to front for maximum sun exposure
In the next lesson, we'll cover watering systems — from simple hand watering to automated drip irrigation that keeps your garden happy while you sleep.
Check Your Understanding
Answer these questions to complete the lesson and see how other learners responded.
Question 1 of 3
Where should you place tall trellised plants in your garden?
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