Which (if any) of my plants can be grown on a trellis?

[rocket]

Hello all,

In January I built a huge trough out of decking and timber – about 6.5 x 1 ft and about 1.5 ft deep, and is on legs so it stands a few feet off the ground. It fits perfectly into my lean-to greenhouse and its now full of soil and compost and ready for my young plants. I have also built a trellis out of garden canes that sits along the rear of the trough and up against the wall.

I want to make the most of the available space, and I will be putting bushy plant varieties (red/green peppers, chilli peppers, tomatoes, etc) in the main bulk of the trough. But i’m wondering what kind of plants (apart from the obvious e.g. peas and beans) I could train up the trellis, leaving space in the middle and at the front.

I have the following young plants currently in pots waiting to be re-planted:

Courgette ‘Tondo di piacenza’ (spherical courgettes!)
Patty pan squash (Pattison orange)
Melons (some variety of cantaloupe, can’t remember the name)
Pumpkin (or some variety of winter squash)
Aubergine (the usual purple one and another variety called Thai Long Green)

Can any of these be even vaguely grown up or around a trellis?

Sorry for the really naive question I’m probably being really daft but just thought I’d ask anyway…!

[Lesley Jay]

Hi Rocket, first thing is that aubergines need to be grown in a greenhouse or conservatory or on a windowsill. Melons are trailing plants with tendrils and will climb, pumpkins are the same but you might need to tie the plants to the trellis just to help. The courgette is a bush plant and the patty pan is also listed as 'bushy' so I would grow these two in containers (one plant per container) that are at least 10 inches or 25cms in diameter and 12 inches or 35cms deep as they need about 3 foot each in a bed.

[rocket]

Thanks for the advice Lesley.

I am happy tying things to the trellis - it is a very strong framework so should support anything I throw at it.

As a beginner its really useful for me to get an idea of the size of adult plants (as you indicated with the courgette plant) as I need to know how many/which type of plants to put in my trough. Could you give me an idea of the likely size of the adult plant for the aubergine plants? Also, I have a young chinese lantern (physalis?) plant.

I'm planning on putting the trailing plants at the back of the tough and growing them up the trellis as presumably they wont take up much room (in terms of spread) and in the middle/front (ie the bulk of the trough) will be the tomatoes, aubergines, chilli/green pepper plants, etc

Many thanks for your help, much appreciated.

[Lesley Jay]

Hi Rocket, do you have the full latin name for your physalis plant? Is it Physalis Alkekengii? I grew Cape Gooseberries (Physalis Peruviana) one year in the greenhouse and they were very, very big plants - both have the same fruit.

I space tomato plants 24 inches apart but further for the plum tomatoes as these do take up some room when full of tomatoes. Tomato plants need space for the air to flow around them and to help prevent disease.

Your aubergine, pepper and chilli plants do need nice warm weather and will happily grow in an 8 inch pot with a short cane to support the plant. Where I live I need to grow them in the greenhouse because the weather just isn't warm enough. I've tried growing peppers outside and although the fruit did form it just didn't fully grow and ripen. I get a good crop inside.

Is your raised bed 12 inches wide? What other veggie plants do you have to plant out?

[rocket]

I'm not sure what the species is of the physalis. I got them from here

Patio Vegetables, great range of vegetables for the patio or pots

They are Cape Gooseberries but it looks like they are a more compact plant than the one you refer to...? No latin name given unfortunately and the packet was just a small clear plastic wallet with seeds in so there is no information on that either.

The tomato plants I have are all red and yellow tumblers so i'm hoping they wont take up too much space.

I have three varities of aubergine ! (VERY big fan of aubergine I love the taste and although I know they are difficult to grow in the UK I couldn't help myself). They are Firenze, Thai Green Long and De Barbentane.

The pepper varieties are Napia (a sweet red pepper) and a green one which I can't for the life of me remember where I got it from or what variety it is! I also went a bit mad and ordered about half a dozen varieties of chilli peppers so I have quite a few young chilli bushes in pots at the moment! Not sure what i'm going to do with them all - perhaps some will have to go indoors on the windowsill.

So, at the moment I have aubergines, tomatoes, chilli and red & green peppers, a physalis and a melon plant all in a smallish lean-to greenhouse. The summer squash are really just seedlings at the moment. Perhaps I should put the courgettes outside when they get large enough to transplant? - it sounds like they will take up most of the room if I leave them in the greenhouse! Should I leave the other plants in the greenhouse? It sounds like i'll have more chance of decent veg if I do, but I do have a raised bed where I could put them if I need to. I live in Bristol so it should be warm enough here over summer.

[Lesley Jay]

Hi Rocket, tumbling tomatoes are perfect for growing in hanging baskets, one plant per basket, or they will grow at the front of your raised bed and hang over the edge. They don't need any canes for support and they don't need any side shoots removing.

Grow both the melon and pumpkin up the trellis at the back of the bed and tie them up to begin with to encourage them to climb. Whenever I tie veggie plants to canes I always put the string completely around the stem first then tie to the cane. That way the stem isn't directly rubbing against the cane so it won't damage it.

The courgette and patty pan squash will need to be planted in their own containers, at least 10 inches in diameter and 12 inches deep with drainage holes drilled in the bottom. They will look nice stood next to the raised bed. The cape gooseberry is a dinky one and could be planted on one side of the raised bed or in a container.

So that would give you climbers at the back, cape gooseberry at the side and trailing tomatoes at the front. Plant the peppers and some aubergines between the tomato plants in the mid section. How many tomato plants do you have?

I would grow the chilli plants and the rest of the aubergine plants in the greenhouse. It's recommended to mist the aubergine plants twice a day to help set the fruit and they do need a short cane for support.

Exciting - isn't it??

[rocket]

Thanks Lesley your help is invaluable. The tip about the string is particularly useful i shall have to remember that as I have been tying everything from my honeysuckle to the legumes directly to the canes!

It is very exciting and its all a bit new to me but i'm very much enjoying the experience. There is something quite extraordinary about taking a tiny seed no more than a few millimeters in size and watching it transform into a large plant that produces food for me to eat.

One more quick question... my raised bed isn't really so much of a raised bed as a large trough (imagine a rectangular, elongated bath tub on legs and made out of decking and timber!) filled with soil and compost. One thing that I wondered was if it was sensible to grow chilli plants and the tomatoes/red&green peppers/aubergines/etc in this same container - given that the tomatoes and other veg will need a load of watering and the chilli plants probably not so much? Could I end up inadvertantly over-watering the chilli plants if they are growing in the same container?

[Lesley Jay]

Hi Rocket, alot of people make the mistake of over watering and end up killing the plants with kindness. Too much water starves the roots of oxygen - they just don't need a load of watering. Over watering chilli and tomato plants can cause blossom end rot and split fruits - it's a fine line as they need watering on a regular basis but not drowning. When growing in the ground I water every two days unless we have hot weather and then I water the plants that need it every day. If it rains then there is no need to water. Container grown plants dry out quicker so they do need watering daily unless the compost is still damp. The other thing is water around the base of the plants not over the leaves to prevent scorch and if you make a little 'well' around the base of the melon and pumpkin plants you will be able to give those two plants a little extra water when the fruits have formed. The courgette plant also needs watering really well once the tiny fruits have started to form.

Sowing veggie seeds and watching them grow is still really exciting - I absolutely love it!!

[Lesley Jay]

One other thing Rocket, take care not to over fill your raised bed with too many plants as the baby plants will all grow much bigger and they do need the air to circulate around them. You can use containers to grow any plants that don't fit in and also your greenhouse for extra aubergines and chilli plants.