Please list vining veggies & fruits (besides grapes) for our trellises.

[Gold Metal Flake]

I want to shade the back of our house from the afternoon sun. I have decided to mount some white plastic trellis to the wall and grow some grapes on it. Looks like this:



But, there will be 24 feet by 8 feet of trellis! That would support more grapes than we could handle. So, what other yummy stuff grows like a vine? Sure, some honey suckle and/or jasmine would be nice, but I'd like to grow food more than fragrance.

Here is the wall:

[noamnety]

1. kiwis

and of course peas which are darn pretty when they bloom, beans, squashes (make sure to get vining ones), melons, cucumbers.


oooh, and luffas (a squash, I know, but still they get their own shout out). You can eat them when they are small little critters, they are like zucchinis. And then the extras you can make into pot scrubbies (aka billo pads).

[Gold Metal Flake]

2. Kiwis!

I'm loving that idea. I knew that beans were viney, but I was not sure that they would grow on this sort of trellis. Peas and beans are something I want to add to the garden, and so I will! But, they will get sun in the afternoon only.

I should have describe my temp conditions in my OP. I am in SoCal, just north of LA in the Santa Clarita valley. It gets hot here, with temps currently in the 90s and soon to be 100+ well into October.

[Dover]

3. I once visited a beautiful estate/gardens in California

It was some time ago and I can't recall the name of it. It was around San Francisco if memory serves. What was so striking about the garden was that the owner had trained apple trees and other
fruit onto trellises, or rather they were espalier. Don't know if it was a special type of tree
but seemed both beautiful and very practical. In your case it will benefit from any rain that comes off the roof (just redirect the downspout or use rainbarrel to collect it then add drip hose attachment to it), though it might help to lay a drip or sweat hose down along the base of whatever you plant.

This estate also had the most beautiful olive trees (not espalier). I so wish I could grow them here.

Anyway, here are some websites on espalier fruit trees. Unlike most veggies whose vines are temporary and must be cut back after harvest, these would be permanent. I don't know how compatible this would be as far as sharing space with grapes, however. Grapes could easily cover that whole wall as I believe they are prolific and aggressive.

Anyway, sounds like a fun project. Best of luck!

The Fine Art of Espalier Pt. 1 (parts II and III found in index on left side of page)
http://www.frenchgardening.com/tech.html?pid=312615870324755


http://www.backwoodshome.com/articles2/hooker79.html

http://www.ehow.com/how_14669_espalier-tree.html

http://www.henryleuthardtnurseries.com/

[ThomWV]

4. Let me stop a bad idea before it takes root

The plastic trellis will not survive anywhere near as long as a grape plant will and so trying to use it as a support is really a terrible idea. However its no where near as bad an idea as planting a dense growning vine next to a stucco house. The moisture retention from the plant alone will cause damage to the house, not to mention that if only one side is accessible you will have fits training and pruning the grapes. You did know that even with strong plants to start (only available in the spring I believe) you will still require at least 1 year and more likely 2 before you get the first grape. My guess is that the best plastic trellis you could possibly find wouldn't last more than 4 or 5 years in the sun - and by that time it would be impossible to cut the mess of grape vine that would have grown into it out of the mess without killing the plants.

Oh, how do you intend to pick grapes planted 8 feet tall? I ask because the most common training system uses two support wires spaced 3 and 6 feet above the ground - you train arms to grow off the trunk to those wires and you get grapes off the previous year's growth on those arms. The plants then require annual pruning to keep them in production.

As for honey suckle, its just a parasite weed, smells nice enough but is utterly worthless otherwise - even honey bees can not make use of it because the nectar is too deep in the bloom for them to reach it.

If you really wanted to crab up a plastic mesh and didn't care a Whit about the house you could grow morning glories on it - they will climb up anything and everything and have the advantage of dieing off each year so you can clean up the mess of vines they produce.

Of course you could grow cucumbers or just about any type of bean on a trellis, but once again, if you do you will want to move it back away from the house. Just as a rule of thumb give yourself enough room between your support and the house that you can get to both sides of the plant for pruning and other cleanup work and you should be OK with the house, otherwise never - and I can not repeat that enough - never place a plant where it will grow on or against the house. The plant will not do as well as it could and the house will suffer.

[Gold Metal Flake]

5. Food for thought.

Hmm. Well, I can go back to my original plan of filling the walls with foam insulation. Costs more, but it's more effective.

[Dover]

6. Probably sage advice

jasmine


I just attached metal trellises (actually just cattle panel) on two sides of my house as a way to keep those walls somewhat insulated from direct sun and to have some flowering, fragrant evergreen plants around. I chose pyracantha (bright orange berries that birds love and that give color in the Fall) and jasmine (evergreen with white fragrant flowers), both of which enjoy sun. I put a 2X4 spacer board between the house and the top of the trellis to create some space. My house is brick.
I considered planting veggies on the trellises instead, but decided it would be too difficult to work on them. However, I might have tried the espalier idea if I'd thought of it. It all takes care and patience, but the espalier stuff requires some study and I'd think one would have to be 'into' the art form in order to stick with it as it develops.

(These photos are not mine, but are from a google search. Hope mine look this good when they're grown!)


pyracantha