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Ideas for trailing edibles
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Posted by stickgarden z10 CA (My Page) on Tue, Apr 3, 07 at 12:35
I have a back wall to the area that I will make into my "farm" of edibles- there's a small water feature and two raised gardens. I have a lot of ideas for what I want to grow in the gardens and water (watercress!), but I need an idea for the back wall- my BF is building shaped trellises, and I would like something to trail specifically along them- had originally thought rosemary would be good, but it doesn't climb as much as fall, right? I am outside Los Angeles, sunset zone 24, we have outrageously hot and sunny summers, and mild winters. I have a very busy job so i also need it to be somewhat low maintenance.
Thanks in advance! And if there are any easy low maintenance edibles that you love, i'm taking suggestions across the board- i lean toward the unusual, love to have things that you can't get at home depot! |
Follow-Up Postings:
RE: Ideas for trailing edibles
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| Maybe I'm strange, but I remember thinking squash leaves were pretty when I started growing them. Maybe you can do a yellow squash. They can climb. |
RE: Ideas for trailing edibles
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| depending on size of space, exposure to sun, winter lows, monstera deliciousa: like elephant ear phil but with edible fruit passion fruit vines, grapes, kiwi, wolf berry, espaliered cherimoya, strawberry guava trimmed as a flat hedge? smaller space? poha berries, pepino dulce? -Ethan |
Dinkum raspberry? Malabar spinach?
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| Espaliered fig? Creeping blackberry? Grapes? (try Muscat grapes. They come in a seedless variety now. Nummy.) |
RE: Ideas for trailing edibles
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| Had to take a break from the forums to do some work in my gardens- now i'm back in the planning phase again, and I'm back to this question again! I'm really attracted to the passionfruit vines but I don't know much about them- Is passionfruit the same as passionflower? And are there a wide variety of species? I want something that sticks around all year- I know they're evergreen, but do they have a short life span? |
RE: Ideas for trailing edibles
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| There are many varieties of passion fruits and if you are in zone 10 you could do any of them. Find one with really good fruit while you're at it; the are evergreen and very spreading. One vine will maybe spread out 15 ft. on either side. |
RE: Ideas for trailing edibles
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| Passionfruits come from several varieties of the family Passiflora. Where you live, they would be a perfect addition to your wall, providing you with with beautiful flowers and delicious fruits. Check with the California Rare Fruit Growers' website on variieties for your area. We grow several types of P. edulis and I am now trying P. quadrangulis and mollisima in my ZOne 9b garden. |
RE: Ideas for trailing edibles
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| Well, I know we're in completely different zones, but trailing Nasturtiums are great, if you like a spicy, peppery kick to your salads, also, the Scarlet Runner Bean is good too! The young shoots are really tender... eat the young pods, they're great! Hope this helps... |
RE: Ideas for trailing edibles
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| If someone could be so kind as to help, I'd like to find out more about the passionfruits myself. I have a brick wall facing the street I'd like to cover. I've tried grapes and they won't grow and it's not cold enough to grow kiwi here. But I definitely would like a cover and something I can eat off of. Are there also any peas that would be good? |
RE: Ideas for trailing edibles
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Passionfruit in the tropics lives year round & the vine is non-stoppable. Old homesteads would plant the vine next to an established tree so it could climb up off the ground. You can prune it mercilessly to conform , it will send tendrils of new growth & if hack trunk low shoots will arise from the trunk.
The fruit falls when ripe & can be picked, but green will never ever ripen. Fruit stores incredibly well. The more shriveled these are the denser & richer is the flavor.
There are commercial varieties sold in markets that are purple, yellow & another indescribable muted pastel color. Purple seems to be commonly marketed freshly plump in the USA - although the pastel variety has the deeper flavor for juice (also, a single pastel one imparts more flavor than one unit of the others).
A blender is all needed to mix the spooned out passionfruit pulp into juice.
A strainer will then separate out the cracked seed & if you must have purity
the grounds will sediment down for decanting. |
RE: Ideas for trailing edibles
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| i saw someone mentioned nasturtiums. are all varieties edible? i just picked up 4 varieties i'm not familiar with, including a climber, and when i saw it suggested here i figured my climbers were probably safe. |
RE: Ideas for trailing edibles
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Thank you, gringojay. That was very informative and helpful.
Now I just need to find the vine or perhaps the fruit and start seedlings. Since it's a long wall, I might also plant
sweet potato and scarlet runner beans. I hear that all climb well and have beautiful flowers. Of course, one (probably the passionfruit) will probably kill out the others eventually, but until then, hopefully I'll have some pretty flowers and nice fruits, beans, and potatoes. |
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