In city gardens it is often the most unusual corners that turn out to be the best growing areas in the garden. This one has excellent exposure and good vertical space twice the height of the rest of the garden. With some simple adaptations using string the full space can be used quite effectively.
Beans are the best crop for starting a vertical garden. Whether on a balcony or patio, beans grown in containers work well as the backdrop for a vertical garden. By training the beans up wall strings and then onto overhead netting the plants take very little floor space. At a later stage cucumbers and squash are added to the wall strings.
As climbing beans produce their crop at a height above 1.5 metres, this leaves the lower space free for other plants, such as tomatoes. Maximising the use of this available space is the challenge of small city gardens. Here square plastic bags are used packed tightly into the space. Later a further row of bags will be placed to hold tomatoes, peppers and herbs.
The aim with this design is to have beans fully occupy the overhead netting thereby providing a degree of shade for the other plants growing below. This type of shading protects plants such as tomatoes from full sun and reduces the need for constant watering.