03-18-2008, 02:25 PM
I have a Concord type of grape which sets fruit at 400 foot elevation. You can come take cuttings of it if you want. It was growing in what had been "the Filipino Lady's garden" before the dozer went through and flattened everything. Apparently, they used to make wine from this grape but it seems more of a jelly grape to me.
Lima beans will cover a fence or trellis very quickly and stick around for several years. They grow much quicker than grapes and much more lush than pole beans. Within four or five months you could pretty much cover up a fence with lima beans. I spaced four lima beans about two feet apart along a fence expecting them to act like pole beans and they have gone completely wild extending twelve to fifteen feet to either side of "their" fence area. There are loads of lima beans out there now, I just wish my DH liked to eat lima beans! I have to sneak them into soup before he will eat them. Pole beans will work to cover a fence but they will die off within several months and always have to be replanted. Nowhere near as lush as lima beans.
How about scarlet runner beans or sweet peas?
Hicama is a vine, bitter melon is a vine, hops are a vine, cucumbers can be trained to a fence, sweet potatoes could probably be tied to a fence too but the tubers would go under the fence line. Melons used to be grown on trellises in the big Victorian estate gardens but then the fruits were grown in individual nets, too, so they would be able to hang on. Indeterminate tomatoes become a vine pretty quickly and they just keep going. Some roses are climbers but they have thorns.
Lima beans will cover a fence or trellis very quickly and stick around for several years. They grow much quicker than grapes and much more lush than pole beans. Within four or five months you could pretty much cover up a fence with lima beans. I spaced four lima beans about two feet apart along a fence expecting them to act like pole beans and they have gone completely wild extending twelve to fifteen feet to either side of "their" fence area. There are loads of lima beans out there now, I just wish my DH liked to eat lima beans! I have to sneak them into soup before he will eat them. Pole beans will work to cover a fence but they will die off within several months and always have to be replanted. Nowhere near as lush as lima beans.
How about scarlet runner beans or sweet peas?
Hicama is a vine, bitter melon is a vine, hops are a vine, cucumbers can be trained to a fence, sweet potatoes could probably be tied to a fence too but the tubers would go under the fence line. Melons used to be grown on trellises in the big Victorian estate gardens but then the fruits were grown in individual nets, too, so they would be able to hang on. Indeterminate tomatoes become a vine pretty quickly and they just keep going. Some roses are climbers but they have thorns.
Kurt Wilson