Plan to Use Vertical Spaces for Gardening

While planning your vegetable garden this year, consider using vertical spaces.

Growing up is a great way to get more out of gardening in a small garden space. These vines of the ‘Trombetta di Albenga’ climbing summer squash grew on an arbor in my backyard last summer and produced beautiful light-green fruit.

If I would have planted the seeds in my vegetable bed, there wouldn’t have been room for anything else.

The plants produced long vines with beautiful large, ivy-shaped leaves. Even if these plants didn’t grow delicious fruit, the vines are spectacular.

Trombetta is an Italian heirloom summer squash that resembles its cousins in name only. Long, light-green fruit grow into curvy squash with a distinct trumpet shape. The seedless fruit has a mild, almost nut-like flavor that’s sure to win over those who say they don’t like squash.

The fruit is best when it’s harvested at about 12-16 inches long, but I let one grow to almost 3 feet and it was still tender and tasty.

I used the squash in recipes that called for summer squash, and sauteed some, stuffed some, and baked some. I cut a few into 6-inch sections, split the sections in half, brushed them with olive oil and placed them on the grill to roast until tender. The result was a satisfying side dish scored with toasty grill marks.

Another advantage to growing this variety is that the vines are so prolific there’s plenty of out-of-the-ordinary squash to share.

 

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