trailing or drooping fruit or veg

[jaimie]

My garden is divided in two. The back half is 4 to 5 feet higher than the front and has a retaining wall between the two. I am wondering if any fruit or veg can be cultivated at the top of the wall (in the higher ground there) so they will trail over the edge. Would raspberries lean over if they weren't supported? Blackberries perhaps? Strawberries and tomatoes? Half way down is a second lower wall with a bed about 2 ft wide (front to back) , and then another lower wall about a foot high again with a 2ft wide bed (front to back), kind of terraced. I hope I have explained this understandably. I am thinking of growing espaliered gooseberries or currants in the middle bed.

I am hoping eventually to have a garden with mixed edible and ornamental plants. Wish me luck as I'm new to all this but am working on it! All suggestions gratefully received.

[Two_Sheds]

so you've got a kind of terracing effect?
Raspberries grow upright, they don't trail, so not them, nor blackberries.

Strawberries yes, toms yes, also pumpkins

[rana]

It may work for courgettes, cucumbers and squashes

[jaimie]

Thanks two sheds and rana. Pity about the raspberries - I rather fancied a curtain of rasps. As you may have guessed I am a novice in the garden dept, but I am determined to get my garden as fruitful and vegetableful as possible without it looking like an allotment. (Not that I don't like allotments. I think looking over a field of allotments in mid summer is such a picture!). I have a trellis fence about three feet behind the top of the terracing and am planning some espalier apple trees along it.

[jaimie]

Just thought, I could grow the raspberries in the first bed down so they are growing UP the wall, and plant stepover currants in the bed at the top of the wall and plant the apples on the other side of the trellis. Would that work, do you think?

[FB.]

Strawberries, grapes and blackberries (thornless types exist but have less flavour)?

I also see no reason why you can't plant any kind of fruit bush at a steep (45-degree) angle, which will cause it to droop under the weight of fruit.
A plum would be ideal because they often have a weepy habit. Some apples might work. Pears tend to want to grow tall and narrow, so less suitable.
A semi-vigorous rootstock would be desirable if you go for plum/apple/pear - such as St. Julien A, M26, MM106 or Quince A. Weaker rootstocks would not anchor well enough to avoid uprooting or breaking off at ground level or bending (under the strain of the angled trunk). A stake would be needed for a couple of years and upright-growing shoots would need pruning-out in July, to maintain the weepy shape.

[rustylady]

Just thought, I could grow the raspberries in the first bed down so they are growing UP the wall

Just what I was going to suggest - raspberries will grow to at leat 5 feet tall.

[BumbleB]

I have a very similar terraced garden of different heights and levels. I have found this year that Courgettes have been great planted in a veg bed at the edge of a wall. They have trailed down this high wall and produced many many fruits and it has kept them tidy and prevented them from smothering other plants. Next year I plan to do the same and also the same with tumbling toms. It might work with runner beans and peas if the wall also had some mesh attached.

[jaimie]

Thanks FB.
Very creative! Weeping plum, now there's a thought. Might have a go with that.

Rustylady. Yess I can just see a raspberry wall.

BumbleB. I grew bush courgettes this year so they didn't spread very far. However I stapled mesh to a tall wooden panel fence and threaded pumpkin stems through it. When the pumpkins grew heavy I supported them in pieces of onion net stapled to the fence where they still hang, although I've cut off the stems. Must remember to take them into the shed where I propose to staple them to the roof supports for storage.

[gojiberry]

How about cranberries as they cascade very well, they need ericaceous soil but if you have terraces that shouldn't be a problem. And you could have blueberries in the same bed.
One the cranberries have satablished they tend to be weed suppressing so low maintenance as well.

Ian

[jaimie]

Gojiberry.

Oooh yes. Hadn't thought of those. Other than in jelly I don't think I've ever eaten them. What else can you do with them?