Backyard gardening is seeing a resurgence, and many people are taking up the task of growing their own vegetables! But one of the biggest obstacles to creating a self-sufficient veggie patch is the amount of space required.
Climbing vegetables are a great option when acreage is limited. You can grow a surprising amount of produce using very little land. The secret is selecting vegetable varieties that are eager to climb and suited to your garden space.
Also, keep in mind that many popular vegetable plants are available in climbing and non-climbing varieties. The latter will have little interest in climbing up a trellis, bamboo cane, or a fence!
Below you’ll find some of the best types of climbing vegetables to fill your vertical garden with this year, plus a few tips on how to use them in the kitchen (and beyond!):
19 Climbing Vegetables For A Bountiful Garden Of Any Size
1. Cucumber
| Scientific Name | Sunlight Required | Grown For |
| Cucumis sativus | 6+ Hours | Fruit |
Cucumbers grown in the ground generally don’t need to climb. However, training a cucumber vine up a trellis or sturdy cage is a great solution for small gardens. Cucumbers grown in containers do best when allowed to climb.
There are several varieties of cucumber available, some of which stay quite small. Regular harvesting is crucial with climbing cucumbers. Otherwise, the fruit will weigh down the plant and could cause damage.
Garden-grown cucumbers are equally delicious in salads or as a quick snack. This vegetable is also perfect for anyone interested in canning — everyone loves pickles!
2. Acorn Squash
| Scientific Name | Sunlight Required | Grown For |
| Cucurbita pepo var. turbinata | 8+ Hours | Fruit |
Acorn squash is a great candidate for a trellis not because it likes to climb but because these plants take up tons of square footage otherwise. When grown along the ground, two or three acorn squash require around 50 square feet.
Like other winter squash, acorn squash get quite heavy on the vine. Be sure to support your plants with a sturdy trellis (preferably with an A-frame). Acorn squash should be harvested as soon as the skin toughens to relieve excess weight from the plant!
3. Bitter Melon
| Scientific Name | Sunlight Required | Grown For |
| Momordica charantia | 6+ Hours | Fruit |
Depending on your region and culinary experience, bitter melon could be a familiar sight or mistaken for a diseased cucumber. Rest assured, this vegetable is not a cucumber, healthy or otherwise (though it is closely related)!
As the name implies, this climbing vegetable is extremely bitter when ripe. Bitter melon is traditionally harvested only a few weeks after the fruit emerges from the pollinated flowers.
You can find inspiration for this vegetable in Asian cuisine. Bitter melon can be used very similarly to cucumber — you can even pickle it. Note that cooking the flesh will weaken the innate bitterness.
4. Sweet Potato
| Scientific Name | Sunlight Required | Grown For |
| Ipomoea batatas | 6+ Hours | Tubers |
Sweet potatoes probably aren’t the first thing to come to mind when you think of climbing vegetables. While the sweet potato’s edible parts don’t grow above the ground, the plant itself can certainly climb!
There are many types of sweet potato plants out there, only some of which grow vines. If you want to train your vegetable garden vertically, be sure to select a vining sweet potato.
Also, avoid the ornamental version of sweet potato vines often seen in summer container arrangements. Though the tubers of these vines are still edible, they aren’t as tasty as sweet potatoes cultivated for food.
5. Snow Peas
| Scientific Name | Sunlight Required | Grown For |
| Pisum sativum var. saccharatum | 6+ Hours | Fruit |
If you like snow peas in your stir fry, then this climbing vegetable might be the perfect addition to your garden.
Snow peas are easy to grow and quite cold-tolerant. Many people aim to get their snow peas in the ground as soon as possible — you can plant as early as February in some areas.
In warmer regions, snow peas can hypothetically be grown (and harvested) year-round!
Since snow peas are eaten before the peas are fully developed, they are ready much sooner than other veggies. Early varieties can be harvested within as little as 2 months.
6. Tomato
| Scientific Name | Sunlight Required | Grown For |
| Solanum lycopersicum | 8+ Hours | Fruit |
Every vegetable garden needs a few tomato plants. And you can’t go wrong with a vining variety, especially if you’re short on space!
Keep in mind that vining tomatoes are a bit different from bushy ones — it’s not just about the size and shape of the mother plant.
Vining tomato plants are also called indeterminate tomatoes because they grow, flower, and fruit throughout the entire season.
This is in contrast to bushy (determinate) tomato plants, which grow to their full size before putting out a single burst of fruit.
7. Delicata Squash
| Scientific Name | Sunlight Required | Grown For |
| Cucurbita pepo ‘Delicata’ | 8+ Hours | Fruit |
Delicata squash is a relatively small variety of winter squash, making it the perfect candidate for growing on a trellis or another vertical support.
As with other squashes, this vegetable does not need to be grown off of the ground. However, allowing delicata squash to climb is a wonderful way to deter pests and early rot caused by soil contact.
When selecting delicata squash plants for your garden, note that there are vining and bush varieties available. You’ll want to select a type known for vining if you plan to train this squash to climb!
8. Chayote
| Scientific Name | Sunlight Required | Grown For |
| Sechium edule | 6+ Hours | Fruit |
Chayote is a pear-shaped gourd from Mexico that loves to climb! While you may not have heard of this squash, it’s a versatile vegetable that can be used much like yellow summer squash in the kitchen.
The trickiest part of growing chayote is that this plant does not tolerate the cold. It thrives in tropical and subtropical climates and needs up to 150 frost-free days to produce fruit.
Many gardeners opt to keep chayote in containers so it can start and end its growing season in the comfort of a greenhouse or sunroom.
9. Climbing Nasturtium
| Scientific Name | Sunlight Required | Grown For |
| Tropaeolum majus | 6+ Hours | Leaves and Flowers |
Climbing nasturtium is a wonderful way to bring some edible color to your vegetable garden without taking up a ton of space.
Nasturtium leaves and flowers are edible. You can use harvested pieces to add flavor to a green salad or as a stunning garnish. Many nasturtium plants are also grown solely as ornamentals.
This plant can be harvested throughout the growing season. Ideally, you should pull fresh leaves or flowers from the plant right before you plan to use them in the kitchen.
10. Butternut Squash
| Scientific Name | Sunlight Required | Grown For |
| Cucurbita moschata ‘Butternut’ | 7+ Hours | Fruit |
Foodies and health nuts alike are intimately familiar with butternut squash. Whether you prefer your squash in soup form or roasted in the oven, this plant is a viable addition to your vertical garden if you can provide enough support.
Butternut squash is fairly heavy, making it a challenge to grow on trellises. But that doesn’t stop the vines from climbing!
Start with reinforced trellises and don’t be afraid to reinforce vines as they start to climb. You may need to remove some squash fruit early in the season to keep the plant from being weighed down.
11. Cucamelons
| Scientific Name | Sunlight Required | Grown For |
| Melothria scabra | 6+ Hours | Fruit |
Cucamelons aren’t just adorable! This pint-sized melon variety is also a super accessible crop for gardeners with limited space.
Cucamelon plants are vigorous climbers. Vines can easily reach over 8 feet tall and will tangle around themselves if not given support early on.
You can use harvested cucamelons in fresh garden salads or — my personal favorite — as a refreshing snack with a bit of kosher salt.
12. Malabar Spinach
| Scientific Name | Sunlight Required | Grown For |
| Basella alba | 6+ Hours | Leaves |
Despite its colloquial name, this plant is not actually related to true spinach. It does, however, produce edible foliage that can be used in the kitchen just like you would the real deal.
Also known as climbing spinach, this garden crop thrives on a standard trellis grown alongside peas and other veggies. It prefers sunny conditions but will also grow in the shade.
Note that malabar spinach will turn bitter if it starts to flower. Keeping the plant moist will help delay blossoming, preserving the flavor of the leaves.
13. Runner Beans
| Scientific Name | Sunlight Required | Grown For |
| Phaseolus coccineus | 8+ Hours | Fruit |
It’s hard to imagine a proper vegetable garden without a few rows of runner beans. This climbing vegetable is a great starter plant for even the most inexperienced growers.
You can grow runner beans on bamboo canes, trellises, or nearly any other type of support. For the most consistent supply throughout the season, spread out your spring plantings over a few weeks.
While traditionally grown for its fruit, this plant also produces some beautiful flowers. Runner beans will look equally at home in a flower bed as they will a veggie patch.
14. Pumpkin
| Scientific Name | Sunlight Required | Grown For |
| Cucurbita pepo | 6+ Hours | Fruit |
Everyone knows that pumpkins are very, very heavy. Even smaller gourd varieties often reach a couple of pounds. So growing a climbing pumpkin plant requires a bit of planning to be successful.
A preferred way to support elevated pumpkins is with a net sling. Just wrap the sling around the fruit and hang it from the trellis — this simple precaution will ease the weight of the pumpkin from the vine itself.
Alternatively, you can use a trellis to train pumpkin vines out of the way while letting fruit only at the bottom of the plant mature.
15. Sugar Snap Peas
| Scientific Name | Sunlight Required | Grown For |
| Pisum sativum var. macrocarpon | 6+ Hours | Fruit |
Sugar snap peas are a cross between snow peas and traditional garden peas that are easy to grow and use. Unsurprisingly — based on the name — these peas tend to be sweeter than any counterpart.
Both bush and vining sugar snap varieties are available. You’ll want to select the latter if you plan to train this plant up a trellis or pole.
Unlike snow peas, sugar snap peas are harvested when the fruit is round and plump.
16. Zucchini
| Scientific Name | Sunlight Required | Grown For |
| Cucurbita pepo | 6+ Hours | Fruit |
Though we tend to view zucchini as a distinct vegetable in the produce section of the grocery store, it’s really just another type of summer squash. As such, it can be trained to climb a trellis or fence as it grows.
Zucchini is very easy to grow as long as it gets enough sun each day. Allow plenty of space (even when grown vertically) as zucchini vines are known to choke out nearby plants.
Like other squash types, zucchini is not an inherent climber. Be prepared to reinforce the vines with garden ties to ensure it takes to the available support structure.
17. Luffa
| Scientific Name | Sunlight Required | Grown For |
| Luffa aegyptiaca | 6+ Hours | Fruit |
Luffa is a unique gourd that is distantly related to the standard cucumber. For the adventurous gardener, growing luffa is a great way to feed a family and create all-natural sponges!
When harvested early, the fruit of the luffa plant is 100% edible. If you allow the fruit to mature and dry on the vine, however, it forms tough fibers inside that can be used as a sponge.
Growing luffa on a fence or trellis isn’t just about preserving space. It’s also the best way to ensure the fruit grows straight rather than curved.
18. Chinese Long Beans
| Scientific Name | Sunlight Required | Grown For |
| Vigna unguiculata ssp. sesquipedalis | 6+ Hours | Fruit |
Chinese long beans are another vegetable garden staple that you may have never heard of before. While rare in some regions, these beans are a must-have in many Asian gardens.
Also known as yard long beans or asparagus beans, this vegetable definitely lives up to its names! The fruit can grow up to 3 feet long and has a similar flavor profile to string beans.
A trellis or fence is needed not just to support the plant’s vines but also to give the extra-long beans room to grow. A good rule of thumb is to harvest Chinese long beans when they are the thickness of a pencil.
19. English Peas
| Scientific Name | Sunlight Required | Grown For |
| Pisum sativum | 6+ Hours | Fruit |
Once the standard for garden peas, the English pea has largely been replaced in the home vegetable patch by snow and sugar snap varieties. But there are still plenty of reasons to grow this plant in your own garden.
English peas have somewhat fallen out of favor because the fruit must be shelled before eating. In contrast, snow and sugar snap peas can be eaten practically whole.
Fruit aside, English peas produce the most adorable flowers. English pea flowers are also edible! (Note that ornamental sweet pea flowers, a.k.a. Lathyrus odoratus, are NOT edible.)