The best trailing and climbing fruits to grow in your garden
If you’d like to grow your own fruit at home but have limited space, why not try growing your fruits vertically?
Climbing fruit plants are ideal for growing on fences, trellises, wires, pergolas and arbors.
Here are 12 easy to grow climbing fruits to maximize your garden space and create your own mini orchard at home.
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12 CLIMBING FRUIT PLANTS
1. Kiwi fruit
Kiwis are small fuzzy brown fruits with sweet green flesh on the inside.
They’re a perennial climbing fruit that grows best in warm areas with a short winter.
Kiwi fruit vines can reach up to 20 feet (6 m) long, so they need plenty of space and they’re perfect for growing on a trellis or pergola.
2. Grapes
Grapes are another perennial climbing fruit vine that look great growing on an arbor or pergola with the fruit hanging down.
They need full sun, plenty of space to spread out and well-drained soil.
Grape vines can take up to three years to produce fruit but it’s well worth the wait to have your own home-grown grapes.
Regular pruning is essential for controlling the growth of the vine and producing high quality fruit. An overproduction of fruit generally leads to poor quality fruit.
3. Passionfruit
Passionfruit is a perennial climbing vine that produces green fruit that turns dark purple when it ripens.
They grow best in warm, sub-tropical climates in a position with full sun but they can take between 12 to 18 months to produce fruit
Many passionfruit plants are grafted, so keep an eye out for suckers growing from below the grafted area and carefully remove them.
4. Raspberries
Raspberries are fast growing climbing fruits that can be planted from bare-root canes in spring.
There are two different types of raspberries – summer fruiting and fall fruiting. [1]
As well as the common red raspberries, there are also yellow and black varieties.
Growing raspberries vertically on a trellis makes it easier to harvest the berries and limits pests and diseases.
5. Blueberries
Blueberries are another climbing berry plant that looks great in the garden.
They can be evergreen or deciduous with white bell-shaped flowers followed by small round berries.
Blueberry plants grow 3 to 6.5 feet (1 to 2 m) high and do best in a sunny spot that is protected from the wind.
It usually takes two years for blueberry vines to begin fruiting.
6. Blackberries
Blackberries grow on thorny vines that become weed-like in some areas.
They grow best in areas with warm days and cool nights and can be trained to grow along a fence, wires or a trellis.
Blackberries need full sun and they will produce berries in their second year of growth.
7. Gooseberries
Gooseberries are small green or red berries that can be sweet or sour.
Culinary gooseberries have a sour taste and they’re great for jams and pies, while dessert gooseberries are sweet enough to eat on their own.
Gooseberries can be left to grow into a bush or trained to grow along a trellis or fence. They can also be grown in containers.
Gooseberry bushes are self-pollinating so you only need one plant to produce fruit.
Birds are attracted to gooseberries, so you may need to protect your plants with bird proof netting.
8. Dragon Fruit
Dragon fruit, also known as pitaya, is a climbing variety of cactus that produces unusual looking pink and green fruits.
They grow best in tropical and subtropical regions, in full sun or partial shade.
Dragon fruit plants need a sturdy structure to climb up and regular pruning is required to keep them to a manageable size.
The flesh of the dragon fruit can be bright pink or white with tiny black seeds and it tastes similar to a pear or kiwi fruit.
9. Cantaloupe
Cantaloupes, also known as muskmelon or rockmelon, are heat loving climbing fruits.
They’re frost-sensitive and need at least two to three months of warm temperatures and plenty of sunlight and water to produce fruit.
Cantaloupes like to spread out and they’re great trellis plants but the fruit will need to be supported as it grows.
You can make a sling or hammock from an old t-shirt or pantyhose to support the weight of each melon.
10. Honeydew Melon
Honeydew melons have a creamy colored exterior and light green flesh.
They have similar growing requirements as cantaloupes and take between 65 to 100 days to produce fruit. [2]
In cool climates, honeydew seeds can be started indoors and transplanted to the garden when the weather is warm and the risk of frost has passed.
Honeydew melons can also be grown in a large container and trained to climb up a trellis but they will need strong support.
Honeydews don’t continue to ripen after they’re picked so they need to be harvested at just the right time when the skin becomes pale. The fruit should come off the vine easily when it’s ripe.
11. Cucumber
Cucumbers are easy to grow climbing vines that are perfect for small, lightweight trellises.
They’re generally considered to be part of the vegetable family but cucumbers are actually classified as fruits because they grow from flowers and contain seeds.
Growing cucumber vines vertically on a trellis makes them easier to pick and the fruits are less likely to be affected by fungal diseases and pests because they’re up off the ground.
Once cucumber plants start fruiting it’s a good idea to check the vines every day and harvest the cucumbers regularly to avoid the plants becoming too weighed down.
12. Watermelon
Watermelons are popular summer fruits with sweet, juicy red flesh.
They’re frost-tender annuals that need warm weather for at least three months to produce fruit.
Small watermelon varieties are ideal for growing vertically and they look great climbing up a trellis but it needs to be very sturdy to support the weight of the fruits.
Each melon will need to be supported with a hammock or sling.
So there is my list of easy to grow climbing fruits to plant in your garden.
Training fruits to grow along a fence, trellis or wire is a great way to get the most out of your garden space.
Most of these fruit vines have tendrils, which allow them to cling onto the trellis or support structure, so you won’t have to tie them on.
Just be sure that the trellis is strong enough to support the weight of the vines, especially if you’re growing large fruits like watermelons.
Growing fruit vines off the ground also helps with harvesting, air circulation and can prevent pests and diseases from attacking your fruit.
Here’s a quick video about growing watermelons vertically that you may find helpful.
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Have you tried growing any of these climbing fruits in your garden? Let me know in the comments below.
Are you on Pinterest? I have boards dedicated to Growing Fruit and Climbing Plants that you may find helpful. You can also find me on Facebook.
I wish I lived somewhere warmer all year round so I could really enjoy these fruits on a regular basis. We have several blackberry bushes that grow on a golf course I play and its always a treat to come upon a certain hole on the course and grab some fresh berries off the vine. We have successfully grown blueberries in the past and watermelon. I’d love to give growing kiwi a try because I love that fruit but I don’t think my climate is warm enough to do so. Grapes grow in abundance here on Long Island and we have many wineries that produce delicious grapes and wine.
What a great idea to utilize walls, fences etc around your garden to plant and grow climbing fruit plants. I love all the examples you have shared here, so I will have to think about which would be the most likely to succeed – especially as my partner and I are known to have green thumbs! It would be great to think we could grow our own fruit and this would surely be worth a try.
There are so many lovely and wonderful fruits. It would be nice to have the time to grow my own xx
My brother has grapes and passionfruit in Florida. The fruit plants do great and every year they seem to bear more and more fruit.
Great options to plant climbing fruits. I did not know that blueberries could climb. I grow blueberries but they grow in bushes. It may be a different variety of blueberries that is able to climb. Awesome information.
All these vertically growing fruit plants always seemed interesting to me since childhood. We had only a few fruits though and more of vegetables. Refreshing post.
I love growing fruits. Just looking at the pictures makes my mouth watery.
Sounds like a good list to me. I am moving to a house with a garden soon (next week! so excited) and I am so going to grow stuff there. Gooseberries are definitely on my list.
So many beautiful and delicious fruits! I definitely need to learn more about gardening to have some of these climbing fruit plants at home!
I’d love to try to grow my own raspberries! There used to be wild ones growing behind my childhood home and I loved picking them.
I didn’t know some of those were climbing fruit plants. Those are all great options to choose from. I’ll keep this in mind for future use.