Growing vines

Vines provide an easy way to utilise the vertical space in your garden and you can have fresh home-grown fruits and vegetable in no time at all. (PHOTO: FILE / STANDARD)

Vines are some of the most under-utilised backyard plants. In spite of their versatility, their full potential is seldom realised. Apart from their ornamental qualities, including seasonal flower and bright berries, vines can be used to disguise unattractive elements in the garden. They are also effective in giving shade over arbours, pergolas and decks and in creating privacy in outdoor rooms.

Among the vines are some of the best edible landscape plants out there. Food-bearing vines can grow in places where fruit trees and vegetable beds would never fit, and they often present the fruit at a nice pickable height to eliminate the hustle of stooping or climbing.