If you’ve ever thought… “I wish I had more space to grow fruit,” This one’s for you! I’ve squeezed over 200+ types of fruit and edible plants into my suburban block… and while this may sound a bit crazy and not for everyone 😂 There are a few key tricks I’ve learnt along the way I want to share to help you grow a wider variety of fruit in a small space 🍊🍑🍓 Below are my top 5 tips to grow more fruit in less space..that actually work!
Top 5 Ways to Maximise Fruit in a Small Garden or Urban Space
Grow Fruit Trees in Pots
Pots make it possible to grow fruit trees almost anywhere.. balconies, patios, rental properties, awkward spaces, driveways. Choose dwarf or compact varieties, and you can move them to catch the sun or protect them in winter. Bonus: Potted trees are naturally dwarfed, so less maintenance and pruning.
Use Vertical Space
Increase the number of varieties by growing vertical fruits. Train passionfruit vines along fences, grow berries on trellises, or espalier apples along walls. Vertical growing = more fruit with less garden bed space used.
Try Multi-Grafted Trees
One tree, multiple fruits! Grafted trees can grow many varieties on a single trunk. You can purchase these as fruit salad trees or learn to graft and do it yourself! Each family type can usually be grafted together eg: stonefruit like peach, apricot, plum, nectarine can all go on one tree (except cherries must go with cherries) or citrus mixes. Great for variety, especially in limited space.
Plant High-Density Style
You probably know by now this is something I practice in my gardens… but there is method to my madness. Fruit trees don’t need to be spaced as far apart as you think. You can either have x2 fruit trees “correctly spaced” or x4 closer together. This means you will need to prune them smaller, resulting in less fruit on each tree, but more trees means more variety AND may extend your fruit season. I don’t need 1000 oranges, I’m happy with 20 😄 This works best by combining dwarf fruit trees and #5 👇
Succession + Seasonal Layers
Grow fast fruiting crops like Cape Gooseberry, Papaya, Tamarillo, and Bananas between slower ones. You’ll get harvests while your trees are still establishing. It’s all about planning for layers and timing. Then, after a few years, once your main fruit trees, say Avocado or Mango, start taking up the space, you can cut the short-lived crops out to make space.
Start Small and Grow in Less Space
You don’t need a huge property to enjoy an abundant, homegrown harvest. Even a small courtyard, rental garden, or suburban backyard has the potential to grow a diverse mix of fruit when planned strategically. Start with just one or two of these tips, like adding a potted citrus or training a passionfruit vine, and see how much more you can grow. With each season, you’ll learn more about your microclimate, sun patterns, and fruit tree behaviour, which will help you maximise your space even further. Over the years, I have edited many of my fruit trees by removing ones I don’t enjoy as much as I thought I would. I have even created multi-grafted fruit trees to then remove one of them to make room for a new tree…But I still get to enjoy the same fruit just on one tree.
Your Backyard Fruit Jungle Starts Here
Urban gardening isn’t about sacrificing abundance; it’s about designing smart, layered systems that work with the space you have. By thinking vertically, embracing container gardening, and planting with both time and growth habits in mind, you can enjoy a steady harvest of fresh fruit almost year-round.
Edible Climbing Vines help maximise growing space and double the amount of food in each garden bed or container. One thing that I think is so underrated is the ability to grow food up 👆 This list of edible climbers to grow in your garden will help you utilise vertical space and create shade and protection. These 10 edible climbing vines are perennials,which means they will produce more and more food each year without us having to replant them! There are so many incredible reasons you should be growing food vertically. Not only to maximise space but also to increase airflow to reduce rot or disease, strategic shade, or like me, to reduce some of the heat in my garden by covering my ugly fences!
Annuals vs Perennials 🌿
Annuals will allow you to still change up your garden beds each season and have the flexibility of space. Whereas perennials (which grow for longer than 2 years) will allow you to get a crop established and provide long-term protection, and produce more and more food each year.
Click to watch for bonus Planting Tips 👇
10 Perennial Edible Climbing Vines
1. Passionfruit
Passionfruit is one of my favourite fruits to eat, and the main reason I am growing this edible climber in my garden. They are also evergreen, so it has leaves all year round to create shade and protection. Passionfruit have thick, lush leaves, so they work perfectly to cover fences or create screens to block out unsightly structures or areas. Watch the video above to see how to plant passionfruit from a store-bought fruit!
BONUS TIP: Purchase a passionfruit plant that is NOT grafted. Grafted passionfruit needs to be carefully maintained or the rootstock can quickly take over and become invasive with no fruit.
2. Choko /Chayote
Choko is a quick-growing, vining edible plant that can make great summer shade to protect your summer garden. They will often die back over winter but will pop up and regrow each spring. Any fruits left on the ground will also easily regrow. Choko are similar to a large zucchini or marrow and can be used as a substitute for potatoes or even apples to bulk up pie recipes.
3. Sweet Potato
Growing Sweet Potatoes / Kūmara (Ipomoea batatas) in your home garden is a great step toward self-sufficiency. They are my favourite permaculture plants and are an easy crop to grow for beginner gardeners. It is important to grow plants that support and encourage other plants and beneficial insects in your garden. Creating a cohesive ecosystem that promotes the growth and success of your garden’s health and supports abundant harvests. Sweet potatoes send out runners and can easily be trained up a vertical trellis. Plus, many people do not know that the leaves of the sweet potato plant are also edible.
4. Grapes
The great thing about growing grapes as edible climbers is that they are deciduous. This means they lose their leaves in winter, so you can plant grapes strategically to provide shade in summer and let light through in winter!
5. Malabar Spinach
Malabar spinach is a fantastic edible climber for warm or tropical climates. It thrives in summer during warm weather when most other spinach and leafy greens die off. This can help fill the gaps in your seasonal harvests. Malabar spinach can be grown in pots or containers. It has succulent-like leaves, so it can handle hot weather, but it can be frost sensitive.
6. Butterfly Pea
If you love colour, then this edible climber will be perfect for you! With bright blue-purple flowers, the butterfly pea is a striking addition to an edible garden. The flowers can be used as a natural food colouring or infused in teas or cocktails. Plus, if you add acidity such as lemon juic,e the colour will transform to hot pink! Such a fun plant to grow.
7. Kiwifruit
Kiwifruit can be grown over structures to create great canopy shade. They are prolific producers and the fruit can be eaten fresh, frozen for smoothies, made into jams and even dehydrated for naturally sweet treats. You will need to have both a male and a female plant for pollination.
8. Kiwiberry
Kiwi berries have a similar taste to the kiwifruit, but are much smaller, around the same size as a grape. Kiwi berry vines grow really well in containers or urban gardens.
9. Nasturtium
Nasturtium is often known for its wild rambling nature but it can be trained vertically as an edible climber. The whole plant is edible, including the leaves, flowers and seed pods. Nasturtium has a strong peppery taste and can be used in salads, flavoured salts, pickles and many other recipes. Here in Perth, my Nasturtium dies down in summer but will pop up and regrow by itself in Autumn/winter.
10. Scarlett Runner Bean
Scarlet runner beans are also known as the 7-year bean because they pop up and regrow each year (for about 6-7 years). Beans are a great addition to an edible garden and can easily be cooked or frozen to preserve.
Annual Climbing Vines 🌿
Annual climbers are also great because they don’t need dedicated space, so you can grow, harvest and remove them to grow something different each season! Having a mix of annuals and perennials will help you grow more food all year round. Annual climbers can be plants such as Cucumber, Squash, Tomatoes, Pumpkin, and Melons.
Fruits that Grow on Vines
Want to grow more fruit without taking up extra ground space? Climbing fruits are a great way to grow more varieties without taking up more garden space! Check out these 17 fruits that grow on vines to get more fruiting plants in your garden.
