Edible climbers

When space is tight, you'll want to use every inch you can to grow crops. And when you've run out of room on the ground, sometimes the only way is up.

Edible climbers do everything ornamental plants do - lush foliage, spectacular flowers, and often good autumn colour – but with the added bonus of a generous harvest. Here's a selection of the best from the range in our garden centre in Hemlington and Middlesbrough.

Runner beans are straightforward to grow and incredibly generous, producing several pounds of long beans from every plant. 'Painted Lady' has bicoloured red-and-white flowers.

Loganberries are loose-stemmed shrubs, easily trained against a fence. The sweet, juicy berries look like oversized raspberries.

Grapevines drip with fruit when trained over arches: 'Boskoop Glory' has sweet, smoky purple dessert grapes, and its leaves turn brilliant scarlet in autumn.

Lablab beans are a recent arrival but are fast catching on for their handsome purple leaves and plum- coloured beans: sow from seed in May in a sunny spot.

Kiwi fruit are very hardy, despite their exotic-looking fruit with brown fuzzy skins and succulent bright green flesh. Choose a self-fertile variety like 'Jenny' or 'Solo'.

Please ask the staff in our Hemlington and Middlesbrough garden centre for more information and advice about growing edible climbers.