Build a Vertical Garden and Turn a Small Space into a Big Harvest!
Whether growing scrumptious veggies, flavorful herbs, or gorgeous flowers and succulents, gardening is an enriching pastime. If your love of plants is more than available square footage, try building a vertical garden.
Look no further if you’re looking for ways to maximize your space while growing a sustainable, resource-friendly garden! Whether you want to plant indoors or outdoors, these tools of the trade will help you bust through the limits of plain old “flat” gardening and set you on your way to growing a fabulous vertical garden.
“Pocket” Gardening
One of the easiest ways to make a foray into vertical gardening is with commercially available hanging “plant pocket” kits. All you need is a wall that receives adequate sunlight, some potting soil, and essential tools such as a screwdriver and a level.
You can buy single pockets or rows of hanging pockets and create a living wall indoors or outdoors. Pockets come in a variety of sizes and colors.
The product information will tell you how many cubic feet of soil each pocket will hold. When choosing plants and pockets, keep in mind the size of the plant’s root system so that you can buy the best-sized pocket.
Container Gardening
Hanging containers are another option for creating a living wall; they also work well on balconies or indoors. In the south of Spain, it’s a long-standing tradition to attach flower pots to the railing of your balcony to create an explosion of color outdoors; this tradition is catching on in the US.
There are also many stackable containers available. Smaller ones are ideal for indoor or outdoor herb gardening, while larger ones work well for flowers and veggies.
You can also buy hanging planters designed for growing tomatoes upside-down or make your hanging tomato planter.
Trellis Gardening
Many of the most popular garden vegetables will grow well on a trellis, which maximizes space by encouraging the plants to grow upwards rather than outwards. Vine-type cucumbers, indeterminate tomatoes, winter squash, pole beans, and peas are a few examples of vegetables ideal for vertical gardening.
You can use DIY to construct your trellis or buy specially-made kits.
Getting Creative
With some elbow grease, you can transform just about any container into a vertical garden component. This clever website includes instructions for turning a wooden pallet into a vertical garden container.
Succulents such as sempervivums (“hens and chicks”) are perfect for living vertical wall gardening since they have strong, shallow roots. To prove just how ideal succulents are for living walls, this intrepid gardener made a hanging sempervivum planter out of a picture frame!
The sky is the limit regarding creative options for your vertical garden planters. Just ensure that the container you use doesn’t contain any chemical residue that could harm the plants, and don’t use a container that has anything toxic if you’re growing edible plants.
Happy gardening!
Remember: Wet & Forget is a safe way to eliminate moss, mold, mildew, algae, and lichen from the outdoor surfaces near your plants without destroying all your hard work, as harsh cleaners can. Follow these simple steps to keep your garden beautiful while eliminating ugly stains.
Photo By Rameshng.