Do it Yourself
Container Gardening Vertically
Feb 1st
container gardening vertically
Here’s a diy guide to container gardening – vertically. It has 35 containers growing plants.. could even be something like strawberries.. that takes up the footprint the same size as one plant. But since it grows up, this container garden uses less space.
The basic idea is to use PVC piping (you don’t even have to glue/cement it) with holes drilled through to insert galvanized wire. Then you just insert your pots into the loops of the wire and you’re about done.
The guide is from here and that gives a plan of how to build a vertical container garden but I’ll put a run through here. The whole thing can be built for about 20 bucks.
The first step is to get some galvanized wire. Bailing wire will rust. You’ll want to wrap the wire around something to make it a circle. You could use the container pots themselves, or use an abs pipe. You’ll use some kind of pliers to twist the wires together at the ends. Below are some pictures:
Forming the loop
Cutting the wire to the right length
Making the wire ends 90 degrees
You’re going to want to tilt up the twisted part of the wire about 90 degrees. That way when you stick it in the holes in the PVC pipe, it’ll stay put indefinitely.
Next you’re going to assemble the PVC structure. You can customize it to whatever size you want. In the end, you just need some pipes and some T’s.. that’s about it. This one uses 3/4″ PVC and 3/4″ PVC Tees. Stick the ends of the pipes in the T’s as you see fit to build your structure. Then drill some holes in the pipe to insert the tips of the galvanized wire circles. The holes will be 1/8″ to 5/6″ depending on the size of the wire you used. To finish it, just stick the pots in the circles of the wires and you’re done.
Making the structure
Holes for the wire
Wire loops for the containers
It’s a great idea for a container garden just for use in a small space like a balcony of a condo/apartment or a small spot in your garden.
Sphagnum Moss, Topiaries and Living Walls
Jan 15th
Sphagnum moss vertical garden system
Using sphagnum moss as a growing medium is another great way to build a vertical garden. It appears to be used in some spots in Europe but could be used anywhere. Basically you take some wire.. about 10 gauge.. and form it into a 3D box. You can make the box any size you see fit, but about 1 ft by 1ft by 6″ deep works fine. Then you simply stuff the sphagnum moss into the wire frame you make and you’ve about finished the actual system.
It’s super easy to plant, just push the spagnum moss out of the way a bit, then push the plants in. The sphagnum moss can hold 20 times its weight in water and it’s inert so it’s a great growing medium. It’s best to use this as an outdoor living wall because bringing it indoors would be pretty messy using this type of growing system. But outdoors, you can just spray it with a hose for watering.. but by far the better technique would be to set up a simple hydroponic system using drip irrigation that can be found at your local hardware store. You can also deliver a liquid nutrient system through the hydroponic setup.
Living wall modules pre-planted
One way to do a freestanding wall of these living wall modules, you’ll dig a hole every 6 ft or so, put a steel rod down each hole and backfill it with cement. Then you’ll put a wire fence of sorts as a backing from rod to rod, then stack each sphagnum moss module one on top of the other against the fence. Then just use twist ties or something of that nature to attach the modules to the fence.
This seems to be a great system. The pictures are mostly from http://gardenbreizh.org/ but if you go there you’ll notice it’s in French.. but it looks like this is a pretty popular way to build living walls in France.
In the case of the photo to the right, you’ll notice they’ve build the cages, then pre-planted them so they’ll be all set when they’re installed vertically. This is possible to do with this system obviously, but it’s not completely necessary as it can also be planted after it’s installed.
This system is similar to topiaries. They’re made out of wire frame, stuffed with a growing medium (usually Sphagnum moss from Chili, although New Zealand sphagnum moss is also really good) and planted. Here’s some more pictures of these living walls below:
Topiary style Living Wall
Topiary style Living Wall module
Freestanding living wall
Alyssa’s Vertical Garden in Washington
Jan 11th
Outdoor vertical garden
Alyssa from http://akitverticalgarden.blogspot.com has made a living wall in Washintgon that allows her to grow flowers and edibles such as parsley and lettuce vertically.
Alyssa mentioned that her game plan was to build a vertical wall of dirt then plant it. They had some questions first such as: How would we stabilize it? What will we make it out of? How thick CAN we make it? How will we water it? Where should we put it where both sides of the wall will get enough sun? How can we make it where the wall with not bow out with all the weight of the dirt and gallons and gallons of water? What could we plant that would grow well on the side of a wall? They tried googling it, but couldn’t find any answers because no one has posted about a garden like this before.
Fortunately Alyssa gave a detailed account of what they did. First they set posts in concrete several feet down. The actual wall is built of hogwire with shadecloth layered on the inside. The shadecloth holds in the dirt. To prevent bowing they completely wired the inside. Once stabilized, they added a whole lot of dirt.
Alyssa notes that you don’t want to plant until AFTER the dirt has settled. She originally tried planting while the dirt was dry and just thrown in. When the dirt sunk it threw all the plants and the holes for the plants off kilter. So the best thing is to water it thoroughly and start planting from the bottom. Alyssa says she needed to replant several Parsleys which were swallowed by the wall as the dirt settled.
Outdoor living wall
Building the edible vertical garden
The structure of the wall is built of three things: posts to support the wall, wire (hogwire and chicken wire), and Typar. The posts were cemented several feet into the ground to support the large structure. On each side of the posts, a foot apart, the sides of the wall were erected. After the sides were thoroughly wired to the posts and to each other, the wall was filled dirt.
Planting the vertical garden
It is very simple to plant in the wall. You need three basic tools: a razor knife, a shovel, and wire cutters. I would recommend wearing gardening gloves because the wires can be rough on the hands. Simply cut the wires and bend them back making ample room for whatever you are planting. Then slit the Typar the appropriate size. Shovel out the dirt and gently place your plant inside. Within a few days your plant will begin to grow skyward. It is very exciting to see watch it grow up!
What kind of things grow well on the living wall?
I found lots of things that grow well in the living wall, especially salad greens. Any sort of mustard, lettuce, kale, pac choi, etc. does exceedingly well. I have grown many herbs (Thyme, Marjoram, Oregano, Parsley) and flowers. Petunias are perhaps the best flowers to plant in the wall. They do a great job of covering and flowing. Any climbing vines or flowers are fabulous! Both tomatoes and chard have done really well in the vertical garden.
Outdoor green wall
How to add nutrients
Use liquid fertilizer (MiracleGro) and to pour small amounts into each hole using a watering can.
How to water
A soaker hose at the top. Not much water is needed as the wall generally stays pretty wet. Each plant is watered when it’s planted in the green wall.
Vertical vegetable garden
Living Wall vegetable garden
Vertical vegetable garden
Cheap Do It Yourself vertical gardens
Jan 3rd
How to make a living wall
These vertical gardens can be built and designed by you on a budget. These were found from http://www.lushe.com.au.
Bag and Plant
The first one is an easy-to-build vertical garden made out of a hessian bag.. or really almost any type of mesh bag.. stuffed with rockwool. Just cut some slits in the bag and the rockwool, stuff in your plants and water them. The rockwool holds the water and nutrients while retaining enough air pockets for the roots to grow and thrive.
The downside may be that you’d have to manually water it and you could only use it outside (no vapour barrier or water catch basin).. but the upside is that it’s super easy to make and very cheap. The rockwool is able to hold onto the water for a decent period of time as well.. so the watering wouldn’t be too much of a burden.
Bamboo Living Wall
Bamboo hung horizontally on a wall with holes cut out to allow a place to put the dirt and the plants. The trick with this one would be the watering – it’d be pretty tough to water without the dirt falling out the ends of the bamboo unless the ends were capped.
Cheap living wall
Mosaic Living Wall
Painted Terracotta pots hung on a wall. You could go restrained or all out with this idea. With that big one.. watering must be a nightmare.
Wall planters
mosaic wall garden
Shelf for Vertical Gardens
A shelf system that the plants simply sit on. The shelves are then covered by waterproof plywood (could use marine ply.. or perhaps plywood treated with linseed oil.) with sections cut out to give room for the plants. You could paint the plywood whatever colour you want and that’d also help with waterproofing if you use the right kind of paint. The plants used are bromeliads.
Vertical Garden shelves
What do you think? Would you use any of these vertical gardens yourself?
