I found this flowery thingie for cheap, made a mound of soil held in place by mesh, and turned it into this:

Moss vertical garden

She’s made living walls from all sorts of trays. She fills them with dirt, covers them with mesh, slits holes in the mesh for the plants, then plants them! They stay horizontal for about two months, then once they’ve gotten a bit established, she hangs them up like a work of living art. You can see her homemade living walls here.

Here’s a great video on using a few simple products to make your own vertical garden system with a reservoir. They just used Marine Ply or EPS to make the frame. (I’d imagine you could even use regular wood and a pond liner) Then they covered the back of the wall with Rockwool (readily available at hydroponic retailers) and put in a drip irrigation system at the top. Then you just need to plug your pump into a timer and set it to water a few times a day automatically. For fertilizer, you can just buy the water soluable kind and put a bit in the reservoir and you’re all set. Does that sound like something you’d try?