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