sphagnum moss

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: