.Vertical gardening is an excellent space-saving method to increase greenery around your home. There are many ways to build a DIY vertical garden to meet your needs–whether to grow more of your own food, create living artwork, or simply save space and increase efficiency while enjoying your houseplants. Follow along for ideas on how to build or buy a vertical garden that fits your lifestyle.
What is a Vertical Garden?
Vertical gardening doesn’t have to be a massive investment in time, space, or money. Whether gardening for food production or foliage, there are endless ways to establish a vertical garden that will work in your small space.
What Can You Grow?
You can grow myriad things in vertical gardens—plants with shallow root systems that take well to pots thrive in this environment. Think succulents, ferns, vining plants, and bromeliads to increase the greenery in your space.
However, if you want to increase your food production, many vegetables take well to vertical gardens, including pole beans, vining tomatoes, cucumber, melon, zucchini, and squash which are trainable to grow on supports. Herbs and leafy greens like spinach and lettuce also do well due to their shallow root systems.
Building Your Vertical Garden
Building a vertical garden allows your creativity to show. Indoors, it could be as simple as making an herb garden in a window or mounting your potted plants on the wall.
The benefit of building your own vertical garden is that you can make it as intricate and fitting to your space and style as you’d like. Creating your own garden allows you to repurpose goods you already have and decide exactly where you want individual plants to reside.
You can also use vertical gardening to add a design element—Think twisting wire trellises into specific shapes and training your plants to climb to make living artwork in your home.
Buying a Vertical Garden
If you’re eager to start planting, many purchase options exist for pre-made vertical gardens. Columnar, shelf-style, and hydroponic system planters and kits are all available for purchase.
When choosing your system, consider your plants’ sun, water, and space requirements, and purchase the system that will work for your plants and your space. Also, consider your plant’s drainage needs—you want to ensure that plants can drain readily, particularly if you’re creating a system where water from the top layers filters down to the plants below.
In an indoor garden, include a plan for catching overflow water. If your plants need extra support, consider adding tripods, arches, trellises, netting, poles, and more!
Cost
The cost to create your vertical garden will depend on what size and structure you’re looking for and the materials you have versus the ones you must purchase. If you have many potted plants that you’d like to move to a vertical space, it may be as simple and inexpensive as buying the hardware to attach them to a wall or outdoor structure.
The cost will be a bit higher if you’re interested in a low-maintenance, state-of-the-art vertical hydroponic garden system that includes automated lighting, watering, and temperature control.
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Pros and Cons
Vertical gardens have a lot of advantages but are only suitable for some types of plants. Consider your space and your intended plants’ needs to decide if gardening vertically will work for you.
Pros
- Great for small spaces
- Can use the shade and excess water of plants above to protect and nourish the lower plants
- Great way to efficiently soak up limited sun exposure
- Protection from ground-dwelling pests and fungus
- Saves your back from the crouching and bending required for ground-level gardening
Cons
- Planters will dry out faster than plants in the ground, and outdoor plants near the bottom of your vertical garden build may receive less rainwater due to the plants above.
- Plants with deep root systems will most often struggle in a vertical garden.
Can I be a Vertical Gardener?
Nearly anyone can be a vertical gardener—A little creativity and patience are all that’s necessary. There are only good vertical garden ideas. If you’re unsure if vertical gardening is right for you, try starting with hanging plant baskets, a window box, or a trellis. There are also affordable pre-made garden systems that are great for starting small.
Are They Worth it?
A vertical garden is a great way to accomplish your gardening goal. Especially if you appreciate the joy of tending a garden and seeing things grow. As a space-saving solution, vertical gardening can incorporate more greenery into your home or increase your DIY food yield. With numerous startup options available, beginning a vertical garden can be quick and affordable.
FAQs
What is the purpose of a vertical garden?
The purpose of a vertical garden is to meet your gardening intentions in the vertical realm. Whether that means for aesthetic preference, to utilize space efficiently, or to save your back. The University of California, Trinity County even says that, “Growing vertically is a great way to maximize space and provide visual interest in growing areas.”
How is vertical gardening good for the environment?
Vertical gardening is good for the environment because it increases the air-purifying benefits of plants and can increase the amount of food you grow and eat at home—saving on chemicals used to grow and stock grocery stores.
You can build your garden from recycled materials or by reusing items from past projects. Doing so can give new life to things you might otherwise discard.
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