Vertical gardens are the future of gardening. It’s a trend that has been gaining popularity in recent years, and with good reason. Many people are looking for sustainable ways to garden, and Vertical gardening is a great option-it not only produces more plants than ground gardens, but it also saves space and time!
Vertical gardening is relatively simple: all you do is plant vertically instead of horizontally. This can be done by using containers or towers that provide vertical growing spaces from floor to ceiling, or by planting directly into walls through holes created specifically for this purpose. The most common types of plants grown in vertical gardens are herbs such as chives, cilantro, parsley, and basil which need less soil depth than other vegetables like tomatoes, peppers, and eggplant.
Growing vertical gives many possibilities both for ornamental and edible plants. Vertical gardens usually operate by direct planting, which means you use climbing equipment to find their way up a platform such as trestles or by playing around with elevated or vertical planter displays.
Vertical Wall Garden
French botanist Patrick Blanc is credited with being the founder and leader of the Green Wall Movement. The plant walls can have a frame hung from a wall or can stand alone. The rigid plastic on the frame waterproofs the wall. The plant’s root grows in the felt, which distributes water and fertilizer evenly. Some plant wall systems or green walls have spaces for soilless potting mediums to allow other types of plants to grow or provide irrigation systems.
Living walls demand more frequent maintenance such as pruning, brushing, dusting, weeding, and sometimes replacement. A vertical wall garden can be heavy, so check with an experienced structural engineer to see if your wall will handle the load.
Vertical Gardening Basics
Vertical gardening can be advantageous for apartment dwellers, small-space urban gardeners, and disabled gardeners. Trellis attached to the soil or placed in large containers allow you to grow vegetables, fruits, and even crops vertically into gardens using much less space than a traditional garden with outdoor space. In frigid warm winter climates, houseplants grown on vertical gardens add much-needed heat during heatwave periods. Increasingly, hotels and offices incorporate living walls and vertical gardens indoors and out. Even though vertical gardens may need more frequent watering, they provide good air circulation.
To start your vertical garden wall space inside your home or for your outdoor space, you need to know the basics and consider the following:
Choosing a Wall Garden Space
You must understand that vertical gardening is not as easy, and you may choose the wrong vertical space when starting. According to Philip Yates, the founder of The Vertical Garden Institute, you may start on any wall, but you may want to choose an ugly wall. However, you may still choose any wall depending on your vertical garden ideas.
A Framework
The framework is the basic structure of your vertical garden. This is where you will be putting whatever you see fit, like small plants, climbing plants, or edible plants. You can use different structures like trellises and topiaries where you can put your climbing plants that are suitable if you have an outdoor space. You may use frameworks that can support hanging pots, hanging planter boxes, or a vertical planter for indoors. Make sure that your framework can support the weights of your climbing plants and hanging pots.
Setting Up an Irrigation System
Watering your vertical garden is just the same as watering your garden. However, this might just be exclusive for your outdoor garden space. You may just need a watering can or a garden hose for an outdoor vertical garden. There are instances where vertical gardens are placed or made
Advantages of Vertical Gardens
- They use less water because there isn’t as much evaporation that occurs when compared to ground gardens.
- They take up far less space than traditional ground gardens, which saves on land usage and increases the available space for other types of plants.
- They are easy to maintain and harvest from
- The produce is fresher since you pick it right before using it rather than storing harvested produce.
- They can even help conserve energy because of their proximity to a home’s HVAC system.
Useful for your gardening: Top 10 Best Gardening Gloves – 2021 Guide
Benefits of a Vertical Gardening
A vertical garden is a smart way to make the most of space in your yard, apartment patio or balcony. A vertical garden can be as simple as some bamboo sticks and some string or as elaborate as an assortment of poles, pots, baskets and planters. A vertical garden can produce more food than horizontal gardens on the same land because they use more vertically than horizontally. Apart from that, here are some benefits of a vertical garden:
Save Space
Homes are getting smaller and more densely populated each year. This has led to a need for efficient spaces that use minimal square footage. Vertical gardening is the perfect solution.
Vertical gardening is the process of maximizing space in a garden by growing plants vertically, i.e., along walls, fences and trellises. Great for anyone with limited space or an urban dweller without a backyard.
Growing your Own Food
Growing your own food is an excellent way to save money and eat healthily.
Did you know that there are many different ways to grow your own food? One such way is vertical gardening, also called container gardening. A vertical garden uses large containers to grow the plants vertically, saving space and energy. Did you know that you can start growing your own food right in your backyard? While this may seem daunting, it is quite easy. With a little bit of planning, you’ll be gardening with vegetables in no time.
Less Expensive
A vertical garden is less expensive than traditional gardens because they eliminate the need for large amounts of dirt and irrigation equipment. As long as you continue maintaining your vertical garden, you should produce fresh vegetables in an urban area.
Less Waste
Vertical gardening also eliminates the need for pots, soil, and mulch. This means you’ll have less waste to dispose of. Not only will this result in a healthier environment, but it will also result in less of an environmental impact.
Reduce Energy Usage and Promote Sustainable Living
A vertical garden is a sustainable way to combat climate change.
A vertical garden is a sustainable way to reduce energy usage by using less water and soil and requiring less fertilizer than traditional gardening. It can be grown in pots, buckets, crates, boxes, barrels, and other containers. The containers should be placed close to the sun and not in spots with too much shade or heat. By practising vertical gardening, you promote sustainable living. The plants can be grown in containers on rooftops, balconies, patios, and windowsills, providing the opportunity to grow food year-round.
Increase Healthier Eating
In a world where people often feel the unhealthy effects of eating a poor diet, it’s important to find ways to eat healthier. Making small lifestyle changes can help improve your health and well-being. Vertical gardening is an alternative way to grow sustainable food and has the potential to be more nutritious than traditional gardening. Many people choose to grow their own herbs, vegetables, and fruit to eat healthy and natural.
Growing your own food can also be fun and more exciting than the average food shopping experience. That’s why it is one of the best vertical gardening ideas. It is also a great way to spend more time with friends and family.
Tips for Developing a Vertical Garden at Home
There are many advantages to vertical gardening, including the fact that it is sustainable and uses less space. You can also use this type of gardening to grow typically too large plants for small spaces, like tomatoes or eggplant!
Here are some tips for growing a vertical garden-consider them your guide to getting started.
The first step is choosing the right container or tower to hold your plants in place. The best containers are those made from fabric, metal tubing, aluminium cans, PVC pipe and other recycled materials because these will prevent root rot due to waterlogging. If you want something more permanent than a lightweight container made of fabric, use wooden or plastic barrels. They are sturdy and can hold a large number of plants in place.
Just remember that when you’re filling your containers with soil before planting, don’t fill it to the top-leave about an inch between the top of the potting mix and the top of the container because this is where your plants’ roots will go.
Plant your seedlings in the centre of each container, and be sure to choose plants that have similar requirements so they can thrive together, such as basil and tomatoes or oregano and peppers. Also, consider grouping plants by watering needs-plants with similar water requirements, so you don’t over-water or under-water any plants.
Finally, it would help if you always tried to choose varieties that are better suited for growing vertically. Herbs like basil, oregano and parsley all work well in vertical gardens because their roots are shallow and can quickly develop on a vertical surface instead of horizontally across the soil. Tomatoes also work very well because they often produce sprawling vines that can be trained to grow upwards, especially determinate varieties.
Remember: Although a vertical garden is more space-efficient and eco-friendly, it is not for everyone. Not only do vertical gardens require a lot of planning, but they also require a lot of time to care for. A vertical garden also requires a lot of resources. They are quite expensive to purchase and install, and they require maintenance.
Conclusion
This new gardening trend offers a new way for people to grow their own food and gives them a new, exciting, and creative way to garden. Creating your own vertical garden continues to gain popularity because of its many benefits; it’s only a matter of time before they become as common as traditional gardens.
In conclusion, vertical gardening is a sustainable way to add vegetation to your home and garden while conserving space and energy. They can be installed in many ways, whether it is indoors or outside, by adding trellises to the side of your house or on your balcony. Having your own vertical gardening offers a unique solution for areas where you want to add greenery and improve air quality.
Consider adding a DIY vertical garden to your home and garden!
