The Vertical Gardening Guidebook (4 page)

Wall vertical gardens can be extremely elaborate like in this picture or much simpler – it’s up to you.

Make sure to place your vining plants in an area where you don’t mind them spreading. Some plants end up growing vertically too far, reaching the gutters of homes and eventually pulling them down with their weight. Morning Glories are notorious for doing this.

Some of the plants you grow may have to be tied to their structure, such as with tomatoes, otherwise they will spread across the ground – defeating the purpose of vertical gardening.

When you grow plants on the walls outside of your home, it can help prevent your home from getting damaged by acid rain and other pollution, and it helps to keep the soil around the home from flooding because the vertical garden will soak up extra rain water. It creates a great year-round eco-system that absorbs pollutants and natural gas – naturally!

Planters and Gutters

If you decide to use planters or rain gutters, make sure to purchase them between eight inches and 12 inches so that they’re strong enough to support the plants. These can be placed along your wall. If the pieces are too long, you can use a saw to make them the right size.

Holes will also need to be drilled at the bottom of the gutters or planters, which should be around six inches apart. This will allow water to drain, so that the roots of your plants don’t end up rotting from sitting in water.

A gutter garden like the one pictured above can be created with just a normal rain gutter and a wire or hook to hold it in place. Just make sure not to place it somewhere that’s exposed to strong winds because it could get damaged and your garden could get ruined from a wind storm.

Choosing the Type of Gardening Style You’ll Use

There are many different forms of vertical gardening. There are three types of vertical gardens that you can start in your home, including the following:

Traditional
– This is the most common way for growing vertical gardens, which uses soil.

Hydroponics
– Another form of gardening that is gaining popularity, which uses no soil, only water and aqua-life. This method is expensive to set up. I don’t cover hydroponics in this book because it can be very complicated, especially if you’re going the aquaponics route and requires a lot of specialized equipment and knowledge.

Aeroponics
– A new technique that is picking up momentum in the planting world. This too can be used for vertical gardening and the awesome thing about this method is that it requires no water systems or soil, only nutrient-rich water. We’ll get more into this later in Chapter 11.

Choosing What to Grow in Your Vertical Garden

There’s a large variety of plants that you can grow in your vertical garden. The site you choose will determine how many large and widespread plants that you will be able to grow. The setup of your vertical garden will also play a role in what types of plants you’ll be able to grow.

The most popular plants that are grown in vertical gardens are vine and creeping plants. Even gardeners, who aren’t necessarily converting to vertical gardening, use vertical supports like beanpoles and trellises to grow their, gourds, zucchini and peas.

Fruits, vegetables, perennials and annuals can all be grown in vertical gardens. Those that have vines are the best suited, such as grapes, strawberries, Morning Glories, melons and pumpkins. Plants that vine offer higher yields, which is always a great thing. Other plants that you can choose that don’t grow vertically on their own can also be grown, including raspberries, roses and tomatoes. Some people even grow small trees on their patios!

If you decide to go with tomatoes, you should choose a variety that is indeterminate because their stems continue growing. Determinates have roots that stop growing after reaching a few feet. Then for the heavier vining plants such as the melon, gourds, cucumbers and the like, you should go with varieties that are smaller. Having heavier and bigger plants can be too much for small supports.

Fruits, vegetables and other plants that you decide to grow that are medium in size can be done with the help of slings and ties. Some use household items which should be placed at the bottom of the plants and tied to the structure. Just try to use ties that are made up of cloth, so that it won’t cut into the plants. You can look for nice looking ones that will offer a nice accent to the décor of your vertical garden. Preferably something that blends in well.

Choosing the type of plants you want to grow in your vertical garden should be based on multiple factors, including weather, space, shade and the area you live in. Learn more about the types of plants that grow best in your town. If you’re totally new to gardening and not sure, look up a local gardening store and talk to some of the experienced staff there – they’ll be able to tell you what kinds of plants grow best in your area and help you find seeds and supplies!

Keep in mind that certain plants grow well together while others don’t and some plants grow better vertically, while other plants don’t. For instance, vining varieties grow better in vertical gardens than a bush would, simply because bushes are too big. There are some plants that come in the form of vines and bushes, such as peas, cucumbers, squash and beans, so make sure to buy the vine varieties if possible.

Melons and pumpkins are two types of fruits that do well in vertical gardens. These two will need to be supported by slings and ties to grow vertically.  Here’s a list of the types of plants that are commonly grown in vertical gardens:

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Capsciums

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Korean Box

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Golden Diosmas

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Cuphea

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Chillies

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Lettuce

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Mondo Grass

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Mandevilla

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Chinese Star Jasmine

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Daisies

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Petunias

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Miniature and Climbing Roses

The plants you choose should be based around a root system. As you may know, some plants have a vigorous rooting system that is large and complicated. These plants require lots of support.

Overall, the plants you decide to grow should be grouped together by similarities. The ones that need a lot of water, shade or sunshine can be placed on their own trellises or walls.

Designing Your Vertical Garden

The main purpose of vertical gardening is to be able to grow lots of plants in a limited amount of space. Making the most of the space you do have, whether big or small is very important. The design of your vertical garden is what will ensure that you do just that.

Start from the Back

When setting up your vertical garden, you should start from the back and work your way to the front. For instance, at the back of your vertical garden, you want to place your lush and productive plants. These will give a nice backdrop for the rest of your garden. The plants that you decide to grow along a wall can also be placed at the back, such as pole beans and other spreading varieties.

To create a nice design for your wall, you can grow vines on your walls that have beautiful flowers. Other plants you can grow include cucumbers, squash and beans, which all grow well together. Again, try to choose smaller varieties at first to avoid having an out-of-control 50-ft long squash monster!

Next in line could be your indeterminate heirloom tomatoes and medium-sized plants. These grow to be a good size and can be pruned into a single vine per plant if needed. This is done by plucking off the vines that grow out of the main vine.

Another variety is the heirloom cherry tomato, which are very tasty. Your tomatoes can be planted in an upside down hanging planter or in a deep container. By hanging your tomatoes, it can lessen the damage caused by harmful insects and make more room in the middle of your vertical garden for other plants that you may want to grow.

Lastly, you can plant your main vertical plants in the front and to the sides of your vertical garden. You can place trellises and other structures that you find attractive around the garden.

Some people grow potatoes in potato grow bags because they produce lovely flowers. These can be placed in deep pots to give more pizazz to your vertical garden if you decide to do the same. Others grow radishes, carrots and other types of fruits and vegetables in this area. To dress up the sides of your vertical garden, you can install railings or tables, where you can grow even more plant life.

Don’t forget that vertical gardening casts shadows for the plants below them. Try planting sun-loving plants on top and shadow loving plants at the very bottom, underneath the vining plants with big leaves.

Preparing the Soil for Your Vertical Garden

Preparing soil for your vertical garden is similar to traditional in-the-ground gardening, but it’s a lot easier. For starters, vertical gardens only require small pots or strips of fertile soil. This is enough to give your plants sufficient nutrition to flourish.

With most vertical gardens, you don’t need a lot of compost, fertilizer or water. Depending on the design of your garden, watering should be a breeze. You can either use a drip can, irrigation system or watering can. The best part about gardening is that you can make your own compost at home using scraps of other plants, vegetables and fruits that one would usually throw away – especially since you won’t need as much soil as in a conventional garden.

Vertical gardens are more exposed to the elements, which means that they tend to dry out quicker, which is a good thing for plants that commonly get fungi growth. You’ll need to keep an eye on the soil because it will likely require fertilization (preferably using natural methods rather than conventional fertilizers, but that choice is up to you). Make sure that there is sufficient drainage for the plants. There should also be enough room to allow roots to grow.

If you will be using a raised bed for your vertical garden design, make sure that the soil is between six and 12 inches deep to allow the roots to spread and grow.

What you’re growing in your vertical garden will determine how your soil should be prepared. For some plants, certain pH levels should be maintained, especially for acid plants like blueberries, which require soil with low pH levels.

Fertilizing Your Soil Organically

Plants need lots of life in their soil, so you have to make sure that there is plenty of organic matter within it. Fertile soil is the key to life and this is especially so for those delicious veggies and fruits you may be growing.

Before planting anything, make sure to work the soil a bit. The soil should be damp, not too wet. When it’s too wet, it will cause the dirt to become compact; the soil should be loose enough for the roots to spread. The organic matter in the soil should make up about 5%, which can be ensured by using a soil test. With organic material, your garden soil will have improved texture, better capacity for holding water, increased fertility, more aeration and drainage and can support more beneficial organisms that live in the soil.

Animal Manure

There are different types of organic materials that you can use for fertilizer. One is animal manure, which has plenty of nutrients. You should apply the manure to your soil months before planting your seeds.

Fresh animal manure is known to cause damage to plants because it sometimes has pathogens that are harmful, along with weed seeds. Stick with manure that is old, prepackaged or composted. Manure that is at least six months old, and that is from an herbivore is best.

Green Manure

Green manure is another option for organic material. This can consist of different crops, including ryegrass, alfalfa and similar plants that are turned over for the process of decomposition. By adding nitrogen, it can help the green manure decompose quicker. It will also keep your soil from being starved of nitrogen.

You can either use your own green manure or purchase it from a gardening store. Some people plant cover crops during the final harvest, which is plowed during autumn or spring. By waiting until spring, the cover crop is able to hold in more soil moisture during snowy cold winters. It is also known to prevent the soil from becoming eroded and it insulates perennial plants.

Compost

Like green manure, compost consists of plant life, but instead of covering crops, it is placed in a bin with soil and fertilizer for the decomposition process. Compost is oftentimes used in place of animal manure. It helps to improve the soil and its ability to retain water. There are also plenty of nutrients in compost, but it has less phosphorous, nitrogen and potassium than manure.