The Vertical Gardening Guidebook (6 page)

Or if you’re into doing things the old fashioned way with a watering can, hopefully you set up your garden in an organized way, so that you know exactly how much water each section needs. It’s important that you don’t overwater or underwater plants.

If you have water drippers installed for your vertical garden, make sure that they remain unclogged from the nutrients you add into the system. This is done to ensure that your plants receive plenty of nutrition. You can find these at your local nursery.

Trimming and Pruning

Some of your plants will be required to be pruned and trimmed to keep from overgrowing and overtaking your vertical garden. Pruning and trimming ensures that certain plants are able to flower and produce fruit.

Whenever you find dead leaves or flowers, make sure to clip them off. Other plants may need to be pruned, so that they grow in the manner that you prefer. Keeping your garden nice and neat will add to the beauty and enjoyment and can also improve the health of your plants.

Checking for Disease

It’s important to keep a close eye on the plants in your garden to check for any diseases or plant damage. You want to know exactly when any type of disease hits, so that you can react quickly. It’s best to sever the diseased leaves, so that it doesn’t spread to the rest of the plant. You also want to watch out for rotted roots, which in this case would have to be plucked entirely.

Above is a picture of brown root rot on tomato plants. If this happens it’s best to just remove the plants so the rot doesn’t spread.

If you notice that your plants are being eaten up, this could be due to unseen pests. Try to find out what type of pest you have. Then you can research natural solutions for getting rid of them.

How To Make Your Own Organic Spray to Get Rid of Pests and Plant Diseases

You can make a great natural pest control spray at home. All you need is an empty plastic spray bottle (if you don’t have one, you can buy it at any home supplies store) and some tea tree oil (which you can buy at most health food stores or online).

1.
       
Combine 4 cups of water with 2 tbsp. of tea tree oil. Mix well.

2.
      
Place the solution in an empty plastic spray bottle.

3.
      
Spray the solution directly onto leaves of plants to combat fungus. You can even help prevent diseases in your plants by spraying the solution on plant roots and leaves routinely!

You can also use the tea tree oil spray as an antiseptic or air freshener in troublesome areas that are prone to mold, mildew or fungal infections.

Maintaining the pH Level and Nutrients of Soil

Ensure to check the pH levels of the soil for your various plants to see if you need to acidize or alkalize it for better growth. This can be done when you check to see if more nutrients are needed in the soil. You should group alkaline and acid plants together, so that this can be maintained easily. You can also add fertilizer or compost as needed.

Harvest

When it comes time to harvest, you can easily do so without breaking your back. Some plants yield fruits and vegetables quickly, allowing you to pluck a little here and there throughout the summer.

Maintaining your vertical garden is pretty simple, since you don’t have to worry about weeding and tilling the ground. You can even start seeds indoors and then plant them when it’s warm enough outside. If you have mobile gardens, you can place them indoors during the winter.

You’ll quickly see that vertical gardening maintenance is a breeze compared to conventional gardening!

My mom harvesting snow peas from her vertical aeroponics garden at home.

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OW DO
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ARDEN?

If you’re looking to grow vegetables, fruits, herbs or flowering plants all year round, then you’re going to need to set up your garden in a place where it can get the type of climate it needs year round.

There are a variety of ways that you can achieve this. It’s important that you consider this before setting up your vertical garden, so that you can do so in an indoor, temperature-controlled environment. Of course, you can have both, an indoor and outdoor vertical garden setup.

Growing a Vertical Garden in Your Home

One of the more popular and more affordable ways of growing a year-round vertical garden is to set one up inside of your home. This can be done throughout your house, including in your kitchen, living room, dining room and any other rooms that receive lots of light throughout the day. You can set up the vertical walls or trellises right in front of the windows, so that they can get enough sunlight.

One simple way to grow plants in your home is to build frames around your windows where you can place your plants. These allow light to come in and provide your garden with plenty of photosynthesis. Another way is to use your indoor walls as vertical gardens. These are great for decorative and edible plants.

Below is an example of a gorgeous vertical wall garden indoors.

Some people use their garages as a vertical garden haven, but this will need to be remodeled to have more windows and aeration, so that your plants don’t suffocate in the dark. If you can have vents installed, so that you can cool off and warm up the garage as needed, that will make everything a lot easier.

Building a Greenhouse Outdoors

If you don’t have enough space in your home or would like additional growing space for your year-round vertical garden, you can build or buy a green house. This will keep your plants warm enough during the winter to keep them growing.

You’d be surprised at how many plants you could fit into a greenhouse using vertical gardening setups, compared to what would be allowed with in-the-ground gardening. You can produce a large yield of fruits, vegetables and herbs that can be plucked year-round. You may just fall in love with a vertical garden greenhouse!

Grow Annuals, Perennials and Vines

These types of plants grow fast and don’t need much help to do so. Even without much light and human intervention, they grow rapidly and produce lots of flowers. You can grow these on your walls in pots or frames.

Make sure to keep the dead wood and leaves trimmed off so that the plant will continue to grow. Keep in mind that annuals grow faster than perennials - if you are going to start seeds indoors, you want to time it correctly.

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ARDEN

When I was a kid growing up, my parents had a big “compost pile” in our back yard. It was always my chore every week to take out the “compost bucket” underneath our sink.

We always had a very strict policy – if we were going to throw something away and it was food scraps, we had to throw them in the compost bucket. If it was plastic or paper trash, we had to throw it in the trash can. I just thought it was normal to always be composting!

I remember playing out in our big compost pile as a kid. I would always have fun using a pitchfork to toss the fresh food scraps in with the rich, dark compost. Of course, there were times when the smell was so bad taking out the compost bucket… but I do have very fond memories of composting as a young kid!

Above is a picture of my compost pile at my parents’ home where I grew up. That’s good compost!

Compost isn’t just for fun though – it’s one of the best forms of fertilizers that you can use for your vertical garden. If you are looking for a sure way to give your vertical garden plenty of nutrients, and cheaply, composting is definitely the way to go.

The great thing about composting is that you can create it on your own. You can start off with a store-bought package of compost, but you won’t have to keep buying it. Compost is simple to make and affordable – in fact, it can be totally free!

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OMPOSTING THE
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AY

First, we’ll talk about the frugal way to create compost on your own. Before we get into that, let’s talk about what compost is...

Compost is a mixture of organic matter that has begun to decompose, transitioning into awesome fertilizer for your soil. Some people even grow their fruits, vegetables and herbs directly in compost without any soil. Compost can be made up of dirt, scraps of veggies, grass, flowers, leaves, fruits, mushrooms and other scraps that grow from the ground.

You can place this in a wooden box or container with earth worms, scraps of cut grass, leftover veggies and fruits, then cover it up and let it sit to begin decomposing. If there’s a dry spell or drought, you should water the compost pile a little to keep it damp and so that the earthworms don’t dry out. The water will also help the bacteria decompose the organic matter – they can’t do it if there’s no moisture!

Place your compost box in a warm place in your home or outside (preferably outside because of the smell, but there are indoor composting units you can buy that seal tightly and keep the smell at a minimum). You should stir or mix your compost every now and then to allow oxygen to penetrate through the bottom layers.

Once your compost is ready, you can begin using it in your garden. There are soil tests that you can use to see how much nutrients are in your compost. You should try using nutrient-rich organic matter for your compost such as mushrooms, peat moss and scraps of veggies. Of course, to keep things affordable, you can stick with composting the scraps of yard and food scraps that you commonly produce.

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ILES (ALSO CALLED
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EAPS)

Another cheap way to create compost on your own is to create heaps of scraps. This is probably the most cost effective because it doesn’t require you to buy or build any structures. You simply throw all your old food scraps into a contained pile somewhere in your yard.