The Vertical Gardening Guidebook (9 page)

Transplanting Your Seedlings to Your Garden

Now that it’s nice and warm outside, it’s time to start transplanting your seedlings outdoors. The best way to do this is to start slowly exposing your plants to the outside world. They’ve been bred on the inside and will need a grand introduction to the outdoors, where the temperatures and weather aren’t so kind and predictable.

About a week before you transplant your plants, you should start the weaning process by minimizing the amount of water and fertilizer that you use. Place the pots of plants outside on a protected porch or under a tree every day for about an hour. You can then gradually increase how long you leave them outside. Don’t allow them to be exposed to too much hot sun and wind.

Try to choose a day for transplantation that is overcast or drizzling. The wind should be calm this day and the sun not too hot. The transition process can be made easier for the plants by placing a shade fabric over them. It will also protect them from pets, flea beetles and other outdoor enemies. Don’t forget to water your transplanted plants well to allow the roots to flourish beneath the earth.

What Went Wrong with My Seedlings?

There are a variety of things that could go wrong with your seedlings if you’re not careful. If you followed all of the directions, but a quarter of your seedlings failed to germinate, you can try to troubleshoot the problem. The first thing you should do is check the seeds package to make sure that you followed all of the directions properly, including providing the right amount of light, water and climate control.

Take a look at the soil of the seedlings that failed to germinate – if it is cold and very wet, then the seeds have probably rotted. You can dig them up and take a look to see if this is the case. If the seeds look soft and swollen, then this is a sign of rot. You will need to replant the seeds and this time around, don’t overwater the plant.

If the soil was a bit dry, this too could cause your seeds not to germinate. When the soil is too dry, the roots sometimes don’t take hold. Another reason your seeds may not have germinated is because the seeds were old. Make sure that the shop you buy your seeds from sells new seeds. When you replant the seeds, make sure to keep the soil moist.

Seeds Are Leggy and Tall

If your seeds did sprout, but are leggy and tall, then it’s likely due to lack of light. Try giving the plant grow light exposure for 15 to 18 hours. Having the temperature too warm can also make your plants leggy. Lower the room temperature and minimize the amount of fertilizer that you’re giving the plant.

Below is an example of a tomato that has grown leggy and tall.

Tomato Has Purple Veins on the Leaves

If you look beneath the leaves of your tomato plants and you see purple veins, this is likely due to the plant not getting enough phosphorous. If you’ve only been giving your tomato plant a half dose of fertilizer during the first few weeks, then up it to a full dose. You should use a fertilizer that has phosphorous content that is at least three. Try looking for fertilizer that is especially made for seedlings.

The Plants Started to Grow then Fell Over

If your plants started out great, but then their stems started to wither until they toppled over, this could be due to a soil-borne fungus known as damping off. It’s hard to kill this fungus once it becomes present, but you can counter this by using a soilless medium that is sterile and ensuring proper air circulation.

Mold is Present on the Top of the Soil

If you notice that there is mold growing on the surface of the soil then this means that the medium you’re using is too wet. If you act quickly, you can save your plants. Just don’t water your plants for a few days and increase the air circulation in the room. Scraping the mold off the top of the soil can be done or transplanting it to a new container with fresh soil or soilless medium is an option as well.

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The first thing you should realize when it comes to gardening is that there is no such thing has a pest-free garden and nor should you want it to be that way! There are good insects and bad insects, but the key is knowing which of them benefits your garden and which of them are harmful.

Learning about the plants you’re growing and their predators and helpers can be very helpful in this matter. There are a couple of ways that you can combat harmful pests without using chemical pesticides.

Some of the common insects that are actually beneficial to gardens include:

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Earthworms

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Braconid wasps

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Praying mantis

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Spiders

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Yellow jackets

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Lacewings

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Honeybees

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Syrphid flies

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Tachinid flies

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Ladybugs

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Ground beetles

One method of protecting your vertical garden from the unwanted pests is to grow certain plants that repel them or that attract predator insects that eat them. Below are some of the plants that are known to do just that:

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California poppy

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Broccoli flowers

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Dill flowers

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Parsley flowers

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Capsicum

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Oregano

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Marigolds

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Lemon balm

You should learn about companion plants for each of the plants that you are trying to grow. This will help to ensure that enemy bugs don’t come and eat them up.

Also, make sure to keep your garden free from litter, so that it doesn’t act as a breeding ground for unwanted insects. Weeding the grass that is around your vertical gardens will help to keep pests at bay since they like to breed and dwell in weeds.

Non-Chemical Pest Control

If you’re looking for an eco-friendly way to get rid of the pests in your garden, you can use other living organisms to do the work for you. You can purchase toads, lady bugs, snakes and other sorts of predators that are known to eat the pests that you have.

There are consumer products that you can buy that are made with all non-harmful organic materials. These are made into sprays that are easy to apply. A lot of the ingredients used are soap, vinegar and certain types of herbs that are known to kill or repel certain pests.

Some people have even made their own concoctions using dish detergent and water or with a mixture of other herbs like onions and hot peppers. There are thousands of natural insect and pest repellants you can use to protect your garden!

Chemical Pest Control

This isn’t a recommended option, but it is an option if nothing else works. Chemical pesticides work by poisoning the pests that are disrupting your garden. It can also be harmful to your plants and your health, which is why it’s a good idea to try and keep your vertical gardens as organic as possible. Chemical pest control is known to negatively affect the ecosystem, so it should be used sparingly.

Common Pests in Gardens

You may find some of these pests in your vertical garden. Here is a list of them and how they can be ridded of:

Cats

If you or your neighbor has cats that like to come and play in your garden, you may notice that they have a negative effect on your plants. The best way to get rid of them is to protect your growing areas with strong nets.

You can also grow plants that have a strong smell that keeps them away. There are also devices with high-pitched sounds that only cats can hear that you can purchase. If you ever catch them in your garden, you can also spray them with water or chase them away. It wouldn’t hurt to buy a pet dog either. Personally, I love cats and enjoy them playing in my garden (as long as they don’t hurt my tomato plants!) but some cats may damage your plants so just be aware.

Birds

Birds love to eat seeds, fruits and flowers. Scarecrows can be used and other humane traps. Bird netting is another great option. Or you could bring back the cats!

Aphids

You may notice your vegetable garden getting attacked by an unseen pest, which are likely aphids. They mainly come when your garden has a dry spell, so make sure to keep your garden well-watered. I’ve found that the tea tree solution spray I shared with you earlier works exceptionally well to ward off aphids.

Caterpillars

These greedy little pests can quickly eat up your garden if you don’t keep an eye out. You can try spraying vinegar on the leaves of the plants to kill them or you can remove them by hand one-by-one.

Hopefully, you will be able to keep your vertical garden pest free. A lot of people find fighting certain pests easier because the garden is off the ground. You can also recognize when there is a pest a lot quicker, since you don’t have to kneel down to see any damage done.

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Keeping your vertical garden well-watered is important for it to thrive. Watering your plants can be done in a variety of ways, manually or automatically. The great thing about vertical gardens is that you can use irrigation systems.

The beauty of it all is that vertical gardens allow you to conserve water, saving you money and placing less demand on the environment. However, it’s important that you regularly water your garden because the roots of your plants need to stay moisturized. Make sure to keep in mind the amount of water each plant requires – and remember that as plants grow, they will consume water much faster to feed their growing leaves.

Vertical Garden Irrigation Systems

This is the best type of watering system to use for your garden because it uses the vertical build of your garden to an advantage. There are a couple of different irrigation systems that you can use. The one you choose will be based on the type of structures you have in your garden and your own personal preferences.

Irrigation Systems with Gravity Fed Drips

This type of irrigation system is very common in vertical gardens. This system is placed at the top of your vertical garden and the water is released with the help of gravity. The water first reaches the top layer of plants and then drizzles on down to the other rows beneath it until all plants have been watered. Then at the very bottom of the vertical garden, there is a collection tray that collects the water drainage from the plants. A pump can be used to recycle this water right back into your garden.

Comprehensive Drip Irrigation Systems

These systems are best used for vertical gardens that require a lot of water. Like its name suggests, it is more comprehensive than the gravity fed irrigation systems. With this type of system, you can have a drip line installed on each row of your vertical garden, so that you can ensure that your plants get all the water they need. Just like with the gravity fed systems, there is a water collection tray at the bottom for water, which can then be recycled.

Using a Pipe Network

Then there are other gardeners that decide to use a network of perforated plastic pipes that run throughout their garden. The water is sprayed onto the plants at time intervals specified on the timer that it is controlled by. This is a good option for people, who are traveling away from home, are very busy or who commonly forget to water their gardens.

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If you’ve never heard of aeroponics as a form of gardening, then you’re definitely missing out. This is an awesome way to grow your gardens vertically. There are so many great advantages of growing an aeroponic vertical garden, making it almost nonsensical not to do it. Aeroponics is having a big impact on the vertical gardening community.

So what’s so great about vertical gardening with aeroponics? This form of gardening uses absolutely no soil and only about 10% of the water and land compared to traditional gardens. All the water in the system is recycled so there’s no runoff which is why you can grow plants with much less water than traditional gardening.

With aeroponics the plants also grow much faster as well (NASA quoted that aeroponic gardens grow at least twice as fast as soil gardens).