Building a Living Wall Garden – the Easy, Low-Cost Way

How to Make Easy Vertical Gardens with Green Wall Pocket PlantersNote: Living walls can be a fun, unexpected way to add greenery to your home. However, this gardening project can become challenging, time consuming and expensive.

That’s why I like pocket planters. They are easy to install, and you can hang them in minutes. Plus, they don’t cost a lot of money.

In addition, they provide a healthy environment for plants with their breathable fabric. The material also helps retain moisture, so roots don’t dry out.

These planters don’t require lots of maintenance, and plants can grow to cover the pockets, making the planter virtually invisible!

Note: The Pamela Crawford Living Wall Planter below is no longer available.

If you’ve ever seen a living wall, it is a stunning sight. It is alive, it moves and it becomes its own one-of-a-kind work of art. Some living walls are so massive that it seems like it would be impossible to build one yourself.

living wall sectionHowever, there is an easy way to do it.

Piece by Piece

I learned this only after trying to construct my own massive planter and then try to move it. It’s much easier to work with smaller planters and simply attach them together. Once the plants have grown to cover the planting container, no one will know the difference anyway.

It Also Helps Break Down the Cost

Another advantage to working in segments is that you don’t necessarily have to buy all of your materials at once. If you are creating a large wall, this can get expensive. There is no reason why you have to build everything at once, especially if you are working with smaller square or rectangular containers.

Features to Look for

  1. If you plan on stacking planters above and below each other, you’ll want to get containers that let the water drain from the upper plants to the lower plants and out through the base of the planter into the container underneath.
  2. If you plan to use several planters, check their weight. You don’t want your living wall to be heavier than the attached structure can handle. Lighter is better, since you’ll also need to factor in soil, plant and water weight.
  3. If your planter does not include a waterproof backing, place a plastic or waterproof liner between the garden container and the supporting structure.
  4. For larger gardens that may drain lots of water or if you want to control drainage, pick up a basic rain gutter at your local home improvement store. These work perfectly for catching excess water, and if necessary you can paint them to match the surrounding area.

Easy Living Wall Kit

Pamela Crawford’s Living Wall Planter

This lightweight garden structure (about 2.5 pounds) has a metal frame with a fibrous liner that keeps plants in place. There are 9 slots in the front in insert plants plus 6 additional side slots if you choose to use them.

Once in place, foliage can quickly grow to cover the entire structure, making it virtually invisible. Using multiple planters placed in rows and columns, you can easily create a vertical living wall – piece by piece.

About $45