vertical gardening | Easy Vertical Gardening

Not everyone has a large backyard. However, backyard gardens can provide many benefits, including organic food production, a beautiful landscape, an ongoing fresh herb supply and an opportunity to partake in an interesting and fun hobby.

There is no reason why you have to stop your gardening projects if you are simply limited by square footage. There are plenty of people living in urban homes that have small yards or apartments with only concrete balconies that have figured out how to develop beautiful thriving gardens despite their limitations.

The solution is to grow up. Use existing walls and fences to your advantage and plant vertical gardens without taking up a lot of space. In some situations, plants may actually be able to grow better in a vertical structure if it gives them access to more sunlight or provides them more growing space than a traditional garden growing horizontally from the earth or from a raised bed.

For beginners, starting a garden from scratch can definitely be intimidating, especially one that’s vertical. The key is to begin with a plan and then create your garden piece by piece. Lightweight woolly pockets are great for this, because you can purchase a few segments at a time and continue to add on over time – until you have an entire wall of foliage if you want.

You don’t have to build everything at once. Not only can this get expensive, but it can also turn into an overwhelming project.

Start with your goal in mind. Do you want to plant a vegetable garden, fruit trees, colorful flowers or simply greenery to disguise an ugly fence in your yard or wall along your patio?

Next, get a general idea of which plants will grow well in your space. You will need to consider light, temperature and climate. The National Gardening Association has a Hardiness Zone Finder map on their site that you can use for free.

Another thing to think about is maintenance. If you want low maintenance landscaping that requires minimal watering or less frequent pruning or leaf clean-up, it’s important to figure this out before you undertake your project.

After that, design a basic layout. Figure out what will go where, so your garden does not end up overtaking your entire space. For example, will you want plants located higher so that you can easily view them through a window? Do you want to include a sound-enhancing water feature or a decorative rain barrel that can become a centerpiece for your garden?

It can often be helpful to look at pictures of vertical gardens that other people have created and vertical garden kits to see what fits into your budget. Better Homes and Gardens has a free Plan-a-Garden tool online.

Succulents can be great plants for vertical planters because they are lightweight, don’t require lots of soil (more weight) or lots of water (even more weight). Many varieties can do well indoors or outdoors, assuming that they receive enough sunlight. This makes them versatile, easy to care for and definitely low maintenance.

An interesting planter idea that I recently came across is using a shutter. As you can see below, succulents do not have to fill the entire structure to create a unique, interesting and professional-looking piece of outdoor decor.

In this case, less is more. You can enjoy both the succulents and the shutter without having to spend a ton of money on plants. In fact, you can take this same “minimalist” strategy and use it with a pallet garden as well. It doesn’t matter if the structure itself is finished or unfinished.

Check out this picture of a vertical succulent garden using a salvaged shutter, as pictured on the Sunset Magazine website.

This example shows an outdoor garden, but this same idea can be used indoors. The shutters – or whatever door panel you decide to use – can simply lean up against a wall.

This makes it easy to set up, and to move if necessary. It also allows space behind the shutter for planting space.

In this example, weed cloth pockets were stapled behind each slat where succulents were to be planted. You can even buy vertical garden pocket kits for this that allow plants to stay hydrated and breath at the same time. However, the soil container can be any container you choose. Since the container itself will be hidden behind the door panel or shutter, it really does not matter what it looks like.

So what if you don’t have a pair of cool salvaged shutters laying around the house? You can purchase a pair of unfinished shutters at a home improvement store like Home Depot for about $60 that are taller than 4 feet. You can then paint them whatever color you choose, and if you like the weathered look – simply take a sander to them after the paint has dried.

Alternatively, you can get pre-painted shutter through Amazon (go figure) at about the equivalent size – but for less money (about $50 on sale). They come in a variety of colors, are fade resistant and maintenance-free.

As you might imagine, you can “build” a very cool, large vertical garden in an afternoon without a lot of skills or tools. When you’re done, you might have friends asking where you bought this unique work of art.

How to Start a Garden in a Small Backyard

Vertical Succulent Garden – Using a Shutter