Vertical Gardens: The Basics

If you spent time in gardens as a child, you might remember the enchantment of going inside a bean teepee or under an archway covered with grapes. If you did not spend time in gardens as a youngster, you might not remember this feeling. In most cases, the crops were trained to hang downward for simple harvesting, while the leaves and vines were trained to face directly into the sun.

The allure of vertical gardening extends far beyond an aesthetically beautiful design that provides a cool haven on a warm day. Not only does it make harvesting vegetables much simpler, but it also increases the amount of growing space available in gardens with limited soil. Vertical gardening offers a means to grow more with less space and is becoming increasingly popular as people become aware of the positive effects gardening can have on their physical and mental health.

The Basics

When it comes to adding height to a garden, a gardener has a wide variety of options at their disposal, including trellises, arches, pergolas, and towers, to name just a few. Vertical features can be used to help define discrete 'rooms' in any size yard, making them an excellent choice for maximizing space in small backyards or urban locations. You might use vertical gardening to cover up an ugly section in your yard, or you can do it just because you enjoy growing things on multiple levels.

Where do they work best?

Vertical gardens can be successfully maintained both indoors and outdoors in residential or commercial settings. Growing can take place on a variety of surfaces, including fences, retaining walls, and other structures that may already be in place in outdoor gardens. Support for indoor plant life can come in the form of walls, pillars, and railings.

Because of the drier air inside, gardens kept inside will typically require more frequent watering than those kept outside. When connecting vertical pieces and gardening plants to indoor walls, care, and attention are also required to ensure their secure placement.

Elements

Choose the component of your vertical garden based on the objectives you have for the space as well as the plants you intend to cultivate. In the event that flowers are your top priority, there is a diverse selection of solutions open to you. Check out the descriptions that are provided below, as well as this list of flowering vining plants that was compiled by the Royal Horticulture Society. Check out the recommendations that we have below if you are interested in edible plants.

1.     Trellises

The trellis is probably one of the most recognizable examples of a vertical element that can be found in a garden. Trellises are instantaneous ways to expand your garden to make room for trailing plants and those that are amenable to being trained. Trellises can be easily attached to the ground or to a raised garden bed.

The greatest trellises will not only offer sufficient support, but they will also be simple to set up. The greater the height of your trellis, the greater the amount of foundation support that will be required. Structures such as arches, tripods, obelisks, and flat grids are examples of common shapes.

Cattle fence panels can be wrapped into a U-shape and supported on two sides to create the simplest and most inexpensive trellis possible to build. This preparation method is ideal for cucumbers. Consider putting up the concrete mesh for long-lasting resilience to create a trellis that is stronger and taller (ideal for growing crops such as tall peas and beans).

Consider erecting a towering archway or pergola in the gap between two raised beds so as to increase the amount of growing space available and the amount of visual attractiveness. You can teach your plants to climb trellises by either tying the stems together as they grow or by using gardener's tape, scrap fabric, or old nylon stockings to secure them to the support. Keep in mind that the positioning of your trellises will determine whether or not they provide shade for your garden. The most straightforward approach to problem prevention is to deploy them along the northern perimeter.

2.     Hanging baskets

Smaller plants can be accommodated in the space provided by hanging planters, which can be hung from railings, ceilings, or walls. Think creatively about how you could use hanging baskets, even though they are typically displayed indoors with houseplants and outdoors with flowers.

They are equally effective for plants with shallow roots and for food purposes. A hanging planter that is brimming with strawberries or salad greens is not only stunning to look at but also delectable to eat. Tumblers, Basket Boys, and Window Box varieties are all types of tomatoes that were developed specifically to flourish in confined environments such as window boxes and tumblers.

Light

A vertical garden requires light whether it is placed indoors or outside. What you put into your garden is the primary factor in determining its size.  The only exceptions to this rule are salad greens and other leafy vegetables, both of which can survive in partial shade, especially in the afternoon when temperatures begin to rise.

Soil

Vertical gardens, in contrast to gardens grown in the ground, require soil that is light and absorbent. This type of soil will keep the plants from drying out and will also prevent soil compaction. This requires digging deeper than the topsoil. The best soil (or soilless) mixes will have peat or coir in them to aerate the medium, and they will have a light and airy texture overall.

However, if you're dealing with a large area, these can become fairly pricey for you to purchase. Inquire with the nursery near you about the availability of an inexpensive potting mix that has a high level of loft but a low level of added fertilizers. Your selected mixture should also include well-rotted compost and a complete organic fertilizer of your choosing.

Containers

Before you can choose a container for your vertical garden, you will first need to determine the requirements of the plants you intend to grow in it. When it comes to the ideal soil depth, different criteria apply to various edible plants. If you want your plants to survive, you should avoid using certain containers, despite the fact that the internet is full of adorable plantings that have been nestled into garden clogs.

Be sure that your container has enough depth to accommodate the veggies you have chosen and that it is sturdy enough to sustain the weight of being mounted or suspended. When left in the sun for just one season, low-quality plastic can degrade and become unusable due to the effects of weathering. You may keep the soil contained in frames like pallet gardens by lining them with felt. This will also lengthen the life of your garden.

Fertilizers

As was said before, the ideal way to encourage development and lighten the soil in your vertical plantings is to incorporate completed compost and complete organic fertilizer into the mix. The nutrients in organic fertilizer are released gradually throughout the course of the entire growing season. Because of this, you won't have to be concerned about regularly feeding your plants as they continue to develop. Composting worms are used in some vertical gardens in order to produce their own organic fertilizer, which is then used in these plants.