Vertical Gardening, a rapidly growing trend.
It seems everywhere we look now there are more vertical gardens popping up. And is it any wonder. With domestic home blocks getting smaller, water becoming scarcer and the cost of food soaring, families are looking for easy ways to grow at least some of their food.
What is vertical gardening?
It can be considered any form of gardening technique that allows a plant to extend upwards on a wall or frame instead of growing along the ground. Some would call a wall covered in vines a vertical garden, even a cucumber plant growing on a trellis is a vertical garden by definition. But the term usually applies to mounted pots, baskets or bags that allow multiple plants to be grown along a vertical surface.
Some people even use recycled plastic drink bottles for this purpose, although this isn’t recommended if you going to be growing edible plants.The sun can cause chemicals from the plastic to leach into the soil in the container and will contaminate your plant with unpleasant extra’s! Great if your vertical wall is ornamental…
Patrick Blanc is a French botanist who is touted to be the creator of the vertical garden. Since the 1960’s he has dedicated his life to creating amazing vertical garden designs around the world. His most current one Central Park, is a 545 foot cascade down the facade of the apartment building due to be completed in Sydney late 2013.
If you are interested in creating a vertical garden, they are easy to build, (or buy these days), easy to establish and look after and fit most spaces. If you are in an apartment or have limited space you can still have the pleasure of growing and enjoying your own produce.
The beauty of a vertical garden is its flexibility and mobility.
As long as they aren’t permanently mounted onto a wall or built into it, you can move them to work with your climate. If this sounds too hard you could consider having different vertical gardens in different areas around your home.
From the back veranda, to the kitchen window and even in the lounge, why not consider adding an indoor vertical garden!
You can enjoy veggies all year round by working with the micro-climates created in different spaces. What if you could accommodate some Mediterranean herbs in a little corner of your home that gets lots of hot sun?
Imagine picking fresh Thyme, Oregano and Rosemary whenever you wanted from your vertical herb garden.
Is there a spot that is sheltered, shaded and away from the wind? By utilizing this space, you can have an ongoing supply of salad greens without ever having the leave your home to get them.
When it comes to a vertical gardening, your imagination is the only limitation.
If you want to make life simple you can buy easy assemble kits, ranging from $15 to several thousands. Some even come with self watering systems, great if you’re one of those folk that claim to kill every plant that comes into their care!
All you need to do is remember to harvest!
You can even hire them as we found on a recent trip to the little veggie patch community gardens in Melbourne.
But if you like to learn how to make one yourself, there are any number of vertical garden kit ideas available like this one, super simple and actually really fun to build.
Whichever system you choose to create they are all designed to make vertical gardening fun and rewarding.
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