Learning how to make a vertical garden at home is essential for those who don’t have a large piece of open land for gardening. If someone is living in an urban area in a small space then vertical gardening is the best way for enjoying the gardening life.
In urban or semi-urban areas the increasing population daily results in a lack of vegetation. Which directly affects the quality of life for human beings. Gardening is the best hobby that helps to improve your home’s landscape and aesthetic. Also has a significant impact on reducing environmental pollution and improving human health by increasing the vegetation surface.
Vertical gardening is recommended for places where the horizontal garden space is limited or if you want to add some modern and attractive beauty to your area. You can make your vertical garden both indoors and outdoors or the exterior of your building as well. Constructing vertical gardens in the walls of buildings helps to absorb the excess heat and toxic gases in the air which helps to lower both indoor and outdoor temperatures and improve the air quality.
Table of Contents
How to make a vertical garden?
1. Choose a good spot for your garden
During site selection for your vertical garden, one thing you must consider is that the area of your garden must receive plenty of sunlight for better growth of the crops. Sunlight requirement also depends on the crops which you want to grow in your vertical garden. Most of the vegetables and fruit plants required at least 6 hours of daily sunlight. But if you are going to grow indoor plants then you can choose the plants which can thrive in limited lightening.
2. Equipment required for vertical gardening
For vertical gardening, you may have to purchase some gardening equipment if it’s not available in your home. First of all, you need a structure that you can use for your vertical garden. You can go for any wood and metal structure of your choice. A wooden structure is mostly easy to work material but metal can provide you better durability. But if you don’t want to spend money on buying a structure then you can build your customized structure of ideal dimension according to your area. In the market there a complete vertical gardening kit is available which makes your work easier. But it’s completely on you if you can manage everything using the materials already available to you in your home then there is no need to spend the money.
3. Install a proper irrigation system
Gardening vertically required adequate water for better and healthy growth of plants. That’s why you need to install a proper irrigation system for better results. There are different irrigation systems that you can choose for your vertical garden. One is drip irrigation which delivers water directly to the roots of plants. Also, you can use a soaker hose which delivers water directly onto the soil. Before starting planting irrigation system installation is essential.
4. Use quality soil for planting
The soil must be rich in nutrients and well drained for a better result in crop production vertically. The drainage holes must be working properly and frequent watering is required for maintaining the soil moisture. Over time there maybe you need to replace the soil for better plant growth.
5. Use proper fertilizers
Fertilizing the soil and plant foliage is required for better results in vertical gardening. You can use either liquid or granular forms of fertilizer with the proper doses as per the recommendation.
How to maintain a vertical garden?
- First of all, make sure that plants are getting proper exposure to sunlight as per their requirement.
- Time to time watering is essential to maintain plant growth.
- Apply fertilizers timely for better results.
- If the plants get affected by disease or pests then treat the plants as per the recommendation.
- Always keep the structure clean and if any signs of damage are there repair it quickly.
- Prune the vertical garden plants when required.
Which plants can be grown in a vertical garden?
The climatic condition of an area is the most important factor which you have to consider during choosing the plants for your vertical garden. The plants must be lightweight and having a spreading type root system is ideal for growing easily in a vertical garden. The best plants are low-growing, dense, compact, and easy to maintain as well. Also, you have to make sure that the plants are suitable for the aspect of the selected wall. For a wall where high instance sunlight is available for a long period of a day, fairly drought-tolerant plants may be the better choice for that condition but for a shady location shade lover plants will be ideal. Another important factor is that the bottom of a vertical unit will hold more moisture than the top portion, so during planting consider what to plant where.
Flower plants: If you want to enjoy the beauty with fragrance then you can choose flowering plants that will be ideal for your region. Examples- English ivy, Morning glories, Wisteria, etc.
Vegetable plants: Different types of vegetables and legumes can be grown in the vertical garden. And also many legumes produce pretty flowers during the spring season. Examples- peas, beans, tomatoes, cucumbers, varieties of squash, etc.
Fruit plants: Espaliered fruits and using special layering techniques different fruit plants can be grown in a vertical garden. Examples- grapes, strawberries, apples, pears, kiwis, etc.
Benefits of vertical gardening
- A vertical garden can be set up in a small space of a building or area.
- Decrease CO2 levels, increase the oxygen level in the air, and improve air quality.
- Absorb heat in both indoor and outdoor conditions and reduce the temperature.
- Absorb the sound and noise which helps to reduce sound pollution.
- Vertical gardening aesthetically affects the quality of life.
- A vertical garden can be used for decoration purposes to enhance the look of walls or rooftops.
- It helps to provide healthy food over the year with little effort.
FAQs
What vegetables grow well in a vertical garden?
The most popular vegetables to grow in a vertical garden are peas, beans, tomatoes, squash, cucumber, etc. And if we talk about leafy greens then lettuce, spinach, kale, etc will be good choices.
Is a vertical garden hard to maintain?
The maintenance of a vertical garden is quite easier than that of a regular horizontal garden. In this case disease and pest attack is very rare and easy to control. But a vertical garden is required to be fertilized more frequently than a regular surface garden. Overall a vertical garden required less physical work for maintenance.
How often should you water a vertical garden?
It depends on the plants and the growing condition of the garden. Watering twice a week is recommended normally. For outdoor conditions, you have to consider the rain.
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