Vertical gardens

[imafan26]

Has anyone tried to build a bottle, pallet, tower or other vertical garden?

What are the pros and cons?

[NJ Bob]

I have considered a vertical pallet. It seems as if watering it might be an issue.

[applestar]

Vertical/wall garden is one of my back burner projects. So I haven't built one yet, but I spend some time thinking about how I would like to build one every year,

How to support and hold in the growing medium would be one consideration, of course. Something that is moisture retentive. I think I'm going to use a roll of coir liner sheet some how -- I want to grow edibles so I don't want to use synthetic materials like landscape fabric. I've considered a simple twin wall wire fencing/CRW/cattle panel separated (at least 6" apart) by cedar/redwood etc. dimensional lumber and end posts. I don't know how long a wooden pallet would last... I don't want it to be crumbling after one season UNLESS it's a simple construction.

The necessary constant moisture levels means you need to consider what it is going to stand against -- if wall or fence, will it resist water damage, what kind of vapor barrier is needed to protect? If air circulation is needed between the vertical garden and the supporting structure, how to create the separation while providing sufficient support? Can it be free-standing despite own weight and wind pressure?

Choice of plant matter -- upper levels will be most drying and sunniest while the lower-most levels will remain wettest and be most shaded by the upper foliage. Suitable theme for the garden with the constrained plant choices?

To support and maintain moisture levels for the upper-most plants, no matter how drought resistant, some kind of regular watering is needed. At minimum daily manual watering, but probably automated drip type would be better. I was considering a perforated gutter or pipe/hose (not soaker) along the top and a catch tray gutter at the bottom with a reservoir and a pump for circulation. (Actually my GRAND plan is to tie it into a system with a rain barrel or pond....)

...I've also looked at hydro and aquaponic vertical garden designs using series of connected gutters, pipes as well as vertical hanging pipes/posts with filter media.

[rainbowgardener]

Did you two see this post? viewtopic.php?f=42&t=63480

Vertical hydroponics with circulation from bottom to top, plants in pots, but in the pots are clay pebbles.

[imafan26]

I did not see that post, but I am not set up for hydro.
I have seen aeroponic towers and they work well, but they are also hydro and require to much monitoring.

I have been looking at vertical tower gardens and the 55 gallon drum vertical garden as something I might be able to do.

I have seen demonstration gutter, pallet and hanging bag gardens on a fence. The pallet was lined in the back with weedcloth stapled to it to keep the soil from falling out. Pallets with wide slats were better than ones with narrow slats.
It was filled with mostly compost and peat moss and only a little perlite. Small plants did o.k. but all of these had to have drip irrigation because the limited soil volume meant that they dried out very quickly. Maybe a heavier soil would be be able to hold on to water longer.

[meshmouse]

I built one last year out of a pallet, plastic landscape cloth and a staple gun. It took a lot longer to do than I thought it would, probably 4 -5 hrs.

It worked out pretty well for herbs. Mint, thyme, oregano, marjoram, parsley and basil, if I remember. I only had to water it when I needed to water the garden that it was near to (almost entirely cherry tomatos), about every other day in the peak heat of summer.

I created a pouch for each opening between the slats. Cut an appropriate length of landscape cloth, staple to the top inside back, drap the sling/pouch and staple to the front bottom. Do that for each opening between slats. I think there were five openings altogether.

Then I did a horizontal wrap around with landscape cloth, cut slits where the pouches were. Filled with a topsoil/peat mix, stuck in the plants. I fed it some ACTea two or three times during the season.

It worked out well. Things grew quite nicely. I think the horizontal wrapping gave it a nice finished look and I think helped to retain moisture.

A friend has it now, but if necessary, I could probably get some pics.

applestar - I'm not a big fan of the plastic landscaping cloth either. Even the ten or twenty year rated stuff doesn't last much more than a season or two at best. Strong, stubborn weeds will grow thru it as well. I never even thought that it might be less than healthy for edibles. That's the final nail in it's coffin for me.

I would agree that wide openings between slats are better than narrow. A decent to high quality pallet should last many years, particularly if not left out in place over winter. Appliance stores usually have good ones.

I would think that some kind of wire shelving unit with potted plants would be as productive, if not more so in pretty much the same footprint.

meshmouse