How to Start a Vertical Garden at Home
Vertical gardens have been around for thousands of years, adding a colourful touch of nature to homes and buildings from as early as 3000 BCE in the Mediterranean. For the practice to have lasted so long, there must be something truly special about vertical gardens.
These garden types offer an excellent way to liven up a boring wall so you can enjoy a splash of nature if you don’t have the space for a larger garden.
Even if you do have more space in your yard, vertical gardens can be a stylish way to grow vegetables and herbs. Designed right, a vertical garden wall can also be a stunning addition to your garden.
What Is a Vertical Garden?
A vertical garden is exactly what it sounds like – a garden that grows upwards rather than horizontally. Vertical gardens may involve fixtures and pots along a wall or climbing vines. Anything goes, so long as your garden is moving upwards.
Park Road Timber and Hardware has everything you need to get started with your own vertical garden. If you’re not sure where to begin, why not visit our store and chat to our friendly staff? When it comes to gardening, we are the local experts, always ready to lend a hand. Otherwise, just follow this guide to get a better idea of how to create your own vertical garden!
What Plants to Consider
Choosing the right plants for your vertical garden will involve some research and thought. What do you want to get out of your garden? Is it purely for aesthetics, or are you looking to grow some herbs and vegetables?
If you are just getting started with your first wall garden, it may be best to go with hardy plants such as cacti. A vertical herb garden is also an excellent choice for beginners, as herbs are fairly simple to grow and have a practical use beyond their appearance.
If you have ever grown tomatoes or runner beans, you will likely have some experience using a trellis to support your plants. Guiding these plants up the trellis is a form of vertical gardening. Should you be comfortable with some more complex options for your vertical garden, self-clinging evergreens or plants that can be trained to act as climbers make solid choices. Similarly, climbers such as ivy, clematis, and honeysuckle make excellent choices for vertical gardens.
One of the most important elements of choosing your plants is to make sure they are flexible, being able to grow in your intended shape. If you choose woody plants, you may have a hard time training them to grow vertically, although this is less of a concern if your vertical garden uses pots or growers. If you are training or planting upwards, you are better off choosing something more flexible, such as herbaceous plants.
Even more so than with a traditional garden, design is key when it comes to a successful vertical garden. It can help to think of a vertical garden as a sort of installation that will benefit from a unified design. A major element of this is ensuring that you do not choose aggressive plants if you also have plants that grow slowly. Aggressively growing plants will likely dominate the garden, leaving others without soil space, light and water.
There are a lot of things to consider when starting your vertical garden. If you aren’t sure of anything or need some advice, the team at Park Road Timber and Hardware is ready to give you a hand.
How to Maintain Your Vertical Garden
How you should maintain your vertical garden will depend greatly on how you have set it up. Usually, your primary concerns will be whether the plants are getting enough sunlight and water. Many gardeners will implement a drip system to ensure that the plants are regularly watered, or they may use piping and pierce thin holes in it, then snake this amongst the plants. If your vertical garden is quite high, you will likely need to purchase a ladder to take care of the plants properly.
It is important to remember that not all plants will thrive in a vertical garden. This is true for all types of gardening. With vertical gardens, however, it is more important to keep extra plants growing so that you can place them in your garden, as gaps can be more obvious than in a traditional setup. If that sounds like too much work, opting for pots and containers may be the better option.
Are you ready to make your own vertical garden? Whether you are looking to create a greenwall, outer planter wall or anything else, the experts at Park Road Timber and Hardware have everything you need to get started. Come visit us at our Cheltenham store, or give us a call on 03 9909 5397. Alternatively, you can complete our online form to hear back from us soon.
