Tammy knows what’s up with vertical gardening and shows us how to maximise green space. Subscribe 🔔 ab.co/GA-subscribe
Vertical gardens can transform wall or maximise a small space in your garden. They needn’t be massive with complex watering systems or an eye watering cost. If you keep things simple, they're easy to make yourself at home. Tammy’s here to show you how!
Choose a sturdy frame:
Wire mesh is a great option or go with a classic wooden lattice. Whatever you choose, make sure it’s sturdy as watered pot plants get quite heavy. Another option is to create one with timber pallets. The shelves have fabulous planting pockets, but it can be hard to know if the timber has been treated. It's wise to avoid pallets for gardens that include edible foods.
Choose your pots:
Many pre-made vertical systems have tiny pots, which is fine for small plants but can limit your options or stunt their growth. The solution is to try a variety of pot shapes and sizes. A mix of plastic troughs and leftover pots will be lightweight and may make use of what you already have laying around. They’ll need to be reasonably small to keep the focus on the plants. Flat backed wire baskets lined with coconut fibre will also be lightweight and easy to hang.
Choose your plants:
The best vertical gardens are lush with creative combinations of colours, textures and forms. But too much variety can look messy and increase maintenance. To keep things simple, choose a theme: Sunny herb garden? Shady tropical? This might be influenced by where its positioned and the exposure to light, warmth, and wind.
Next, choose 3-5 core plants with different textures and habits that can handle living in small pots. A good combination is one strappy-leaved plant, one trailing plant, and one with bushy leaves. Once you have these in place you can add others to fill the gaps. See the grid below* for examples for a sunny or shady position.
Setting up:
To extend a wooden trellis, you can use garden wire to secure two frames together. Make sure it’s sturdy before setting out your design. Think of your frame as a grid and play around with pot placement before planting. Strategic placement can be the difference between a nice background greenery and an eye-catching feature wall. Try creating straight or diagonal lines of the same plants or grouping them to highlight and contrast blocks of colour or texture. Pots that are directly on top of each other may block sunlight or airflow, so stagger them for best results. Always use premium potting mix that is suited to your plants and remember that they will grow at different rates so don’t expect it to fill out straight away. It’s a good idea to trim back the faster growers to stop them hindering the slower ones. Remember to observe and tweak your creation along the way - the only way is up!
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1 сен 2023
