Introduction to Vertical Gardens Part I
Pressure on urban space has led to the creation of a new kind of garden - the vertical garden.
It's the ideal way to make the most of the urban environment - and it's just as effective at home in your back yard - or in your house.
The sense of quiet and calm that they create, while cleansing the air around you, is a wonderful asset to your home.
How does a vertical garden work? It takes a little time and thought to create one, but the results can be amazing.
Plants in vertical gardens can be planted in small pockets of soil or an inorganic growing medium, or can be purely hydroponic, depending on the design.
Gardens that use a soil are easy to replant, but can be messy.
Using fabric matting such as felt or hessian as a growing medium is popular - the plants root themselves in the fabric.
Vertical gardens (VG) drip feed plants, using an irrigation system that draws water up through a pump and then lets it trickle down through the garden.
Ideally, any surplus water should be retained and directed back up through the pump to re-flow down through the garden.
VGs are very water-efficient, needing about a third of the amount of water needed for a traditional garden.
Fertilizers and plant foods can be added to the water whenever the plants need a boost.
Where can I put a VG? It can go almost anywhere where you can construct a strong frame to hold it up.
The frame can be free-standing or it can be fixed to a wall or fence - one that is strong enough to hold the whole structure.
You can make your own frame, or buy a pre-made one - there are a number of companies that offer modular systems that are very easy to use.
For the more ambitious, a vertical garden on the side of a building is a wonderful way to lower energy consumption, providing natural cooling against the heat and insulation against the cold.
Or, if you love having plants all around you, you could even construct a VG indoors against a wall, or as a screen to divide a room into two sections.
Offices are ideal settings for VGs - the more plants in offices the better, as they help to clean pollutants from the air and offices tend to be full of the types of furnishings and fabrics that release these pollutants.
What can I plant in a VG? For simplicity, it's best to use smaller plants.
Bearing that in mind you can use almost anything, including flowers, succulents, ferns, herbs and even vegetables.
Think about texture and colour and how your plants will look next to one another, and how they will grow to fill the space - bearing in mind the laws of gravity! But what could be better than a miniature Hanging Gardens of Babylon in your own back yard? Coming next week - How to Build your own Vertical Garden!
It's the ideal way to make the most of the urban environment - and it's just as effective at home in your back yard - or in your house.
The sense of quiet and calm that they create, while cleansing the air around you, is a wonderful asset to your home.
How does a vertical garden work? It takes a little time and thought to create one, but the results can be amazing.
Plants in vertical gardens can be planted in small pockets of soil or an inorganic growing medium, or can be purely hydroponic, depending on the design.
Gardens that use a soil are easy to replant, but can be messy.
Using fabric matting such as felt or hessian as a growing medium is popular - the plants root themselves in the fabric.
Vertical gardens (VG) drip feed plants, using an irrigation system that draws water up through a pump and then lets it trickle down through the garden.
Ideally, any surplus water should be retained and directed back up through the pump to re-flow down through the garden.
VGs are very water-efficient, needing about a third of the amount of water needed for a traditional garden.
Fertilizers and plant foods can be added to the water whenever the plants need a boost.
Where can I put a VG? It can go almost anywhere where you can construct a strong frame to hold it up.
The frame can be free-standing or it can be fixed to a wall or fence - one that is strong enough to hold the whole structure.
You can make your own frame, or buy a pre-made one - there are a number of companies that offer modular systems that are very easy to use.
For the more ambitious, a vertical garden on the side of a building is a wonderful way to lower energy consumption, providing natural cooling against the heat and insulation against the cold.
Or, if you love having plants all around you, you could even construct a VG indoors against a wall, or as a screen to divide a room into two sections.
Offices are ideal settings for VGs - the more plants in offices the better, as they help to clean pollutants from the air and offices tend to be full of the types of furnishings and fabrics that release these pollutants.
What can I plant in a VG? For simplicity, it's best to use smaller plants.
Bearing that in mind you can use almost anything, including flowers, succulents, ferns, herbs and even vegetables.
Think about texture and colour and how your plants will look next to one another, and how they will grow to fill the space - bearing in mind the laws of gravity! But what could be better than a miniature Hanging Gardens of Babylon in your own back yard? Coming next week - How to Build your own Vertical Garden!
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