If you’re thinking about doing something with that bare wall in your patio, why not grow a beautiful vertical garden? Vertical gardens, also called living walls or green walls, are gaining a lot in popularity not only because of their beauty, but also how they conserve water and regulate temperature. If you’d like to grow a living wall by yourself, the easiest way is with a kit from a reliable living wall design firm, like elmich.com or eltlivingwalls.com.
Planting is easy. Once the plants root, you simply mount the unit vertically and start enjoying your living green wall!
Supplies you’ll need:
- Vertical Modules or a similar module system kit
- Growing medium like peat moss or potting mix
- Metal support frames
- Galvanized bolts
- A gardening knife
- Plants that work well in a living wall
Building the wall
- Mix your growing medium in potting mix in a tub. Line the vertical modules with geotextile fabric.
- Fill the geotextile bag with your growing mixture and cover with a piece of the fabric.
- Put the lid on the greening module, keeping the module on its side and cut an X into the fabric.
- Insert a variety of plants, including lettuce, basil or other shallow rooted plants, veggies or herbs, placing a plant in each section.
- Keep the module facing up for at least two weeks and water it well. This will allow your plants to take root.
- Secure the module to a wall with either galvanized bolts, or preferably a vertical garden support structure made from steel. There are other support frames made from wood and plastic as well.
Want to learn more about Vertical Gardens?
Here are some great links to other articles and resources on living walls.
How to Plant a Vertical Garden
39 Insanely Cool Vertical Gardens
The Dry Garden: A skeptic’s view of vertical gardens
diy project: recycled pallet vertical garden
