Vertical Gardening

Small living spaces do not eliminate your gardening options, they simply mean looking at what you have in a new way. Rather than tolerating a lack of space, you can look at it as a challenge to grow vertically!

Balconied apartments, duplexed mini yards, townhouses, and small properties are often seen as too small to garden, but this is simply untrue. All you have to do is look at the dandelions and other weeds pushing their way through concrete in a dank alley to see that plants can and will grow pretty much anywhere that isn’t completely dark or in the Arctic Circle.

What is a vertical garden?

A vertical garden may be nothing more complicated than strings attached to the top of a fence and anchored in the ground near climbing plants, such as peas and pole beans. It may be a collection of stacked cinderblocks, or large coffee cans screwed to a fence. It may be a cylinder of chicken wire placed on top of a half barrel or a planter, and filled with potting soil.

​A vertical garden may be an elaborate pyramid, hanging, or other store-bought vertical gardening method, or it can be something scrounged from your neighbor’s curb, or something repurposed from the garage or attic. Keep in mind, there are plenty of free options! The fundamental idea behind vertical gardening is that, rather than traditional, horizontal rows at ground level, a vertical garden makes use of several different methods to grow plants up.

Vertical garden boxes (dieneves) Pixabay

Growing up

Here are just a few fun and easy vertical container gardening ideas:

• grow strawberries and salad greens in sections of rain gutter attached to a fence, or hanging from a pergola or roof line
• grow herbs, nasturtiums, or cucumbers in growing bags, attached to a fence
• grow pole beans or peas on a balcony railing, up a fence, tree cage netting, or on a trellis
• planting towers can take a traditional planting container to new heights
• hanging baskets can be used to grow herbs and salad greens
• old shoe racks can be transformed into vertical gardens
• buckets and clay pots can be hung from trellises, walls, and fences
• progressively smaller pots can be stacked on top of each other
• stacking boxes, sealed cinderblocks, former nesting boxes, and dresser drawers can all be used as containers [cinder blocks need to be sealed to prevent salts from leaching into the soil.]
• vertical PVC pipes with openings cut along the length can be used for strawberries, herbs, and other plants
• the tops of some rain barrels provide growing space
• grapes, apples, kiwi and many other plants can be espaliered against a wall or fence

The point I’m trying to make here is that the only thing limiting your vertical garden is your imagination - and sunlight.

Light levels

Sunlight is often the most limiting factor when it comes to growing plants in tight spaces or indoors. This is not a time for guessing. You need to know how much sunlight actually reaches each area. For the uninitiated, sunlight exposure is defined as:

• full sun - 6 or more accumulated hours of direct sunlight each day
• partial sun - 3 to 6 hours of direct sunlight in the morning or early afternoon
• partial shade - 3 to 6 hours of direct sunlight, but not in the peak heat of afternoon
• dappled sun - sunlight that makes its way through the leaves of a tree
• full shade - less than 3 hours of direct sunlight each day

If you try growing sun-loving plants in an area with inadequate light levels, the plants will get long-stemmed (‘leggy’) and weak. This is called etiolation. Often, these plants will look pale or bleached, and they usually die. For each space that you have identified, take the time to note when it receives direct sunlight, and for how long. This information can make or break your vertical garden.

Plant selection

You need to select plants that are suited to the available sunlight. Plants such as tomatoes, peppers, and cucumbers need full sun, while root vegetables, such as carrots, beets, and potatoes, can perform beautifully in partial sun, partial shade, or dappled sun. Salad greens and other leafy vegetables can grow very nicely in full shade or dappled sun. Herbs need sunlight, but they are a pretty tolerant bunch. Once you have identified how much sunlight is available, and the types of plants you want to grow, then comes container selection!

Choosing your containers
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Different plants have different types of roots. If you want to grow plants with taproots, your containers will need to be deeper. Plants with fibrous root systems need more lateral space.

Espaliered grape with boxed carrot

Note: There are countless images of amazing and inspiring vertical gardens online. Keep in mind that many of the plants pictured are not actually growing. Very often, they are well hydrated, cut plants, put in place just for the photo shoot. Do not use these images to guide you in your plant selection. Most plants need more root room than many of those images imply. Find out about the normal root depth of the plants you want to grow.

Peas growing up tree cages are productive but a pain to clean up after

Manufactured planting containers are generally plastic or ceramic, with drainage holes and trays that are either attached or separate. Use these gardening container tips to help your plants stay healthy:

• All growing containers need drainage holes.
• Unglazed ceramic pots dry out faster than glazed ceramic, and both dry out faster than plastic containers.
• Dark containers can get too hot for many plants during the peak of summer.
• Always make sure there is air space underneath planting containers. You can do this by placing strips of wood, chop sticks, or rocks under the container. This helps prevent the plant from baking in summer, and it reduces water damage to the surface under the plant.
• When selecting containers, don’t feel that you must limit yourself to traditional planters. As long as a material is not toxic, it can probably be used as a planting container. In some cases, you may need to seal or line a questionable container with food grade plastic.
• Pallets are often treated with chemicals, so choose carefully. You can learn more here.

Peas growing up a cattle panel

Trellises and hammocks

A trellis can be a sheet of lattice, purchased from your local lumber yard, a section of wood-framed chicken wire, a teepee of bamboo rods, a stock panel, or any other framework that supports your plants as they grow upward. If you are growing crops that produce heavy fruit, you may need to provide a little extra support. Melons, pumpkins, and squash can be held in place with net or fabric hammocks, attached to the trellis or fence.

As you go about your normal day, keep an eye open for unique, useful items that are often kicked to the curb by your neighbors. That unwanted pet staircase can be repurposed into a beautiful, space-saving tiered herb garden!