How to Create a Vertical Garden on Your Shed Wall
Vertical planting makes harvesting vegetables like cucumbers, beans and squash as well as herbs like basil and mint easier, while keeping plants free of disease and pests.
Vertical gardens can utilize any plants that thrive in containers, from vining vines and climbing crops like strawberries and muskmelons to those grown on trellises or upright structures such as squash.
Choosing Your Plants
Planting flowers on vertical spaces in your garden adds beauty, color and fragrance to the landscape, as well as making use of otherwise neglected walls and fences, providing screening and privacy benefits to outdoor living spaces.
Vertical gardens make an excellent place for ornamental and edible plants alike, from herbs like thyme and rosemary in wall-mounted pots, to trailing plants such as ivy or petunias that create cascading effects, many annuals and perennials thrive as vertical garden additions; vegetables such as radishes, sugar snap peas and mesclun salad mix often grow well in shallow containers.
Fruit trees add another productive component to a vertical garden. Apples, pears, cherries and berries can be planted fan-trained specimens that save space while providing an eye-catching focal point in the landscape. Most fan-trained fruits require southerly exposure while gooseberries can tolerate northern walls as well.
For easy vertical garden maintenance, choose drought-tolerant plants. This will enable you to water less often without risking soil saturation, while at the same time maintaining adequate sun or shade levels as different species require different amounts of light.
If you’re starting a vertical garden, it’s wise to include plants of various colors, shapes and textures. Doing this will allow you to select plants which best suit the needs of your space while giving your garden a balanced aesthetic. New gardeners may find it helpful to start small before gradually increasing the selection over time.
When creating a kitchen garden in your shed, opt for herbs and vegetables with rapid growth rates such as basil and oregano; vertical gardens benefit greatly from them as do chives and alpine strawberries. Guttering can even be turned into planters by drilling drainage holes at its base before attaching it to a wall for vertical gardens!
Choosing Your Containers
Vertical gardens are a fantastic way to grow herbs, veggies and flowers in limited space. Not only are they decorative additions for walls and fences outdoors; indoor use also makes these projects perfect for beginners as well as experienced gardeners! Plus they’re easy to construct! Perfect DIY garden projects!
An effective vertical garden starts with selecting suitable containers. A lightweight and durable planter with drainage holes must be chosen; large enough to house your chosen plants while providing enough root space. Herbs such as basil, thyme and rosemary work especially well; trailing or flowering plants add color and height as well as trailing plant stems. You can find similar containers in most home and gardening stores or you could create your own. You could repurpose an old mason jar as an herb garden container or use an over-the-door pocket organizer to hold Terra cotta pots!
Your desired results may require adding vines to your vertical garden as well. If so, select annual vines that don’t get too heavy – such as black-eyed Susan vine (Thunbergia alata), cardinal climber or cypress vine – or choose perennial ones like American bittersweet (Celastrus scandens) and clematis hybrids that can easily fit within vertical gardens.
Your vertical garden can gain even more character if you add a vegetable trellis for added visual interest and harvest of delicious beans, squash and cucumbers! Wood, bamboo or metal options exist that make this easy.
If you aren’t quite ready to commit to investing in a trellis, why not purchase a vertical garden kit from your local gardening store instead? These kits provide everything necessary for vertical growing – and are typically affordable! Follow all instructions carefully so that your vertical garden thrives; make sure soil moisture levels are properly monitored, and apply balanced slow-release fertilizers as required for maximum success.
Choosing Your Supports
Vertical gardening–characterized by trellises, green walls and fences covered in vines–is one of the hottest garden trends today. You can use vertical planting to add color and life to any room in the home, dress bare shed walls with style, create screening on patio or deck patios or add visual interest in vegetable gardens; its possibilities are limitless!
To keep your plants healthy, select those that thrive in vertical gardening. Fruiting vines such as kiwis (Actinidia deliciosa) and Siberian gooseberries (Actinidia arguta) along with vining nasturtiums tend to do very well; garden vegetables like beans, squash and peas also thrive when grown vertically – for an ornamental touch, decorative plants such as ferns and succulents may work nicely too!
Your planter size and location will dictate what types of plants can fit within it. Larger plants require more room while smaller varieties may fit more closely in tight spots. When selecting plants and containers for planting purposes, remember to consider soil moisture level and light needs as well as any possible maintenance requirements to help your new additions flourish.
Your planter could be permanent or you could repurpose an existing piece of furniture such as a table or bookcase. A vintage wooden ladder makes an excellent hanging planter for flowers and herbs as well as growing tomatoes, cucumbers and other veggies. Furthermore, chicken wire trellises provide strong yet affordable support for vines that climb on them.
Other garden structures, like obelisks and tuteurs, also work well for outdoor vertical gardening. You could build an invisible trellis using wood pallets; or for an easy yet delicious project try building a bean trellis!
If you’re creating a vertical garden on an exterior wall, speak to a contractor about its weight capacity. Plants and soil can become quite heavy as the plants expand; you don’t want your siding cracking or buckleing as their weight increases. Additional supports may need to be added if flowering or fruiting takes place.
Putting It All Together
Vertical gardens are an effective way to utilize otherwise underutilized space. From adding visual interest in indoor kitchens, to brightening bare outdoor walls and providing privacy screening around patios and balconies – vertical gardens make efficient use of space while meeting growing preferences and climate needs.
Start planning your vertical garden today by selecting which kinds of plants you would like to grow – herbs, trailing vines, and flowering plants are all fantastic choices! For even greater variety try mixing up colors and heights – or you could incorporate seating into the planter design so you can sit back and appreciate your view while relaxing and admiring its beauty!
Once you’ve selected your plants, it’s time to plant! Use potting soil to fill each planter before carefully transplanting your greenery into them. Be sure to water regularly during their first weeks to help them settle in. During wintertime, bring any portable planters inside or use frost covers to protect your greenery from harsh temperatures.
If you don’t have the time or space to create an elaborate vertical garden, there are still options available to you. A wall-mounted basket can make for ideal hanging herb planters; or drill holes into a colander and plant individual herbs into its pockets. Another popular solution is wood pallet shelves which can either be painted for an organic feel, or left natural with their natural look.
Creative individuals can transform other household or office items into unique planters. A mesh hanging file organiser makes an excellent container for a mini vertical herb garden; an over-the-door pocket organizer with coconut fibre liners and potting soil can become an attractive hanging herb rack.