Vertical gardens are great options if you don’t have a lot of horizontal space to grow the flowers, veggies, or herbs you want to enjoy this summer. They’re relatively inexpensive, and you’ll be able to set one up over the course of a weekend.
First, you’ll need to decide exactly what kind of material you want to use for your structure. Popular structures include pallets, trays, ladders, or building onto structures you already have at home, like walls, trellises, or porch railings. You can get creative and even use found objects, like old gutters, doors, or canoes.
For this tutorial, we’ll go with a pallet, mostly because it’s already planter-ready, and, because you’re upcycling, it’s also inexpensive. Pallets don’t even have to be mounted to be used for vertical gardens. If you’re hardware challenged then you can simply lean it against a wall.
Note: If you’re growing food for eating, as opposed to succulents or flowers for outdoor décor, try to find a pallet that hasn’t been weather treated with harsh chemicals.
For this project you will need:
- A pallet
- Landscaping fabric
- Soil
- Plants of your choice
- Hammer & Nails (or staple gun)
- Scissors
Step One
First, you’ll have to roughly measure each section of your pallet that you want to put plants in. Using your landscaping material, like wrapping paper, create little pockets in each section of your pallet so that your soil won’t fall out of the back or bottom. You can secure the fabric using a staple gun or a hammer and nails.
Step Two
Once you’ve created pockets in each section of your pallet, stand the pallet up and lean it against the wall. You can now fill each pocket with potting soil and insert the plants of your choosing. Succulents do really well in vertical gardens because they don’t require much work, and they also look amazing when stacked vertically.
Step Three
You should be able to fit quite a few plants in the pallet. If you want to get extra crafty with it, you can paint your pallet ahead of time, or even use chalkboard paint so you can label each plant. Enjoy your planting, and get creative!
