If you will be using a raised bed for your vertical garden design, make sure that the soil is between six and 12 inches deep to allow the roots to spread and grow.
What you’re growing in your vertical garden will determine how your soil should be prepared. For some plants, certain pH levels should be maintained, especially for acid plants like blueberries, which require soil with low pH levels.
Fertilizing Your Soil Organically
Plants need lots of life in their soil, so you have to make sure that there is plenty of organic matter within it. Fertile soil is the key to life and this is especially so for those delicious veggies and fruits you may be growing.
Before planting anything, make sure to work the soil a bit. The soil should be damp, not too wet. When it’s too wet, it will cause the dirt to become compact; the soil should be loose enough for the roots to spread. The organic matter in the soil should make up about 5%, which can be ensured by using a soil test. With organic material, your garden soil will have improved texture, better capacity for holding water, increased fertility, more aeration and drainage and can support more beneficial organisms that live in the soil.
Animal Manure
There are different types of organic materials that you can use for fertilizer. One is animal manure, which has plenty of nutrients. You should apply the manure to your soil months before planting your seeds.
Fresh animal manure is known to cause damage to plants because it sometimes has pathogens that are harmful, along with weed seeds. Stick with manure that is old, prepackaged or composted. Manure that is at least six months old, and that is from an herbivore is best.
Green Manure
Green manure is another option for organic material. This can consist of different crops, including ryegrass, alfalfa and similar plants that are turned over for the process of decomposition. By adding nitrogen, it can help the green manure decompose quicker. It will also keep your soil from being starved of nitrogen.
You can either use your own green manure or purchase it from a gardening store. Some people plant cover crops during the final harvest, which is plowed during autumn or spring. By waiting until spring, the cover crop is able to hold in more soil moisture during snowy cold winters. It is also known to prevent the soil from becoming eroded and it insulates perennial plants.
Compost
Like green manure, compost consists of plant life, but instead of covering crops, it is placed in a bin with soil and fertilizer for the decomposition process. Compost is oftentimes used in place of animal manure. It helps to improve the soil and its ability to retain water. There are also plenty of nutrients in compost, but it has less phosphorous, nitrogen and potassium than manure.
Compost is the stuff of life! Plants need healthy soil to grow so if you’re planning to grow on land that’s been damaged or compressed, make sure to use good healthy compost.
You can read more about composting later on in Chapter 7.
pH Level of Soil
Depending on the type of plants that you are growing, you will need to have a certain pH level for your soil. Some vegetables require soil that is slightly acidic, between 6.0 and 7.0. Level 7.5 and higher is considered to be alkaline and anything below that is considered acidic. It’s important that you pay attention to the alkalinity and acidity levels of your soil because if not at the right levels, it could deprive your plants of certain nutrients, resulting in poor growth. A soil pH test can be used regularly to keep an eye on things.
To make your soil more alkaline, you can use lime. Then to lower your soil to acidic levels, sulfur can be used. This should be done six months in advance, since it takes time for them to take effect. There are also store-bought products that you can purchase that may work faster.
Fertilizer
Just like with manure, you should place down your fertilizer in advance, so that the soil can absorb its nutrients. You can combine this with your compost, since it can give your soil phosphorous, potassium and nitrogen, among other types of micronutrients.
There are different types of fertilizers that you can use for your garden, including manure, fish emulsion and blood meal. Organic materials are lower in phosphorous, unlike with fish emulsion and manure.
If you decide to buy your fertilizer prepackaged, make sure to look at the label to see what the contents are made up of. Some fertilizers have to be absorbed in water before being applied to your garden and others come in the form of granules. When reading the label, you want to check to see how much phosphate, nitrogen and potassium it has. You will find many that are made up of 8% nitrogen, 32% phosphate and 16% potassium.
Make sure that you don’t over fertilize your garden because it can cause excessive plant growth, which means you’ll receive less yields of veggies and fruits. A soil test can be done to check the nutrient levels of your soil.
After planting your garden, you can place down a nitrogen fertilizer once your plants have already started growing. This should only be done if your soil has been depleted of nitrogen and requires more.
If you are growing tomatoes, the fertilizer should be placed six to eight inches away from the main stem and for onions, it should be placed three to four inches away from the main stem. You can use a store-bought nitrogen fertilizer that is made up of 20 to 30 percent nitrogen, but it should not contain any seed germination inhibitors or weed killers.
If you’re growing leafy vegetables, such as cabbage, lettuce, sweet corn and spinach, you can put down the nitrogen fertilizer once the plants have grown between three and five true leaves. Nitrogen fertilizer shouldn’t be used on tomatoes, peppers, pumpkins, cucumbers, squash or eggplants until they have started to bear fruit. Doing it too soon could minimize the amount of fruit they produce, or worse, it could prevent them from growing fruit at all.
CHAPTER 4. HOW TO BUILD A FREE-STANDING VERTICAL GARDEN
A free-standing vertical garden can be much easier to build than you might think! There are a couple of ways you can build one, but we’ll focus on the two most common and easiest ways.
For a free-standing garden, you will need several feet of space. This works best if you have a small sized yard and grass to work with. It’s probably not a good option if you live in an apartment or condo – you may went to use an aeroponics gardening system if you have only a few feet of space to work with.
The first one we’ll discuss looks like a fence and can be used as such if you’re looking to increase the privacy of your yard, patio or balcony. The difference is that the free-standing structure has a double layer, so that plants can be placed in the middle of the layers.
You can make your free-standing vertical garden as wide and tall as you want it, but just keep in mind the accessibility of it. You don’t want to have to climb ladders to reach the top and you don’t want to have to bend too low to reach the bottom if you have back problems.
The tools and materials you will need to build a free-standing vertical garden structure are:
Hammer or drill
Nails or screws
Two-by-fours
Extra wood for small pieces to be cut
Wooden posts
Tape measure
Saw
A free-standing vertical garden is ideal if you don’t have a wall or roof to hang your plants. It’s cheap to make and quite easy if you’ve ever worked with carpentry projects. If you don’t have any experience, ask your friends or family to come over and help you – it will make for a fun and productive day!
Keep in mind that there are many different designs for free-standing vertical gardens that you can purchase online, but this is only one of the two examples of how you can do it yourself.
Here are the steps to follow to build your free-standing vertical garden:
The Fence-Like Vertical Garden
Cut eight two-by-fours into the length of your choice (The length of these boards will be the length of your garden)
Cut four wood posts into the height of y
our choice (The post height will determine the height of your garden)
Begin nailing the two-by-fours to the front and back of the wooden posts until it makes four equal rows.
Nail smaller cut pieces of wood that are a few inches wide at the ends of the two-by-fours to close them off (This helps provide more support for the structure).
Nail blocks of wood every four inches in between the two-by-fours, so that the plant can sit on something inside of the two-by-fours.
The final construction can be dug into the dirt like a fence, so that it doesn’t tip over and fall.
Close up the bottoms of the two-by-fours with a strainer-like net and place your soil and plants inside these nets – you can buy plant hangers or plant holders at any gardening supply store or online.
Below is a picture of the design and layout of the fence-like vertical garden wall. If you need to see the picture in greater detail you can see the full-size version here on the website.
When the garden is complete it should look like the picture below.
The Communal Wall Method
This is another way that you can construct your free-standing vertical garden. It is easily moved and can be placed anywhere you have the space for it. You can place flowering pots at the bottom of the communal wall and allow them to creep up the sides.
The structure is simple, four wooden poles are stood upright and attached together by four other wooden poles that are nailed together and placed at the top to hold the other four together. Two more wooden boards are placed a foot from the bottom to hold the structure steady.
At the end, it would look like a room with no walls. A wire mesh is placed on adjacent sides, which is used for your creeping vertical growing plants. Think of a pergola-style structure.
Supplies Needed
10 2x4s at the length you choose
Extra wood for supports
Nails or screws
Hammer or drill
Saw
Wire mesh
Steps
Nail together three of the boards at the ends, into the shape of street sign that has two signs. There should be one pole standing upright and two boards that are perpendicular at the top.
Cut diagonal pieces of wood to hold up the wood that is at the top of the structure. Nail to the outside of the top board and the pole that ascends downward.
Nail the other two boards a foot from the bottom on the north and south sides, using four foot long pieces of wood to nail them to the upright poles.
Attach the wire mesh to the north and south sides. The four pieces of wood that were nailed at the bottom can be used as spacers to attach additional wire meshes on the opposite side of the structure for more plants, giving you four walls in total.
When all done the structure should look like the picture below.
The boards you use should be long enough to give you sufficient space, so that your plants are able to get east and west sunlight. Make sure to place your structure in an area that receives at least 6-8 hours of sunlight.
This structure will allow you to enter into your vertical garden through the two open sides, providing you with enough room to water, pluck and seed your garden.
Below is a picture of the communal wall happily supporting a new vertical garden.
CHAPTER 5. MAINTAINING YOUR VERTICAL GARDEN
Building and starting your vertical garden is great, but what would it matter if you don’t know how to properly maintain it?
Luckily, one of the other great reasons about vertical gardening is that it is so much easier to take care of than an outward growing in-the-ground garden. There are a few things that you need to frequently maintain to keep your vertical garden flourishing beautifully.
Water
This is a no-brainer. You should have set up your vertical garden in a way that makes watering your plants easy. This could be setting up a water drip system or other automated irrigation system.
Or if you’re into doing things the old fashioned way with a watering can, hopefully you set up your garden in an organized way, so that you know exactly how much water each section needs. It’s important that you don’t overwater or underwater plants.
If you have water drippers installed for your vertical garden, make sure that they remain unclogged from the nutrients you add into the system. This is done to ensure that your plants receive plenty of nutrition. You can find these at your local nursery.
Trimming and Pruning
Some of your plants will be required to be pruned and trimmed to keep from overgrowing and overtaking your vertical garden. Pruning and trimming ensures that certain plants are able to flower and produce fruit.
Whenever you find dead leaves or flowers, make sure to clip them off. Other plants may need to be pruned, so that they grow in the manner that you prefer. Keeping your garden nice and neat will add to the beauty and enjoyment and can also improve the health of your plants.
Checking for Disease
It’s important to keep a close eye on the plants in your garden to check for any diseases or plant damage. You want to know exactly when any type of disease hits, so that you can react quickly. It’s best to sever the diseased leaves, so that it doesn’t spread to the rest of the plant. You also want to watch out for rotted roots, which in this case would have to be plucked entirely.
Above is a picture of brown root rot on tomato plants. If this happens it’s best to just remove the plants so the rot doesn’t spread.
If you notice that your plants are being eaten up, this could be due to unseen pests. Try to find out what type of pest you have. Then you can research natural solutions for getting rid of them.
How To Make Your Own Organic Spray to Get Rid of Pests and Plant Diseases
You can make a great natural pest control spray at home. All you need is an empty plastic spray bottle (if you don’t have one, you can buy it at any home supplies store) and some tea tree oil (which you can buy at most health food stores or online).
1. Combine 4 cups of water with 2 tbsp. of tea tree oil. Mix well.
2. Place the solution in an empty plastic spray bottle.
3. Spray the solution directly onto leaves of plants to combat fungus. You can even help prevent diseases in your plants by spraying the solution on plant roots and leaves routinely!
You can also use the tea tree oil spray as an antiseptic or air freshener in troublesome areas that are prone to mold, mildew or fungal infections.
Maintaining the pH Level and Nutrients of Soil
Ensure to check the pH levels of the soil for your various plants to see if you need to acidize or alkalize it for better growth. This can be done when you check to see if more nutrients are needed in the soil. You should group alkaline and acid plants together, so that this can be maintained easily. You can also add fertilizer or compost as needed.
Harvest
When it comes time to harvest, you can easily do so without breaking your back. Some plants yield fruits and vegetables quickly, allowing you to pluck a little here and there throughout the summer.
Maintaining your vertical garden is pretty simple, since you don’t have to worry about weeding and tilling the ground. You can even start seeds indoors and then plant them when it’s warm enough outside. If you have mobile gardens, you can place them indoors during the winter.
You’ll quickly see that vertical gardening maintenance is a breeze compared to conventional gardening!
My mom harvesting snow peas from her vertical aeroponics garden at home.
CHAPTER 6. HOW DO YOU GROW YEAR-ROUND WITH A VERTICAL GARDEN?
If you’re looking to grow vegetables, fruits, herbs or flowering plants all year round, then you’re going to need to set up your garden in a place where it can get the type of climate it needs year round.
There are a variety of ways that you can achieve this. It’s important that you consider this before setting up your vertical garden, so that you can do so in an indoor, temperature-controlled envi
ronment. Of course, you can have both, an indoor and outdoor vertical garden setup.
Growing a Vertical Garden in Your Home
One of the more popular and more affordable ways of growing a year-round vertical garden is to set one up inside of your home. This can be done throughout your house, including in your kitchen, living room, dining room and any other rooms that receive lots of light throughout the day. You can set up the vertical walls or trellises right in front of the windows, so that they can get enough sunlight.
One simple way to grow plants in your home is to build frames around your windows where you can place your plants. These allow light to come in and provide your garden with plenty of photosynthesis. Another way is to use your indoor walls as vertical gardens. These are great for decorative and edible plants.
Below is an example of a gorgeous vertical wall garden indoors.
Some people use their garages as a vertical garden haven, but this will need to be remodeled to have more windows and aeration, so that your plants don’t suffocate in the dark. If you can have vents installed, so that you can cool off and warm up the garage as needed, that will make everything a lot easier.
Building a Greenhouse Outdoors
If you don’t have enough space in your home or would like additional growing space for your year-round vertical garden, you can build or buy a green house. This will keep your plants warm enough during the winter to keep them growing.
You’d be surprised at how many plants you could fit into a greenhouse using vertical gardening setups, compared to what would be allowed with in-the-ground gardening. You can produce a large yield of fruits, vegetables and herbs that can be plucked year-round. You may just fall in love with a vertical garden greenhouse!
The Vertical Gardening Guidebook Page 3