7 ideas for creating a vertical vegetable garden

It’s not because you only have a small garden, or even just a balcony, that you have to do without a vegetable garden. Some cultures can easily be done on a reduced space and this is even more valid in the case of a vertical garden. This is what I present to you today: different types of vertical gardens.

Before showing you some examples you must keep in mind that this cultivation technique, although very practical, may not apply to all vegetables. We will avoid those that take up too much space or those that require too great a soil depth.
Most aromatic plants will be suitableas regards vegetables we can mention salads, cherry tomatoes, peppers, onions, radishes, garlic… and as regards fruit, these are the strawberries which will be more easily cultivated.
The other thing to take into consideration is that it will take a regular watering since this type of cultivation is similar to growing plants in a pot or balcony planter, the soil also dries out quite quickly.
Finally, as with all vegetable gardens, reserve a sunny position outside.

The vegetable garden in your pocket

This first example is certainly one of the most productive because we will meet again a fairly large number of plants both in width and in height. We can imagine creating bags up to more than 2 meters high (but it is necessary to provide a ladder for collection) and for the entire width of a wall. You can too hang on the balcony railinga solid fence, a wooden trellis…

There are sets of pockets available on the market to create a vertical vegetable garden or you can make them yourself. In this case, use a fabric that allows water to pass through, resists humidity and is strong enough to support the weight of the soil and plants.

Here are the commercially available versions:

This system also exists in a rigid version:

The potted garden

A similar variant of the previous solution is that of grow vegetables in pots then hang them high on a structure.
Aesthetically, you can play with theappearance of the potsor even use cans holes on the bottom. Do not hesitate to mix vegetables, aromatic plants and flowering plants and why not edible flowers!

A recovery idea is to be used plastic bottles is to suspend them using ropes.
I, however, am a little skeptical about having a transparent container: the roots hate the light!

The vegetable garden in balcony boxes

You have probably already tried growing in balcony planters, especially in the case of aromatic plants. But our initial idea remains that of creating a vertical vegetable garden, so here are some examples of how to stack multiple planters and thus maximize the use of space.

The simplest solution is to use two stair uprights and place the balcony boxes in the places provided for the steps (see tutorial). Being staggered, the pots do not create shade and the plants benefit from maximum sunlight.
You can also take inspiration from this system and create a customized version yourself (see tutorial).

Don’t have time to do it yourself? Here are similar models available for purchase:

The vegetable garden in the gutters

The idea here is touse gutters as balcony planters. Obviously, since they are not deep, it will be necessary to select vegetables with a weak root system.

You can then overlap the gutters using wires. Leave plenty of space between them so the plants can catch the light and grow tall.

The vegetable garden on pallets

Since it’s all the rage to create furniture and other accessories out of pallets, why not a vertical garden!

There are two possibilities: create planters in the pallet or insert the plants between the pallet blades (see my tutorial).

Remember to check it the pallet wood has not been treated with chemicals (this is especially the case with those designed to store materials outdoors).

Do you need pallets to do this project?

Green wall with vegetables

With the same principle as the palette but more sophisticated, the green wall with vegetables and aromatic plants. If outdoor green wall systems available on the market or that you can make yourself are able to accommodate flowering plants, they will also be able to accommodate edible plants.

Climbing vegetables

This last example is very simple: if you want a vertical garden, simply use climbing vegetables or in any case those that grow in height which you will run on one frame. This is the case of green beans, peas, some cucurbits, tomatoes, etc.

And you, how will you create your vertical garden?

Here are some other tips that might interest you