Written by: Kiya Tavascia
Edited by: Declan Murphy
Designed by: Kiya Tavascia
Gardening, whether for aesthetics, growing food, saving seeds, exercise, or another reason, is a fun and important part of so many people’s lives. But for some, it’s not as simple as tilling a section of their yard, building a raised bed, or setting up loads of pots. As of 2021, about ⅓ of people in Ontario lived in apartments, and that number is likely significantly higher in large cities. For these people, they might have a tiny bit of outdoor space on their balcony, but most wouldn’t have even enough for one garden bed, let alone the amount of space they would want for a meaningful amount of food or to have all the flowers they find beautiful.
Lucky for them, and for everyone looking to be innovative in their gardening journey, vertical gardening exists! Indoors or outdoors, you can set up a vertical garden that takes up much less square footage and can be made out of affordable materials (it can be as cheap or as expensive as you make it). Plus, it can be more physically accessible for people with physical disabilities that make reaching a ground-level garden hard to do.
First off, what is a vertical garden?
“A vertical garden is a garden that is installed along vertical supports instead of horizontally along rows in the ground” (from Lawn Love).
Note: The term vertical gardening is used to describe in-ground gardening that grows plants up a trellis, arch, or vertical support in addition to the container gardening we’re talking about in this article. Vertical container gardening can also refer to hydroponics and aeroponics, but we’ll be sticking to gardening that uses a soil mixture. There are other articles on the YFS blog that talk about the other methods, like this one about hydroponics.
Now, when it comes to the design and setup of a vertical garden, the possibilities are nearly endless. Just Google “vertical garden ideas” and you’ll find way too many to even sift through. But I’m going to share below a few of my favourites that combine easy and affordable materials (some of which you might already have lying around, can source secondhand, or can ask friends/neighbours for), simple setup (meaning you don’t have to be super handy to do it yourself), and with lots of growing space for food, flowers, or whatever you choose (here at YFS, we recommend growing some food!). Unlike with most hydroponic/aeroponic/etc designs, these designs either need to be outdoors or need to be located where there is plenty of light coming into your home because there aren’t artificial light elements. You could always add those, using UV light bars, but that adds a lot of additional expense.
Ladder Garden
Turn the steps into shelves or use them for hanging pots. The ladder can be propped up against any wall, and you have yourself a super simple way to have up to a dozen pots with only a tiny amount of floor space.
Pallet Garden
Using whatever size pallet or pallets you can find, staple some landscape fabric to the back and sides and fill with potting mix. Here’s a fun step by step process
Hanging Gutter Garden
It might be a bit harder to get your hands on old gutters, but apparently they are something that people get rid of from time to time so check around! This one also takes a bit more work to prepare, but the end result is very cool! You’ll need to cut the gutters to whatever length you want, add gutter caps to the ends, fill with soil and plants/seeds, and hang one on top of the next using steel cable or another strong material. Here’s a step by step for this one.
Shoe Organizer Garden
This one was super interesting. You know those cloth shoe organizers, like the one in the picture here? I remember having one in my closet when I was a kid, and it was used more for storing random trinkets than shoes, but I never would have imagined it could be a garden!
You can put small pots inside with plants, or could add soil directly into the pockets. If the second option, and if growing food, make sure to check that the materials it’s made from are safe.
Which idea is your favourite? Have you ever tried a vertical growing system? Let us know about it in the comments!
Sources:
https://lawnlove.com/blog/what-is-a-vertical-garden/
https://www.prudentpennypincher.com/vertical-garden-ideas-for-small-spaces/