Since I met Patrick Blanc in 2016, the world-renowned botanist & creator of vertical gardens, I have been thinking of growing a DIY vertical wall for my home. I still clearly remember that evening spent with the ‘Green Man’ when you meet a legend you don’t forget that meeting! Here is the link, if you haven’t read about Patrick Blanc and his vertical gardens.
So inspired by the inventor himself; I ventured on my project of building a simplified living wall, but on a tight budget! At the start of the project, I decided to eliminate complicated systems like automatic self-watering, which is common in the professional vertical garden. Instead, I wanted to just build a space-saving, good-looking vertical garden for my edible plants; which anyone can build for themselves.
THINGS YOU NEED TO BUILD A DIY VERTICAL GARDEN
- A metal wireframe to hand on the wall. I opted for a simple metal frame from Daiso and assembled them using the joining hinge found in Daiso. You can also try a wooden frame or wooden pallet.
- Wire baskets to hang the planters.
- Plants. I mostly selected edible plants and herbs as I wanted to build an edible vertical garden. But you want to have a living wall just for the aesthetic purpose better to select bushier plants & hanging creeper plants.
- Hooks for the wall.
METHOD TO BUILD DIY VERTICAL GARDEN
Step 1
Assemble the frame. Fix the hooks on the wall for carefully measuring the width of the frame. Think of the weight of plants while selecting the wall hooks.
Step 2
Hang the frame on the wall. Hang the wire baskets. You can also you the plant hanging stands if you are using bigger planters.
Step 3
Arrange the planters in a wire basket to get as much greener and thicker effect of the vertical garden. And bang, your green wall is ready! You can hand some decorations or lights from your green wall to add some personalized touch.
PLANT SELECTION FOR DIY VERTICAL GARDEN
Here are some tips for selecting plants for your DIY vertical garden.
- Decide where you want to install your vertical wall indoors and outdoors and select plants based on it. For the indoor vertical garden, select indoor plants and you can even try cactus. For the outdoor living wall, use outdoor plants.
- Select the vertical garden location according to the sunlight needs of your plants.
- Better to use a few different colors of plants to add color to your green wall. You can also use some flowering plants.
- Use as many native plants possible so that you will need to spend less time maintaining your living wall, as it will be easily adapting to changing the weather
- Think about the watering needs of plants. If you building a simple living wall like me (excluding automatic watering system) then select plants with lesser water needs, else water will be dripping from your vertical garden. This is more important when you have an indoor living wall.
- Select thick, evergreen and bushier plants to last long your living wall.
- Select hanging creepers to hide the frame and planters in the assembly.
DIY VERTICAL EDIBLE GARDEN
My vertical edible garden is thriving well in my balcony garden. For my edible vertical garden, I selected a location in shade. I selected some of the below herbs for my edible green wall and already using them in cooking. Here is the list of plants you can use in your edible green wall.
- Rosemary
- Basil
- Rocket
- Aloe vera
- Coriander
- Lemongrass
- Tomato Vines
- Oregano
- Mint
- Thime
- Parsley
- Tulasi
- Chive
- Sage
Tribe, share with me your experience in the comments below if you have planted a living wall. Join our tribe here for more updates on sustainable living and gardening.