If you live in a condo, an apartment with a small balcony, or a house with a tiny garden, you might think that growing your own strawberries, chives, and lettuce is not possible because you have a small yard. In many urban areas including Vancouver, vertical gardening is gaining in popularity. Whether you want the focus to be edible, decorative, or a combination of both, vertical gardening provides creative solutions for maximizing small outdoor living spaces.
What is Vertical Gardening?
Vertical gardening is a practical, sustainable way to enhance your outdoor living area, allowing you to work with the space that you have by planting vegetation that grows upward instead of outward. In addition to saving space, benefits of vertical gardening are:
- Improves mental and physical health
- Control over what chemicals are used to grow edibles – better food safety
- Better air circulation
- Reduces bending and kneeling
- Reduces plant diseases and weed growth
- Uses less water
Microclimate of Vertical Gardening
Before creating a vertical garden, it will be helpful to understand the role microclimate plays in vertical gardening, and how it affects tiny gardens on balconies, patios, backyards, and front yards. Microclimate is the unique climate immediately surrounding the plants in a vertical garden. Where will the vertical garden be located? Assess the area for the following:
- Wind exposure – particularly relevant for patios and balconies
- Light conditions such as the amount of shade, hours of direct sunlight, and what is nearby – glass windows and/or light-coloured walls/fences reflect heat
- Moisture – plants release moisture into the air (transpiration) creating higher humidity – great for plants that crave moisture, but in a vertical environment, can encourage fungal diseases if there is not adequate air flow
- Temperature fluctuations – Vancouver’s mix of mild winters, lots of rain, and brief periods of intense summer heat
- Efficient water management – ground-level gardens are able to drain water away from the roots; vertical gardens need a drainage system that will function in areas where space is limited
Vertical Garden Systems
To choose the right vertical garden system for your home, match the system to the available space; the type of available space, and the amount of time you can consistently commit to its maintenance. Examples of available space include an awkward corner of the backyard but ideal for a ladder rack; the wall of a patio or house/garage; a fence; or your fenceless property line just waiting for a living wall.
Living Walls
Living walls can be freestanding or attached to an existing wall. A living wall system designed for the Vancouver area can manage the wet seasons (fall, winter, and spring) and our climate change summers. Living walls typically include built-in irrigation and are perfect for balconies, and tiny gardens.
Containers
Using containers in your vertical gardening landscaping design can range from simply adding window boxes to your home’s exterior to installing a gutter garden on the back fence.
Stacking containers are available in a wide range of sizes and shapes. You’re sure to find right ones to fit your small outdoor living spaces.
Use tiered planters to help maximize space and ensure adequate drainage.
Utilize the ceiling of a covered patio, open porch, or balcony to create hanging gardens that bloom throughout the year.
Local gardening centres can suggest custom solutions for your vertical garden, including self-watering containers and raised planter boxes.
If you are a do-it-yourselfer, vertical gardening ideas that make great DIY projects include, gutter gardens, a hanging herb garden, and pallet planters.
Trellises
Trellises are essential to thriving vertical gardens. They create ideal growing spaces for climbing plants, increasing airflow, allowing room for growth, and encouraging better yields.
Give some thought to the shape of the trellis – obelisk, panel, A-frame, or arch? For boosted curb appeal, how about an arbour in the front yard?
Select trellises that are sturdy, durable, weather-resistant, and can support the weight of fruits and vegetables. Materials that last for years with proper maintenance include high-grade metals, cedar or redwood, and bamboo.
