Having developed a taste for growing all manner of plants, edible and otherwise, urban gardeners are increasingly vocalising their frustration at being completely ‘spaced out’. With every possible planting spot and pot being so chock-a-block that not as much as a single additional seed can be squeezed in no matter how hard they try, they say, the only solution is the unaffordable option of finding a house with a huge garden attached.
Wrong! Being horizontally spaced out — a state rapidly achieved if all you happen to have is an apartment balcony — is, quite simply, a state of mind and a state of mind which can be altered by taking vertical action.
Vertical gardening — depending on the method used and the highs achieved — can increase planting / growing areas by as much as eight times, creating incredibly lush, optical illusions of the greenest kind, in the process.
Vertical gardens are an alternative for gardeners who don’t have a lot of horizontal space
Take, for instance, a single plant pot with an 18-inch diameter: there is enough space for a few plants, not many, but enough to make an attractive, visual impact. If, however, after filling it with soil / compost, you stand a 16-inch diameter pot on top, then a 14-inch followed by a 12-inch and a 10-inch topped by eight-inch, six-inch and finally a four-inch pot, you have an eight-tiered planting area that takes up exactly the same amount of ground space as would a single 18-inch diameter pot.
It is recommended that either a metal or sturdy wooden pole, be used to hold the tower together: simply fix the pole, as firmly as possible, into the drainage hole in the base of the 18-inch base pot before filling up with soil / compost, slide the 16-inch pot down the pole until it sits in the soil of the 18-inch pot below and continue likewise until all pots are in place.
True to say that, aside from the crowning pot, planting areas are restricted to a two-inch wide band all around the perimeter of each pot in the tower but, there is lots of out-of-sight soil / compost space for the roots of the selected plants to feast on and spread out in. This results in, as long as soil / compost and watering conditions are good — along with a minimum of six hours sunlight per day for the vast majority of plant species — excellent plant growth and bountiful crops of flowers, herbs, fruits or vegetables of your choice.