THE PRACTICAL TEAM – the city grower
Growing up P
ick up an old gardening manual and you’ll only ever find information about growing edibles in the ground. Then someone discovered many plants would thrive in pots and we couldn’t move for the glut of accompanying books on growing all sorts of crops in containers! Well, now there’s another revolution – growing all sorts of vegetables, fruits and herbs in vertical spaces. You can’t visit a gardening show these days without seeing a new contraption that’s been invented for allowing those who are strapped for space to grow edibles. Some of these devices are free standing, while others have been developed for attaching to walls and fences. The first piece of kit I became aware of in this country was VertiGarden. It consists of a steel wall frame that can be attached to a wall with a hook. This holds a polystyrene modular tray, which is first planted up horizontally with herbs or vegetables and then inserted in place. A wire mesh grid on the front of the system prevents plants from falling out. The MiniGarden is similar. This product is
Now there's another revolution growing all sorts of vegetables, fruits and herbs in vertical spaces a 62x58cm (25x23in) plastic panel that needs screwing to a vertical surface. It contains nine planting pockets that can be filled with compost and planted up. As it’s a modular system, several panels can be joined together to increase the amount of plants grown. Arguably the most attractive of the lot – and
A handsome Vertical Allotment in Chelsea, London
ideally suited to urban plots – is the Vertical Allotment. The wall-mounted frame holds five rectangular planting troughs, giving plants a greater amount of room to grow than many other systems. The kit’s built-in reservoir can be topped up with water when required. If your DIY skills don’t run to being able to drill holes in a wall or if you don’t have any vertical surfaces that can take the weight of these pieces of kit, then consider the Vertigro. The system is composed of a free-standing wooden frame (a bit like an easel used by an artist) fitted with horizontal bars holding three pillow-shaped, sheet metal carriers designed to conceal a traditional growing bag. Vegetables can be planted directly into the growing bag through circular holes punched in the metal.
STEP-BY-STEP
Planting up a Vertigro
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Begin by ‘massaging’ a grow bag to break up any large lumps of compost. Clamp the grow bag into the sheet metal carriers. Score a V-shape into each planting position using a Stanley knife.
30 June 2011 Grow it!
Fold back the flaps of the scored grow bag plastic and plant plugs of your favourite crop – here a French bean. Try to ensure that each plant will face upwards when the Vertigro is hung up.
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Continue planting at each position, gently firming each plant, plug or seedling into place. Water while the carrier is horizontal. Allow to soak in then hang up so it is vertical.
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VERTICAL PLANTER SUPPLIERS 0 MiniGarden: 01903 774774, www.gardenhouse design.co.uk/shop 0 Vertical Allotment: 01923 853813, www.treebox.co.uk 0 VertiGarden: 01406 370239, www.vertigarden.com 0 Vertigro: 07717 585585, www.vertigro.co.uk
This shows a fully setup Vertigro garden. The grow bag plastic will be hidden as the crops grow, or include a layer of black weed fabric between the grow bag and carrier before planting.