Do you love creating fun DIY gardening projects? How about unique vertical gardens and raised beds?
For homeowners with small spaces, vertical gardens allow you to create living walls with garden vegetables and fruits, such as strawberries, potatoes, and herbs. And raised beds mean you don’t have to bend over so far to pull weeds and pick produce.
However, vertical gardens aren’t limited to small spaces and raised beds aren’t only for those needing adaptive gardening. If you want to create a one-of-a-kind vertical garden on your patio or deck, you can build one. Make it a focal piece and a conversation starter.
Getting Started with Raised Bed Gardening
Whether you have limited gardening space, need adaptive gardening options, or want a kitchen garden closer to your house, raised bed gardening meets all those needs.
Like any other garden, raised beds need to be where there’s a water source, ample sunshine, and well-drained soil.
When you build raised beds in a garden plot, you’ll need wood that won’t rot, landscaping fabric if desired, and compost for added nutrition. Lowes and The Home Depot have detailed instructions for building a raised garden bed.
You can also find raised bed gardening kits online and in retail stores. Raised garden kits make for efficient DIY gardening projects because they provide everything you need to build raised garden beds. You only need the tools and the ability to follow directions to put them together.
If you’re a beginner gardener and want to try out raised garden beds before committing to a larger garden plot, you can grow the following in your raised bed:
- Baby spinach
- Carrots
- Herbs, such as dill, fennel, oregano, rosemary, mint
- Lettuce
- Peppers
- Swiss chard
- Tomatoes.
Learn more: Elevate Your DIY Game with Brinly’s Ground Engaging Attachments
You can grow cut flowers in your raised garden beds, too, such as
- Black-eye Susans
- Cock’s comb
- Coneflowers
- Cosmos
- Dahlias
- Lavender
- Marigolds
- Snapdragons
- Strawflowers
- Sunflowers
- Zinnias.
Vertical Gardening: A Creative Twist to DIY Gardening Projects
Vertical gardening grows plants along a wall, trellises, pergolas, and arbors. You can also have vertical gardens in your home, but for this article, we’re focusing on vertical gardening outside. Also, vertical gardens need upright support, such as a wall, latticework, and other steep structures.
While vertical gardening helps folks living in smaller quarters grow plants, including herbs, succulents, and vegetables, homeowners living on larger properties can expand their garden plots to add vertical gardening. Larger vertical gardens use trellises, arbors, fences, gates, gazebos, and pergolas for support.
Hanging baskets are also part of the vertical gardening scene since they don’t need to be put into the ground. Many urban homes also use wall planters, hanging baskets, and window boxes as vertical gardens.
Read more: Create Sustainable Gardening with the Right Equipment
Part of a vertical garden’s charm includes watering the top plants so excess water cascades to plants lower on grow walls. You can also get creative with the type of vertical gardens you create and the plants you put in them.
A Google search with the keywords “how to build a vertical garden as DIY gardening projects” provides videos, articles, and more for building a DIY vertical garden. You’ll find plenty of materials and designs for creative DIY garden projects regarding vertical gardening.
Specifically, DIYncrafts.com goes to the next level with 20 ideas for vertical gardens and how to build them in their blog post, 20 DIY Vertical Gardens You Can Set Up Anywhere (with Plans).
Which one is your favorite?
Other than saving on space, vertical gardening also offers the following benefits:
- You’ll have increased produce yields
- The plant leaves have less disease and pest problems because they’re off of the ground
- There’s better air circulation with vertical gardening
- You’ll find that your plants have improved plant growth because the leaves are getting more sun exposure
- You’ll avoid back problems because your fruit and vegetable plants grow upward rather than outward on the ground.
Creeping and trailing plants do best in vertical gardens because the arbor or trellis keeps the vines and flowers off the lawn or soil. These types of plants include
- Climbing peas
- Cucumbers
- Melons
- Pole beans
- Squash
- Zucchini.
Plus, Almanac.com says that grapevines work well growing on a pergola or an arch that can handle the extra weight. Fruit trees, including apples, cherries, and pears, can be trained to grow vertically against a fence, free-standing wire supports, or a wall.
Of course, you can plant tomatoes, strawberries, and annuals in hanging baskets that add an extra pop because of the fruits and vines growing out of the containers.
Finally, you can build a living wall for your deck or patio. A living wall can be a heavy structure that needs a sturdy wall to hold it in place, or it can be as simple as a trellis that holds several growing containers for leafy greens and herbs.
A heavier living wall will have succulents, vining plants, ornamental grasses, and vegetables. Ensure you have a sturdy vertical support to keep your living wall upright.
Combining Raised Beds and Vertical Gardens for Maximum Impact
You can add visual interest and a focal point when you combine a vertical garden with your raised beds. Plant raised beds by a fence and grow creeping and sprawling plants that climb it.
Add a trellis in your raised beds for climbing vines, such as pole beans and squash. You can liven up your garden into an active plot that contains raised beds, vertical gardens, a shed, and other gardening structures.
Summing Up
You can make raised garden beds through The Home Depot or Lowe’s building directions. You can find different ideas for creating a vertical garden that ranges from simplistic to detailed.
Combining vertical gardens in your raised beds creates a living space expressing your creativity and green thumb.
Invest in Brinly’s Lawn and Garden Products for Your Next DIY Gardening Projects
When you build your DIY gardening projects, you’ll need a dump cart to quickly unload materials, saving you time for creating raised garden beds and vertical gardens.
Brinly’s Tow-Behind Carts are made with heavy-duty compression-molded polypropylene, making them the longest-lasting, most durable poly dump carts on the market.
We also manufacture other Brinly Lawn and Garden Products, including
- Fertilizer spreaders
- Ground engaging
- Lawn dethatchers
- Lawn rollers
- Lawn sprayers
- Lawn sweepers
- Spike and plug aerators
- ZTR products.
You can buy your next Brinly lawn care and garden products online. If you have any questions about your Brinly lawn and garden product, contact our customer service today by dialing 877-728-8224 or filling out our contact form.
Sources:
Almanac.com, How to Grow Vertically in Your Garden.
MarthaStewart.com, Vertical Gardens Are the Ideal Small-Space Solution—Here Are 7 Ideas to Get Started.
UrbanVine.com, What Are Wall Planters, and How Do They Work?
