Vertical garden
The vertical gardening is not new and has been practiced for many years in urban environments with vegetal facades on buildings, which, due to its modern appeal, has transcended into a trend of having a vertical garden (living wall) inside the home.
The technique of the “vertical garden” is used, which consists of growing plants on vertical surfaces, such as walls, fences, or ceilings… Do you want to set up a garden at home?
The vertical gardens provide benefits for health and mental well-being, and they are very easy to install
Get ready to become an urban gardening master! We explain step by step how to make a vertical garden for home in a practical and simple way.
What is a vertical garden
A vertical garden is a vegetal wall of different species of plants and flowers that covers an installation attached to a vertical wall. Some examples…
🟧 Note: This type of green walls is based on the ecological evolution of vegetal covers (urban gardening) that have gone from covering roofs and facades of large buildings to entering inside the home.
The vegetation can be natural or artificial and relies on a structure that can be assembled in different shapes and sizes:
- Vertical gardens for outdoors (open air): They need a more rigid structure. They are usually large and require experience in cultivating vegetation and flora.
- Vertical gardens for indoors: Simpler, modular, and easy to place structure. Minimal maintenance and easy care.
It is the perfect solution for homes with limited space where we want to enjoy a green wall that connects us with nature thanks to a domestic mini-garden, without its maintenance being a burden for the occupants of the house.
We could say that the motto would be for a vertical landscaping… “Vertical gardens do not have to be planted from the ground to enjoy a green mantle”.
But… Why is it easy to have a natural garden inside the house? To understand what advantages the system of vegetal walls has (with little or no direct agricultural soil) compared to traditional crops, we provide this comparison:
| On soil Traditional garden | Without direct soil Vertical garden | |
| Plant Nutrition | Very variable, difficult to control | Controllable, easy to check and correct soil |
| Spacing | Limited to fertility | Higher densities, better use of space and light |
| Weed Control | Presence of weeds | Much less or none |
| Soil Diseases and Pathogens | More common soil diseases | The little soil we use is controlled |
| Water | Plants suffer from inefficient water stress | No water stress, we control the water |
We have more opportunities for our indoor mini vertical gardens to work well, by controlling almost all aspects of the cultivation that make the plants grow
🟧 Note: For many aspects, a vegetal ecosystem that forms a green wall is not for having vegetables or greens, it is for ornamental plants. If your intention is to have fresh tomatoes that you have grown at home, the perfect article is complete guide to urban gardening.
What are the benefits of vegetal walls
The living walls play an important role that favors different aspects, both in a building when applied on roofs, facades, or terraces, and inside a home. Main functions of vegetal walls:
At a domestic level, the benefits of having a vertical garden at home are substantial and a practice we should start considering. Some of its advantages are the following:
- They improve the air quality of the home, a garden thermally insulates thanks to the foliage and prevents wall heating, if we place them strategically we can even reduce the electricity bill.
- We substantially improve our relationship with nature (we learn about the natural cycles of the earth and biological cycles of plants, their properties, we increase our knowledge of the natural environment and flora.
- It provides benefits to our mental health (it is an excellent stress reliever) and a fun, relaxing, therapeutic, and totally healthy activity.
A garden inside the house substantially improves mental health, it is a stress reliever!
- We can enjoy with the family the maintenance and better quality of coexistence.
- It is not necessary to use topsoil replacing it with volcanic rock and clays.
- They can be installed in interior areas of the home so less energy and water consumption is required.
- A wide variety of plants and flowers can be chosen at the same time regardless of the species of each one, as long as they are complementary, and, if possible, that they are native species of the area to gain resistance and require less care.
- Apart from providing a pleasant aesthetic to the interior of the home. They can be separated from the wall, housing pipes, heating or air conditioning ducts inside them so their optical effect is invisible as they are covered with plants.
- They provide an optimal drainage avoiding unnecessary leaks when we have problems on terrace walls.
As disadvantages, to mention a few: their installation has a cost, although it is cheap if practiced with coherence and with the possibility of using recycled materials in the structure (for example, with pallets)
Homemade style planters, reused wooden boxes, bottles, etc. We will get a cheap cultivation wall! (Remember our useful article on recycled pallets for furniture)
Of course, we will need to invest time in care and, depending on the location (Interiors or exteriors). We will not always be able to plant all the species of plants, vegetables, or flowers that we would like.
How to make a vertical garden at home
If we want to grow plants at home, whether outdoors in the open air or indoors, in a semi-covered or fully covered style, we must follow a series of steps to achieve a beautiful green wall.
As a first recommendation to build a vertical ecosystem, it is to start with a small domestic garden, and, if we like it, we will expand the distribution to larger ones, investing more money and time in its maintenance.
Advice; for a homemade garden in the home, start with little, and if we like it, we will invest more time and money
1.- Location of the vertical ecosystem
Although it is obvious that we already have a place in mind, we should look at some important aspects. First… where can we put a living wall?
| Outdoor vertical garden | Indoor vertical garden |
| Walls on open-air terrace | Balcony |
| Vertically in the middle of the terrace | Hallway |
| Hanging in the middle of the terrace | Living room – dining room |
| Patios | Bathroom |
| Hallway or communal terrace of the building | Kitchen |
| Parts of the building facade | *Sleeping rooms, it is prohibited. |
But… What should I look at before deciding where to put the garden? Here, there are three key elements before deciding the location:
- We need light. We need to find a space with the greatest and continuous exposure to the Sun for the flora (Be careful with the midday Sun). For an outdoor garden, it should be at least between 5 and 6 hours of direct sunlight a day. In the case of indoors, if possible, direct natural light, and if we cannot, we should choose plants that need little light (Later we see what ornamental plants we can use).
On hot and sunny days, plants must be protected from midday. If it is outdoors, we can use umbrellas or an awning, particularly for young plants
- Water need. We need to locate the vertical ecosystem in an area where we have access to a water source; either to water or connect the irrigation and drip system.
- Ease of access. Being able to maintain and work on the living wall comfortably is essential. Forget about strange structures and shapes hanging from the ceiling, they are only for movies!
- The need for a strong wall and the type of structure – shape I am going to use. If we intend for it to be hung on the wall, check that it is strong (Make sure we do not hide any electrical or plumbing installations of the house). Later we see the varieties of structures we can buy.
- What type of vegetation we choose. Although we focus more on this later, to simplify a bit, the plants for outdoor gardens are much more beautiful and ornamental, where, in addition, we have a greater range to choose from, the main disadvantage is that we do not control the weather conditions. For indoors, broadleaf plants are more suitable because they capture light better. In general, they are less ornamental, but we have the advantage that we control the environmental conditions.
How do we identify if our vegetal wall does not receive enough light? In search of it, the stems will grow longer and more fragile, and the leaves will have a pale green color.
2.- Types of vertical gardens
The types of vertical gardens that we can set up at home, both for indoors and outdoors, on a terrace or balcony are:
- Traditional vertical garden. The one where plants grow from the ground, usually using pots and a vertical guide structure that will guide the climbing plants.
- Vertical garden mounted on a structure. It is a system that uses geotextile and different layers – components in its installation (fixed aluminum support, an adhered foam to absorb moisture, meshes, different filters – pockets, etc.) together, it forms an installation that generally has an automatic irrigation system (these are used by professionals).
- Vertical garden mounted on geotextile pockets (Wall cultivation bag). It allows a simple and gradual installation in a modular style. Easy to expand.
- Vertical garden mounted on recycled plastic or wooden containers. They are high durability and lightweight containers.
- Vertical garden mounted on a modular system. They are modules in the form of boxes that we can find in different shapes and are inserted – fit into a pre-assembled metal structure.
- Vertical garden mounted on a floating system. We could say it is an inverse system to the traditional one (hanging plants). At the top of the wall, the modules or pots are placed, and the plants, as they grow – due to gravity – the vegetation occupies the vertical of the wall.
Remember to choose a structure and shape that fits with the environment and style of the home or terrace
So… What tools do I need to start?
3.- What tools do I need to work on a cultivation wall
This depends a lot on the expense we want to make and the skill of each user. Once the support structure is placed, we will not need many utensils. We will need appropriate tools, that is, hand tools.
Look for garden tools with short handles and that are ergonomic so you can work well. As an example of some utensils:
- Hoe with a lance. It is used to remove plant debris and weeds, loosen the soil, aerate.
- Fork hoe or weeder. It is used to dig, loosen the soil, break clods, and weed out bad roots and weeds. More used in the traditional outdoor garden.
- Cultivator. It is used to scratch the surface and aerate it.
- Small shovel or transplanter. We can open holes to plant seeds and seedlings.
- Rake with handle. It is practically used for everything, but with the main function of dragging plant debris.
- Basket and gloves. Baskets are very useful for transplanting and moving soil from one place to another. Protecting our hands is always good, and gloves are the best option for family gardens, make sure they are a bit thick.
4.- What components make up the structure of the vegetal wall
To understand how far we can go with design and construction of vertical ecosystems. First, I would like to answer a question… What are the components of a vertical garden?
- Active components: It refers to the type of vegetal cover we have used and the medium to make it grow.
- Stable components: These are manufactured elements that have a specific function in the structure (waterproofing membrane, root barriers, filtering barriers, drainage videos, irrigation systems, etc.)
- Auxiliary elements: These are extra complements that we add to the structure that has a specific function, for example, wall separators, a system to evacuate water and another for automatic watering, artificial lighting, etc.
5.- What vertical garden structures can we buy
Although we have a preconceived idea of what we want, we must first know what options exist in the market to set up our vegetal wall, and what technologies and vertical systems are there for a mini garden.
By the way we assemble the green walls with modular compositions, we can “play” and this can give us other ideas to place the garden at home.
The container or final structure that will hold our ornamental plants should meet six basic aspects. We remind this point because if you want to make a homemade “minigarden” with old elements (As a complementary note, see article on waste and recycling containers). The containers must have the following basic functions:
| Waterproofing | Water retention capacity | Nutrition |
| Drainage | Consistency | Filtration |
But… Where can I buy the structures to create the vertical garden and tools? As we always say, you have to look and compare if you want to save a few euros. And if it is a large vegetal wall, ask for different quotes.
From the neighborhood stores (sometimes they surprise in price of tools and materials) to large DIY stores like Leroy Merlin, Bauhaus, Aki, etc. We have many options to choose from.
The most convenient option is to buy a vertical garden with artificial plants. The quality ones that are realistic cost money, and more for indoors. We recommend buying:
- For indoors. At Unicesped they specialize in artificial vertical gardens. The aesthetic quality is very good with a combination of plants and the Tropic Botanic model that you can see HERE looks great. They have many models that appear on Amazon from HERE.
- For outdoors. At Leroy Merlin the Garden Divi Jungle that you can see HERE. It is much simpler, but for the outdoors, we will need fewer details.
Buying a structure for the wall garden, in our opinion, is the most correct option although we will have to take care of the plants, which is not that much! it is about looking for them to be modular. So we can easily remove or add plants.
If you buy a structure. Look for it to be modular to easily remove or add plants to your liking
For indoors and outdoors. There are hundreds of possibilities; plastic, vase style, bags, ceramic, metal, wood, modular, etc. For us, the modular ones are the perfect option because we can expand or remove, as needed. We stick with:
- This stackable artificial vertical garden from Leroy Merlin that you can see HERE is plastic, stackable, and cheap, a recommended option!
- This other modular from Amazon we like because it is a bit more complex, with self-watering, but it will facilitate the watering of the plants.
- Those from the previous image. A simple but elegant style. With 2 or 3 ceramic vases that you can see HERE on Amazon are great!
By the way, with imagination, a bit of crafts and DIY, we can save money on the structure; Recycled pallets, wooden boxes, plastic bottles, stones, pots, and planters that we no longer use, gutters, etc. Put imagination to make it fit in the decoration!
🟧 Note: We are talking about vegetal walls for spaces with small dimensions, when we talk about gardens on facades of buildings or professionally covering a large surface of a wall, the theme in its typology becomes much more complicated.
Here, more complex installation techniques and systems are already used. As an example and scheme of a mounting system:
The landscaped walls – from a technical perspective – provide great benefits; not only in an increase in humidity or improvement of CO2, among other issues.
We can also achieve significant savings in water, both in irrigation water (more optimized) or reuse the surplus, as well as the possibility of filtering wastewater (for example, from bathrooms) and using it for other purposes:
In this case, for those who want to learn more from a much more technical perspective, we recommend the following documents:
- Vertical systems and gardens in buildings from HERE.
- Final degree project vertical gardens in buildings from HERE (It is a technical document)
- Bioclimatic systems for houses with constructive solutions from HERE.
6.- What is the suitable substrate for a vertical garden
Nowadays, it is easy to access nurseries where we can choose from a wide variety of soil, but it must be according to the type of plants we buy. So we will have to ask in the store, what is the best substrate for the plant we use in the vertical garden.
Highly recommended! Ask in a specialized store what substrate we need for the garden according to the ornamental plants we are going to use.
Make sure that when we place the root ball (Mass of soil left attached to the roots of plants for transplanting) it does not touch the bottom of the pot or box directly. The roots need space to grow. Also, pay attention to using drainage stones at the bottom of the container.
The best substrate is of little use if the plants do not have enough space for their roots
The suitable substrate will be the one that ensures conditions of support, access of oxygen to the roots, adequate water retention, and the necessary nutrients. Most common types of substrates:
The fewer chemical fertilizers, the better for everyone, we must take advantage of the waste generated at home. Organic and free fertilizer! We can make it at home or on the terrace with the help of a composting kit.
🟧 Note: You can learn more with the manual of the good composter from HERE, very useful the schemes at the end of the PDF.
We usually use a bit of soil with minerals (which is the most normal when we talk about a homemade green wall in which we use pots in their different forms).
Also, the flora can grow thanks to the hydroponics method (without soil, more information on the concept here) where plants are grown fed by mineral solutions instead of agricultural soil.
Here there are two aspects, small hydroponic cultivation kits more intended to have a few vegetables at home (There are some clear examples on Amazon) or hydroponic agriculture in vertical gardens, it is more for a professional practice with complex systems that can create an impressive green wall (On the subject, at the end there is a reference technical document).
7.- How to prepare the cultivation bed in the container
Before starting, make sure the containers you use; planters, pots, boxes, etc., have a hole for water drainage. And now, follow the steps of the following scheme:
8.- What can I plant in a natural vegetal wall
The plants we will be able to use – mainly – will depend on the location of our natural wall, the light they can receive, and whether it is located indoors or we have the garden in the open air (Of interest also see the article on plants for the interior of the home)
For indoor plants and flora, it is better to see the recommendations of the following video that is very well explained:
Ask a landscaper, gardener, or worker at a garden center, you will get the right plants that go well in your area!
For outdoor garden plants. To work well, use native plants from the area, it is a safe bet! As an example of others we can handle:
In floriculture and horticulture each variety has its own characteristics, which also depends a lot on where we are and the climatic conditions. There are hundreds of species. To know them better, it is better to use a specialized gardening App.
As a recommendation for the mobile, the gardening app PlantSnap which is in Spanish (it is a plant and flower identifier) for Android HERE and for ISO from HERE (Identifies more than 600,000 species of plants from around the world in an instant with features).
9.- How to water the garden
Plants and flowers grown in a container need more water than those living in the soil.
Tips for watering garden plants:
- Watering is done frequently and shortly on cultivation walls, but in smaller amounts to avoid waterlogging.
- Do not water under pressure. Use watering cans with a rose to let the water fall gently.
- According to the type of plant, the frequency and duration should be adjusted, as well as the development stage, the time of year, and weather by the density of the plantation.
- The schedule for watering changes according to the season; in summer, it is done in the early morning or when it has set, and in winter, autumn, and spring, in the central hours of the day.
- All containers must have a hole to drain to avoid accumulation.
- It is good to avoid wetting the flowers, fruits, and leaves to prevent the appearance of fungi.
If the vegetal wall is large. Group the plants according to the water they need, so they receive the right amount
Video summary to create a natural or artificial vertical garden at home
As a summary of the points we have reviewed, we leave you a video where the keys and some tips to create a natural vertical garden or one with artificial plants are highlighted.
We always like to provide complementary information that can be useful, so to learn more:
- Sustainable gardening guide from HERE.
- Manual of gardens on walls and roofs, a good document from HERE (In addition, the extensive manual where all types of plants are detailed)
- Guide to green roofs and vertical gardens from HERE.
- Evaluation of the water behavior of an indoor vertical garden from HERE.
- Hydroponics in gardens… from HERE.
More than 100 images and photos for inspiration
Since we have learned a lot, it’s time to get inspired with photographs and ideas from different places on the Internet that will surely provide us with good original ideas. There are users with a lot of imagination!
Although on the Internet we can find images of vertical gardens and hundreds of photos, good quality is sometimes hard to find. So we have compiled some places with quality photos:
- We know that Pinterest is a must-visit, but this board by Juan Carlos has proposals and photographs with very good ideas. We can see it from HERE.
- The second to find ingenious proposals is Instagram and from HERE you cannot get bored.
- The ISSUU website hosts hundreds of decoration magazines with quality images, they are free to access and without the need to register; Nuevo Estilo, AD, ELLE Decor, Architecture and Design. From HERE you can access many magazines for inspiration in addition to extensive information that complements the article.
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