''How to solve a problem like cats digging and toileting in the vegetable patch'''''', and growing veg in a very small garden. I needed a solution and the answer occurred to me after watching The CheIsea Flower Show on TV and seeing walls of flowers and herbs. The only thing I had to hand was a hanging pocket shoe store and I decided to use it to grow my plants in. I have included the dates I took the photographs to give readers an idea how quickly the veg grew.
Step 1: Materials needed
- Hanging pocket shoe organiser /store.
- Pole and attachments ( curtain pole or pipe fittings, screws).
- Strong metal saucepan or utensil hanging hooks
- Compost of a good quality moisture holding type.
- Selection of plants or seeds... e.g. mixed leaf salad, herbs,sorrel, peas, mini tomatoes.
- Piece of wood 2"x2" as long as the width of the pocket store to keep the base of pockets away from the wall.
- Trough planter to catch drips.
- Pole and attachments ( curtain pole or pipe fittings, screws).
- Strong metal saucepan or utensil hanging hooks
- Compost of a good quality moisture holding type.
- Selection of plants or seeds... e.g. mixed leaf salad, herbs,sorrel, peas, mini tomatoes.
- Piece of wood 2"x2" as long as the width of the pocket store to keep the base of pockets away from the wall.
- Trough planter to catch drips.
Step 2: Attach pole to shed or wall
I attached a strong chrome pole with metal fittings to the shed.
You could use a curtain pole.
Make sure it is at the correct height especially if you want to grow plants in a trough below ( see step 7). This uses the surplus water from the pockets above.
You could use a curtain pole.
Make sure it is at the correct height especially if you want to grow plants in a trough below ( see step 7). This uses the surplus water from the pockets above.
Step 3: Attach hanging shoe store
Use strong hooks or wire to attach the shoe store. They must be strong enough to support the weight of the compost, plants and water.
Step 4: Test drainage
Pour water into the pockets to check the drainage, if they don't drain then make a few small holes in each of the pockets.
Step 5: Fill each pocket with compost
Add a good moisture retaining compost, fill to 1" below the rim so that water does not pour out over the rim.
Step 6: Add plants or seeds
Sow seeds or add seedlings I suggest....
- herbs thyme, sorrel, chives
- salad mixed leaf, mustard, cut and come again, or spinach
- minibel tomatoes
- 'petit pois peas you can eat the young leaflets and tendrils
- herbs thyme, sorrel, chives
- salad mixed leaf, mustard, cut and come again, or spinach
- minibel tomatoes
- 'petit pois peas you can eat the young leaflets and tendrils
Step 8: Maintaining a healthy hanging veg plot
- Water slowly with a gentle flow, or you may wash soil and plants out of the pocket and it will dirty the crop below.
- Add water retaining crystals to the compost. HINT... add water to some crystals in a container and allow them to swell then add that to the compost and fill your containers, otherwise when the crystals swell they can grow so much that they push the compost, seeds and plants out!!
- Plants like tomatoes will need regular Tomato fertilizer (and use slow release granules) as the fertility of the compost will soon get exhausted.
- Do not over pick salad leaves, so the plant regrows.
- It is important to keep a look out for aphids, slugs, caterpillars and other pests.
- Remove diseased , infected or damaged leaves... compost them.
- Remove unproductive plants and compost them
- When reusing pockets add some fresh compost.
- Add water retaining crystals to the compost. HINT... add water to some crystals in a container and allow them to swell then add that to the compost and fill your containers, otherwise when the crystals swell they can grow so much that they push the compost, seeds and plants out!!
- Plants like tomatoes will need regular Tomato fertilizer (and use slow release granules) as the fertility of the compost will soon get exhausted.
- Do not over pick salad leaves, so the plant regrows.
- It is important to keep a look out for aphids, slugs, caterpillars and other pests.
- Remove diseased , infected or damaged leaves... compost them.
- Remove unproductive plants and compost them
- When reusing pockets add some fresh compost.
Step 9: Develop the idea
- NEXT I would like...
-to hang up more shoe stores and pocket organisers, to increase the harvest.
Could it become addictive??? will I end up covering every available wall?
- try out different vegetables and herbs
- add an automatic drip watering system.
-to hang up more shoe stores and pocket organisers, to increase the harvest.
Could it become addictive??? will I end up covering every available wall?
- try out different vegetables and herbs
- add an automatic drip watering system.
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Is it alright with you if I add it to my "plants" group?
here in the Philippines
attribution to you Pippa5 and instructables.com
I have posted your article in our website the alagad.com.,ph
alagad.com.ph/special-cross-sectoral-concerns/73-solid-waste-management-best-practices/604-hanging-vegetable-garden.html
With almost 900+ viewers and perhaps most of them have viewed this main link
Thanks and More Power
has anyone else tried peppers?
This is an AWESOME AWESOME IDEA I love it!! Now I feel dumb for tossing out our old shoe organizer!
I used non breathable as it retained the moisture better . But have a go and experiment with what you can find and the children will be able to observe and learn . Good luck You may not get vast crops but is a good way of saving space and sparking an interest
Thanks so much! I had no idea what to do with the one sunny corner I have on my patio, and this is my answer! I couldn't drill into my patio wall, so I had to be really creative about how I hung the organizer. For those who can't mount a curtain rod or similar mounting hardware for any reason, I've found strap ties are strong enough to hold the weight of the plants and flexible enough to be bent into most requisite shapes.
In september I'm moving from a house with a yard to an apartment. I'm trying to figure out if I could modify this to be an indoor project and get some green inside my new apartment.
Thanks!
Good luck
Thanks for the great idea!
I am struggling since I moved to a totally new climate than I am used to. Most of my life in a desert, new how to grow there, or in the Military, but now I am in a condo, small lanai (porch sort of) lots of shade in my area. I have one pocket of sun however the homeowners association is so terribly picky about these things, so I am pondering how to make them happy, yet provide vertical growing space for me.
I dont have much for tools, might have to borrow, however I was thinking of making a "homeowners association" read: pretty enough to make the people that have naught better to do than pick on people trying to add beauty in plants and vegi's happy. Perhaps a wooden variation of this? if I could find enough scrap wood, perhaps I can paint it with some "green" paint that wont leech into the plants, then hope that will work. Not simple, but I have no other solutions *sigh* Plenty of space in the shadow area of the lanai but the veggies wont care for that so much.
M
I think it will come in handy to cover the outside of my brick fireplace that warms up the house in the summer too much???
THANKS for the great ideal.. I've passed it on to several people!!!!
pippa