Vertical hydro veg patch

In this instructable i'll be showing you how i converted some left over roof guttering into a spiffy vertical hydroponic veg patch. I've had this running for a couple of summers now using a slightly a different hanging system with good results and it's only cause I broke one of the hangers that I decided to take it all down , strengthen everything , sort out a couple of bugs and publish it.
anyhow on with the show...

Step 1: Hardware you'll need

A container to act as a water reservoir (here I'm using this big black bucket.)
A garden pond pump (the more powerful the pump the higher you can build your garden.)
Some aquarium air tubing (it's cheap enough so just buy a little roll and stash what you don't use.)
Some assorted nuts and bolts
A cheapo washing line
Growing medium (I've used clay balls before but here i'm using perlite)
Some plastic wire mesh ( the amount you need depends on how many levels your garden will be)
Some black plastic rain guttering (it doesn't have to be black but i figure black does a decent job of absorbing heat and so will heat the plants nutrient solution slightly, again how much guttering depends on how high you want your garden)
A couple of U nails to hang your garden from.
A wall that gets plenty of sun. (the size of the wall and power of the pump will determine how high your garden can be)

Comments

[1-2BGardening]

Very cool. What has grown most successfully in this?

[mrs.kichton]

 I am assuming the perlite goes in before you drop in the seeds???

[dokhack]

Yep your growing medium goes in before your seeds , sprinkle the seeds on top and thinly cover with a little bit more perlite.  :)

[jrossetti]

This could work indoors pretty well if you don't have an outside wall to mount it on. I think I'll try this with LED lighting hot glued onto the undersides of the gutter above, and onto a strip attached to the anchors.

[dokhack]

Sounds like a great idea and i'm glad my project has inspired you. I'd suggest if this was going to be used indoors that the top end of the planters could do to be solid rather than a mesh because as the plants root system grows the water sometimes backs up a little and comes out of the wrong end of the planters before eventually seeping through and going on it's normal course (not a problem outside but could get messy indoors)

[pessoa]

This is a really cool idea but I get lost at this step, as I can't really see what is being done with the little plastic strips, could you explain? Thanks for a really good Instructable!

[dokhack]

Hi there and thank you for your comment, the plastic strip is loosely bolted over the top of the cable pinching it between the plastic strip and the side of the planter. The idea is that the strips pinch the cables and hold the planters in position when they are hanging but using a little bit of force you can still slide the planters up and down the cables a little to adjust height and angle of the planters. hope this clears things up for you :)