Portable Pvc Vertical Garden

Intro: Portable Pvc Vertical Garden

A practical and economic solution to build our own vertical garden inside of our houses

STEP 1:

You gonna need:

- Pvc tube with a 11cm diameter (or near) and 60cm (length).
- 2lts plastic bottle
- Saw
- Drilling machine
- Paper tape
- Tape-measure
- Utility knife
- 1 Bolt and screw (about 0.5cm diameter)
- Marker

STEP 2:

Mark 20 and 40 cm in your pvc tube with the paper tape.

STEP 3:

Make two cuts until the middle of the tube.

STEP 4:

Heat up the tube in your stove. Be careful, you don´t need to place the tube very close to the flame.
Concentrate the heat in the zone above the cuts.

In case you have a powerful hairdrier or a hot air gun, you can use one of these to heat the tube in a more controlled and safer way.
I've chosen the stove because it was more practical for me.

STEP 5:

Push the heated zone inside, making two apertures ( creating the space where you will put your plants).

STEP 6:

Make two holes in the back of the tube.
One in the top and the other one in line with the lowest cut (see in the next image how it should look).

STEP 7:

The top hole serves to hang the tube on the wall.
The one lined up with the last aperture serves to hang the plastic bottle (which will function as a earth deposit-see next step).

STEP 8:

Cut the 2lt plastic bottle, as shown in the picture. It should have the same height as the bottom earth container (about 20cm).

STEP 9:

Make a hole in the bottle (about 2cm below the cut). The hole should be big enough to fit the screw-see next image.

STEP 10:

The screw will unite the tube with the half bottle (that shall be filled with gardening soil).

STEP 11:

Unite screw and thread.

STEP 12:

The bottle cap should be near the end of the tube

STEP 13:

For a better aesthetic, paint the vertical garden with a spray can (preferably, use low pressure acrilic paint).

STEP 14:

Ready to be filled up with gardening soil and plants of your choice. If you are going to keep it inside your home, i recommend herbs like mint, peppers, thyme,etc.

STEP 15:

I add this buckle to the vertical garden, just to optimize it's transportability.
The next steps will show how you can make yours

STEP 16:

To add the buckle you will need:

- a stripe (of leather, plastic, choose your material).
- eyelets (about 0.5cm inside diameter)
- knocker
-hammer

STEP 17:

Cut a strip (about 55cm-minimum)

STEP 18:

Do two holes- one in the top and one in the bottom of the stripe.

STEP 19:

Apply the two eyelets- one in each hole.

STEP 20:

and that's it, it's done! Hold the stripe with two screws in the holes made in the back of the vertical garden.

STEP 21:

Since I am a student away from home, the buckle was just a detail that i wanted to explore because students in my situation tend to move a lot from house to house during their college years (and when there's vacations we go back to our parents house), so I thought this could be a cool and practical way of carrying our garden from home to home.
Thanks Eneida G. for the photos, and thanks Simão e Xana for the help in the project :)

Comments

[chancard]

I'm very interested in doing this project, but if there is no drainage hole at the bottom isn't there a significant change of root rot or stagnant water?

[jmarcao]

Sorry for the late answer! Yes, you are right. What I did to solve that problem was putting the end of a plastic bottle in the bottom, so the water drains to that bottle. It holds with a screw. So after i water the plants, the excessive water goes to this container and after a while i take it off and use that water in other plants. Its not the best solution i know..but i think it solves the problem ;)

[gohmos]

this is so smart idea, I like it so much :)
I made 3 of it and I put it in the balcony, it look so beautiful :)

thank you so much and good luck

[jmarcao]

Hello gohmos! Just saw your photo! So nice to see that this project was useful for you. You just made my day! Thank you!

[TommyHeff]

The railing on my balcony has vertical bars. This design would allow me to hang small plants neatly between them without taking up any floor space. Thank you so much.

[bcavaciuti]

Awesome, I have a shelf full of plants and am going to uni in september so this has inspired me to come up with something similar. Not exactly the same since my course is 3D (product) design and I may as well get started!

[DShreyas]

Awesome idea genius

[Louhein]

Looks great, going to make this!

[Team Z]

Cool project and it looks great.

[Freshness1321]

Very cool, however I'd recommend doing some research on what happens when pvc is burned or heated. Especially if you are heating it without a mask, and ESPECIALLY if you are going to eat what you grow in it afterwards!

[jmarcao]

Hello Freshness1321! I ve just seen your post, sorry for the late answer. The pvc is not burned, just heated. I did some research actually and there is no problem heating up pvc as long as you do it slowly,distant, and no fume/smoke cames out. Of course if you have a mask its better!I didnt had one at the time, but i didnt inhale non of its fumes thankfully. Thanks for your concern / comment

[flucasg]

Ficou muito bom...parabéns!

[jmarcao]

Obrigado flucasg!

[XenoMorphPT]

Fico muito feliz por ver um Português por aqui!

Great Instructable!!!

[jmarcao]

obrigado :)

[dde almeida]

I just checked your page Dicas do Jorge, and it seemed very nice!

also i loved the vertical garden..

please keep going!

[jmarcao]

thanks!

[jmarcao]

Hello everybody. Please check out my facebook page dedicated to the sharing of solutions useful for students who share a house :)
https://www.facebook.com/DicasDoJorge

[GScience]

nice. One question. can mint leaves just be eaten? fresh? from the plant? Anyway, where is step 15 if there is one?

[jmarcao]

Thanks. Think gomibakou gave you a good answer :) I updated the instructable, you can check step 15 now.