Vertical Gardening

[mand_a_lion]

Has anyone had any experience - positive or negative - with vertical gardening?

In my never ending quest to expand my garden, I'm contemplating building something like this.  My version of this lovely planter would probably look a lot more utilitarian and be a bit longer.  Okay...a lot longer.  Eight feet longer.  I have a space that isn't working

Comments

[virginiadear]

Mother Nature comes through for her babies, giving them the stems and vines they need for the circumstances in which they grow!
What did you make your trellises of? (I was just at Home Depot at lunch time, pricing metal conduit and connectors!) Mr Bartholomew says wood will eventually break, and PVC pipe, while very affordable and able to take the weight (in general) isn't a good bet, either.
I agree that PVC isn't something to use for this sort of trellis: PVC has a huge load-carrying capacity relative to the diameter of the pipe, but it can't handle torsion and if there's any amount of wind----it shatters.

My neighbor's son-in-law, who occasionally "coaches" me in the more scientific of my gardening endeavors, recommends horizontal trellises or lattices, just to keep fruits from touching the ground. And if you have nothing else, he said, take the trimmings from tidying the hedges, or pruning your shrubs, and lay a number of them side by side on the ground, then make a second layer at right angles to that, and a third layer on top of the second lined up in the same direction as the first layer: keeps the gourds or pumpkins or what-have-you off the ground and allows for air circulation.