Education Station 3: Vertical Garden

BY LEAH ULIP

A vertical garden is self-explanatory: it is a garden that grows upwards rather than outwards. With this method, there are unlimited ways to grow fruits, vegetables, flowers, and all types of plants. Gardening vertically can range from using an indoor or outdoor wall to utilizing hanging planters, stacked pots, or even layers of shelves. The possibilities are infinite. The frames can be from netting, fences, railings, poles or any kind of garden frame can also be used.¹ However, there are two main types of vertical gardens: a “green facades” and a “living wall system”. Green facades contain climber plants that are planted at the bottom, eventually attaching themselves to the structure and covering it entirely.² While on the other hand, living wall systems contain planters placed in a structured design with a growing medium like soil.²

Vertical gardens are important because they have man environmental, social, and economic benefits. They are an alternative way to mitigate heat risks in urban areas and offer a better mental mind state for populations with a lack of greenery. Through the green walls, polluted air in urban areas, carbon dioxide, and other various pollutants would be absorbed by the plants, producing cleaner air.³ In addition, vertical garden structures can be an efficient technology for water conservation in response to water scarcity. Vertical garden structures are able to function as a filtering system for rainwater harvesting and greywater recycling, as the structures of the garden along with a mixture of specific plants, soil mediums, and materials can remove solid particles and toxic pollutants from the water.⁴ With its flexible structure, vertical gardens function similar to a raised bed in that they provide an area for growth in nutritious soil where toxic soil exists on the ground. They are also both easily replaceable. Overall, vertical gardens provide more fresh produce, greenery, and environmental benefits for urban communities.

¹ Marcus, et al. “What Is Vertical Gardening?” Grow Green Food, 2016, growgreenfood.com/what-is-hydroponic-gardening/what-is-vertical-gardening.
² Natarajan, Mukunth, et al. “Living Wall Systems: Evaluating Life-Cycle Energy, Water and Carbon Impacts.” Urban Ecosystems, vol. 18, no.1 Mar. 2015, pp. 1–11. EBSCOhost, doi:10.1007/s11252-014-0378-8.
³ Cristian, Berar, et al. “Study on the Possibility of Building a Vertical Garden on the Buasvmt Façade.” Proceedings of the International Multidisciplinary Scientific GeoConference SGEM, vol. 19, no. 1, Jan. 2019, pp. 549–556. EBSCOhost, doi:10.5593/sgem2019/6.2.
⁴ McDonald, Arthur Phaoenchoke, et al. “Vertical Garden for Treating Greywater.” AIP Conference Proceedings, vol. 1856, no. 1, July 2017, pp. 1–10. EBSCOhost, doi:10.1063/1.4985557.