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Benefits of a vertical garden
- Vertical gardens are cheap and easy to make
- Low maintenance
- Eco-friendly
- Sustainable
- Fit into small spaces
- Visually pretty
What you need
- Wooden pallet
- 4 mounting brackets
- Weather resistant screws
- Roofing nails or staples
- Drill or staple gun
- Level
- Landscape fabric
- Potting soil
- Plants
How to build
- Get your hands on a decommissioned untreated timber pallet (ask for pallets at your local hardware, fruit shop, recycling yards or Bunnings) then reconfigure the top and bottom decking boards to form pockets. You might need to source timber decking from a second pallet to complete the pockets.
- Remember to think about which way the pallet garden will hang on your wall and to allow for timber to close the bottom of each pocket. Each pocket will be divided into two by the middle rail of the pallet. You need to leave the top of each pocket open for planting.
- Once happy with the layout of pockets, affix rearranged decking to pallet rails with staples or screws.
- Seal the timber by painting the pallet assembly with self-priming exterior paint in a colour you love – here, a charcoal-inspired shade stands out against a rusty red wall. Let dry. The paint will prolong its life, but remember it won't last forever!
- Use scissors or a utility knife to cut landscape fabric (or weed mesh) to size, allowing enough to line the individual pockets on each side of the middle rail.
- Push fabric into the pockets, then nail or staple fabric to pallet. Ensure there are no gaps where soil can spill out.
- Attach pallet garden to your wall by attaching sturdy hooks to each side of pallet, towards top edge. Loop chain over hooks and vertical garden assembly from anchors in your wall.
- Fill pockets with cacti and succulent potting mix, then plant up with your selection of succulents. Use a mix of vertical growers and low spillover varieties to create an interesting effect. Keep water to a minimum for two reasons: this plant selection isn’t all that thirsty, and to avoid soil spilling out of the pockets and messing up your wall.
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