Productive vertical farms for urbanites with green thumbs

High rise gardening is the same as gardening anywhere, in that you need to provide your plants with light, water, and nutrients to grow. If you use your balcony, patio, or roof to grow herbs, fruits, and vegetables, you’ll have a supply of delicious, ready-to-eat groceries at your convenience.

planters

Urban farms are based on containers and planters of various shapes, widths, and heights. For the most part, you’ll want to choose containers that are lighter in weight. Pots can become very heavy with soil, water, and plants. Lightweight planters make it easy to move plants, either inside to protect them from a storm or to another location on the balcony to capture more sun during the day.

Use heavy soil substitutes such as perlite, vermiculite, and peat to fill pots. In addition to being light, these substances help plants retain water and absorb nutrients.

climbing plants

Trellises form the backbone of many urban farmhouses. Not only will it provide support for your plants, but it will give your neighbors and yourself some privacy. Use the trellis in conjunction with your pots. Examples of good climbing plants are:

• Grape Vines: Vigorous growers, but may need a couple of seasons of pruning to produce grapes.
• Cucumbers – Easy to grow from seed. Tie the stems to the trellis to offset the weight of the cucumbers as they develop.
• Tomatoes: Very popular plant. It grows well in large containers with good soil.
• Melons – Training your melons to grow vertically keeps them off the ground and reduces unsightly damage.
• Scarlet Bean: Prolific bean production and attractive red flowers.

support structures

Although climbing plants and vines are natural candidates for vertical gardening, you can buy or build simple structures to grow many other plants vertically. All you need is something to give it height, such as walls, trellis, or posts. Secure the pots, containers or pockets of your choice to the vertical structures. Fill with potting soil. If your indoor space has an industrial feel, bring that same sensibility to your outdoor space. Build your trellis or planter box out of copper plumbing pipes. Use with climbing plants or smaller potted plants.

Plants to consider for your containers include:

• Herbs: chives, dill, basil, coriander, oregano, fennel, thyme
• Vegetables: spinach, Mesclun lettuce, kale
• Edible flowers: Nasturtium, Pumpkin flowers, Bee balm

Let your creativity run wild when choosing containers for your plants. For example, for a whimsical look, wear colored rubber rain boots. Insert holes through the soles of the boots for drainage. Tap holes two or three holes through one side. Drill holes through the latticework of your trellis. Attach the boots to the trellis with bolts and nuts.

High rise gardening offers some advantages over gardening in the ground. You don’t have to compete with tree roots, settle for poor-quality native soil, or worry about destructive moles. You can use your garden to get a bumper crop, display attractive foliage, or attract birds and butterflies with flowers.