(Nan’s note: A couple weeks ago, Michael tweeted that he was experimenting with a vertical garden this year at his home in Florida. I asked him to tell me about it, and he sent me this wonderful email that I have posted below. This is only his second garden, and I hope you get inspired by what a beginner can do! Michael will update me later in the season; he promised. Follow him on Twitter, or visit him at Animals.com. All photos are copyright ©Michael Pata.)
I have been thinking of doing a garden for a few years now. As I learned about pesticides, GMO’s, and bacteria in the food supply chain, I decided now was a good time for a garden. I was hoping to be able to add some control to what is in my diet.
I first looked at where would be the best place for my garden. I found a low spot off to the side of my view that turns into a pool during heavy rains. The spot was perfect except for it being a little low. I added a load of dirt to elevate the area. I then decided I would do a vertical garden along with a couple of rows in the ground. The vertical system would solve the low are problem if I did not put enough dirt down.
After looking at what is on the market and soooo many opinions I decided to build my own structure. I bought pots that I could stack on top of each other in a criss-cross fashion. Once I had my plans, I counted how much space I had and I went to buy organic seeds. I started my seeds in January in my Florida room and the clock was now ticking.
I drilled the pots so that water from the top would drip down to the next pot and continue till it reaches the ground. I also drilled a larger hole in the center for a stake I would drive down the center to hold the full stack in place. Each stack would consist of 5 pots as this is the maximum height for me to be able to manage while standing on the ground. I then went to the local mushroom farm and for $10.00 I bought a pickup truck full of compost. I brought this home and added garden soil to it. I mixed 1/3rd mushroom compost to 2/3 garden soil. I then filled my pots and created my 5 planting stacks each holding 5 pots. My idea was to allow me to plant in the corner of each pot so that in each stack I could plant 20 plants.
I then created 2 rows next to my stacks where I laid out a foot deep of my planting mix and each row is about 10 feet long. I created a frame wall over one of the rows where I draped plastic mesh down and secured it in place. I ran drip lines down my rows to conserve water and I ran a tiny plastic tube over to my stacks and placed a micro watering sprinkler at the top of each one. I wanted to conserve as much water as possible and get the most out of this small space I picked.
Now it was close to the end of February and my seedlings were all ready to come out. I was hoping I missed the last cold snap as I took all my seedlings that were a week or 2 overdue for planting and placed them in the garden. I planted a row of sweet corn. The row where I created the net wall I planted tomatoes, cucumbers, yellow squash, zucchini, and snap peas. In my stacks I planted romaine, Swiss chard, red leaf lettuce and on each of the top stacks I planted broccoli, cabbage and cauliflower. I then planted a cantaloupe to grow on the ground of the garden.
Needless to say my garden took off. 
I was amazed that:
> After 30 days after planting I no longer needed to buy lettuce.
> After 45 days I was giving away romaine lettuce while enjoying all the romaine I could eat along with red leaf and Swiss chard.
> After 60 days I was harvesting snap peas and cucumbers every week. Pic ~~~~~~>
> Now 90 days after I planted my tomatoes are coming online as is the yellow squash is about ready to pick and so is the sweet corn, broccoli and cauliflower. The cantaloupe is doing incredible and I have baby cantaloupes all over the place.
Lessons Learned
I have discovered a few things with this gardening thing I am now into that I have to revisit. I did not know that I should put down rocks 1st in the bottom of each pot to help with drainage. Now that my lettuce has run its course and I have some going to seed, I will take the stacks apart, place some gravel or rock at the bottom to allow for better draining. Although my watering system worked great and with very little waste water, my pots became impacted and were draining off the top instead of through the bottom. Next is the placement of my planted row with the net wall. I did not anticipate the entire wall filling up and will need to reinforce it for the weight it carries. So far so good. I cannot believe how much food I created from this small space and currently I have seedlings sprouted to redo my stacks with spinach, romaine, Swiss chard and red leaf lettuce.
Later this month I will be putting in backyard chickens and next year I will create an aquaponics garden where I recycle all my water and add fish to the mix.
{ 1 trackback }