I've been thinking about vertical gardens lately. I have two walls in mind where I think they would be perfect. I want our backyard pool area to feel lush. A good chunk of the surrounding pool space is all concrete. To give this space a lush feel I think a vertical succulent garden on the wall of our carport, facing the pool would do the trick.
This is the wall I'm talking about. I will talk about the sail and the Dodger seats on a later post.:
The second wall is the one facing south in the back grassy area. I have two predicaments here. First, I'd like to grow veggies and herbs but I don't want to take up ground space. I want to leave our lawn intact, to a certain extent, so the kids have a place to play.
Second, because our home was built in the 50's the walls have no insulation. This south wall gets beat by the sun all year around. We've debated with getting into the walls and pumping some eco-friendly insulation but we know the electrical needs to be looked at and possibly redone. Both D and I calculate that we need an EXTRA $12k of "catastrophe" money the day we decide to break into the walls. We think we'll find some really messed up electrical thanks to the people who did the previous remodel.
So, my solution to these issues is to build a green wall about a foot away from the house. I'm nervous about building right on the wall because of the creatures and water. I'm not sure just how much of either will permeate through the walls. Also, building a trellis of sorts a foot away will allow airflow between the veggies and the house. I can grow my veggies vertically and it'll create a sort of insulation and shade the house from the sun.
These are some pictures and websites I found in my search for inspirations.
Wooly Pockets of course.
Patrick Blanc this man has done some seriously amazing work. I think he is the man behind the original idea. He's a French botanist.
The Stir has this post about the topic.
NY Times article with history and in-depth look at the subject.
Labels: garden
