Latest

Blog: Courtyard Vertical Garden Makeover Part 1

Vertical gardens are all the craze in landscaping at the moment, and Glam’s Kelly Noble is bringing you a behind the scenes look at a rather large wall she has being installed!

This blog has been written by Glam Adelaide’s Editor, Kelly Noble and republished from her blog: http://kelly-noble.tumblr.com

vertical garden

Before you get too excited, this amazing photo is simply my inspiration for what comes next.

When we bought our new house, we inherited a rather drab upper courtyard. It had all the right ‘bones’ to build something great, including a great shade pergola and a fertile lemon tree, but it was missing life.

We want to pull out half of the paving and put in some lawn, line the end of the yard with trees, and plant out the garden beds. But these things take time. Enter the vertical garden idea.

After a call out on Facebook, it seems that every man and his dog recommended Nick Thwaites and his brand new (to Australia) product Woolly Pockets. After a little research, we agreed that this was a great system and and an easy approach to ‘instant’ greenery, which would work in a limited space.

image

Woolly Pockets are living wall planters with a modular design. They feature a hard vented shell, a sturdy shape and are equipped with a self-watering tank. We chose the dark grey colour (each planter is around $40).

Below is a before shot to give you an idea of what we were working with.

image

The space on the fence from the lattice on the left, to the pot plant on the right, is our main view from the kitchen and therefore was the obvious location choice for our vertical garden.

image

This is just to give you some more perspective, on the obvious lack of life, and warmth in our courtyard. Other than the few plants down one end, it was a fairly barren place.

STEP 1. Build framework. 

Nick sent us an outline of how the framework needed to be created to fit our number (28) of Woolly Pockets. The frame needed to also have a flat surface on the front for the planters to be able to slide together. This could be a cement sheet, or any weather-proof material.

Luckily we know a very handy handyman who helped us whip this together in about an hour.

image

image

We pulled the ugly lattice work down and drilled this framework into the fence support frame.

image

image

image

STEP 2: Pick Your Plants. 

Picking your plants isn’t as easy at it may seem. Orientation, shade, wind, sun, all comes in to play. This is why Nick consulted with two amazing landscapers who gave us some options. Option one was a succulent garden:

image

 

The second garden plan was far simpler and used grouping to give visual appeal:

image

 

We went with option 2 and are now eagerly awaiting plants, Woolly Pockets (including the irrigation system they come with) and potting mix. We should be getting it any day now so as soon as we have an update I’ll let you know! Can’t wait!!!

This blog has been written by Glam Adelaide’s Editor, Kelly Noble and republished from her blog: http://kelly-noble.tumblr.com

More News

To Top