Free Gardening & Landscaping

Now that spring is here and you are ready to go out and do some gardening, here is a way you can go out and kind of spruce up some of your outdoor space with a really cute vertical flower garden that is put on wooden poles or dowels. This is a really neat way in which you can add some great floral accents to your garden area without using a bunch of space with those big pots or big flower boxes. This is a great way to utilize small spaces as well. This technique can be used well for even a small front or back porch where you don't have much space but what to have a little bit of a garden.

Before you begin you should know that this should take you around an hour to do. So, if you are considering taking some pots and painting them first to add even more color, you should paint them the day before so they will be dry when you need them. By the way you can make these vertical gardens as tall or as short as you want and you can make as many of them as you need. It's also a great project the kids can help with.

Things you will need to make your vertical flower garden:

• Wooden pole or poles/dowels. Make sure they are at least an inch across because they need to hold up under the weight of the flower pots. You can find these at any home and garden center.
• 4 clay pots for each pole (the amount depends upon how many little vertical gardens you want to make). The hole in the bottom of the pots need to be bigger than the poles.
• A minimum of 10 zip ties, this is extremely important.
• Flowers of your choice.
• Good potting soil.
• Paint if you are going to make the pots more colorful.

The instructions here are for a porch with a railing so the pots and poles can be secured. However you can do this on the side of your house or you can have a big pole and put it in the ground and build up from it. It's all up to what effect you are looking for. You also can paint your pole or poles and zip ties to match the color of your pots.

Take your pole and measure and cut it to fit nice and snug under your railing if putting on a porch. You can do this by putting the poles between the slats of the porch if you don't have any space in front of them.

Next take two zip ties and attach them very tightly to your pole or poles at the bottom around an inch up from the bottom of the pole. The ties need to be very tight so they don't slip down the pole when the flower pot is resting on the ties. After you have them in place you can then take your first pot and push it down to where the zip ties are and then tilt the pot just slightly to your left. Don't cut the ties yet, that's done at the end. Don't let the pot slip out of position before you get the dirt in it. It is easier to position things before the dirt.

Now put the soil in the first pot and then add your first flower. Make sure the soil is packed down tight around your flower. Make sure to put the flower in the soil at the same angle that the pot is tilted. You don't want to plant it pointing straight up in the air.

Next you will put two more zip ties right above the first bottom pot. This first tie is going to anchor the lip of the bottom pot and the second zip tie will anchor the next pot you put on the pole. Now you are ready to add the next pot and make sure that it rests on your highest zip tie and then tilt this pot in the opposite direction of your first pot. This one isn't going to be as sturdy as the first one until you get your soil in so hold it in place. It's a good idea to ask someone to help if you think you need help while you are filling it with soil. Once you've done this you can put in the next flower and continue on up the pole adding more pots, soil and flowers to whatever height you have chosen, alternating each pot as you go along.

Once you have finished adding all the pots and flowers that you want on your pole or poles you can then cut all the ties on the pole so they don't stick out because this would be unattractive. Put a little bit of wood glue for extra support on each tie if you feel more secure about it.

A really popular trend right now is having raised garden beds in your garden. There are a lot of different reasons why people prefer this type of gardening. One is that it lets you have total control over the soil and it is an ideal option for those gardeners that have yards that are plagued with bad soil or not the right kind of drainage. Also the border that is provided around the raised garden beds adds a nice clean look as well as a very modern look to any garden, it will also keep kids and pets from trampling through the flowers or vegetables you might be growing. They are also easier to maintain because they are raised and this means there is a little less bending and less strain on the back. Creating your own raised garden beds is actually pretty easy and if you set your mind to it you can have it completed in one day.

The first step you will need for creating your raised garden beds is to find an area of your garden that you want to put them. You want a spot that gets morning sun and afternoon shade. If you want a small family garden you might want it to measure 4ft by 6ft and then mark that perimeter with a chalk line. This size is just an example, it can be any size that you want it to be.

Once you have marked it out you will want to dig out the space designated for the raised garden beds. Even though your garden is going to be above the lawn you still will need to remove the grass from the area. So you will need to take a shovel and shovel away all the turf and a couple of inches of the soil in order to create a plot for your garden.

Next you need to have some gravel and pour a thin and even layer of it onto the plot you just dug out. This gravel is going to help suppress the growth of any weeds as well as grass. Flatten all of it down by walking on it to make a level foundation for your raised garden beds or bed.

Now you need to build the garden frame. Take a drill and some wood screws to connects boards together into a rectangular shape. Make sure they are the same size as the measurements of your garden plot you just created. You will need to screw in five screws that are about an inch apart from the outside of your 6 foot boards into the edges of the 4 foot boards making sure the corners are flush.

Take the frame you have created and put it on the plot and if then you can either make the plot a little bigger if the frame is too big or add back some turf if the frame is too small. You don't have to worry about redoing the frame itself. Once you have the frame down, take some of the turf you dug out and pack it around the outside of the frame to create a nice secure fit.

Once your frame is secured you can then take your garden soil or compost and put it in the frame. The 6 x 4 frame in these instructions will hold about 24 cubic feet of soil. Make sure to fill the frame up to within one inch or so of the top of the frame.

Now you are ready to either transplant seedlings or just sow seeds in your raised garden and enjoy the rewards once the garden grows and produces flowers and or vegetables.