Have you always wanted a garden but didn’t think you had enough outdoor space? How would you like to grow your own ‘salad wall’? Not everyone has access to large garden spaces and cities are becoming more crowded and dependent on apartment living. By 2050, almost 80% of the earth's population will be living in urban areas.
Vertical pallet gardens or “green walls” are an innovative solution that has become quite popular! They are easy to create and very sustainable. Imagine being able to create a decorative succulent wall near your front door, or being able to have fresh vegetables right on your balcony! Vertical gardens help to reduce the carbon footprint by filtering pollutants and carbon dioxide out of the air, which improves our air quality.
Not only is pallet gardening fun and easy, below are a few benefits:
- use your space more efficiently
- conserve water
- decrease insects and disease
- reduce the need to weed
- eliminate back pain by decreasing bending which is easier on your back, knees, and hips
Wood pallets are a perfect choice for your green wall. You can often find them for very little money, or even for free! You can choose to lean or hang your pallet on a wall or fence, or make a stand to hold it. See this video for a variety of pallet gardening examples.
When selecting plants for your vertical garden, choose plants with a shallow root system: lettuce, tomatoes, strawberries, cucumbers, arugula, spinach, chard, dwarf peas, parsley, bush beans, and kale. Herbs like rosemary, thyme, and basil are also perfect for pallet gardening as well.
It is important to know the right type of pallet to use. If you decide to grow food plants, use a pallet that is stamped “HT,” which means heat treated. This type of pallet does not have chemicals that can leach out into your garden. If recycling a used pallet, kill any bacteria that may be lurking inside by scrubbing down the wood with a bleach solution and then soapy water and let it dry before planting.
If you choose to line all 4 sides of the pallet with landscape fabric and cut holes in front for your plant, complete steps 1-3 first. If you choose not to, skip to step 4.
- Lay your pallet down horizontally, and use a staple gun to adhere landscape fabric to the pallet.
- Once you have 3 sides done, fill the pallet with potting soil. Press potting soil down firmly.
- Staple the last landscape fabric to the front of the pallet.
- Transfer your plants while the pallet is still lying flat. It is a good idea to leave the pallet laying horizontally for 1-2 weeks to allow the young plants to take root.
- When watering, start at the top and water each section a little less because the water will seep downward to the bottom of the pallet. Water frequently as plants will dry out quickly.
- Fertilize your plants, as recommended specific to your plants, to provide them the nutrients they need to grow.