You might be wondering whether this is just another fad created by urban gardeners or whether this system actually provides some amazing benefits. After all, when you’re going to invest your time and money in anything, it better be worth it, right? While it’s true that vertical gardens have been highly popularized in mainstream media, this hype is the real deal. While vertical plants existed, the cost-effective methodology introduced using these systems provide its owners with some real benefit. Heck, I’ll list down 14 reasons why you should definitely invest in a vertical plantation system.
Maximize your space
The most obvious benefit vertical gardening provides is space. There’s only so much land available when it comes to horizontal gardening. Sooner or later, you’ll end up reaching the end of the patch — and let’s be real; it won’t look so great either. Your garden may end up looking like a clumped up mess. With vertical gardens, however, you’re actually freeing up space and organizing your plants more effectively. There are no limitations to how much vertical space you have or at least no limitations that you won’t be able to cross. With proper planning, you can have an efficient system that is more powerful than your average garden.
Make room for beauty
While horizontal gardens can be pretty classy and beautiful, vertical gardens can help enhance that beauty. Since you’ll be going into your project with more space, you’ll be able to plan and construct your garden with more attention to detail and be able to create beauty, instead of simply adjusting it. Everything from arches, gazebos and pergolas can be utilized for your yard’s aesthetics. Not to mention, layered pots, containers and walls can give you the flexibility you need to make your creativity come to life. Whether you want something classy, chic, traditional, loud or soft, vertical gardening can be customized to achieve the look you want in the space you have.
Provide natural protections
Since vertical gardens can be propped up against your home’s walls, you’ll be adding on an extra layer of protection and security. A vertical garden patch can shield your home from harsh weather. If you’re living in a rainy zone, you’ll find them great paint protectors; they’ll take in water instead of allowing your walls to get ruined by a shower. Nourishment for them, protection for your walls — it’s a win-win situation. Likewise, for those living in high heat areas, they can protect your paint from direct, high UV rays. In the long run, they’re a part of a cost-effective solution to your house’s maintenance.
Provide other kinds of protection
Hedges have been long used as separators in lawns as a means to increase privacy. But they’re not exactly the best method out there. They require constant care, and you need to be very precise with their trimming for them to look aesthetically pleasing. Nor are they exactly giving you any privacy when it comes to keeping conversations private. Vertical gardening gives you the same utility at a much lower cost. You’re able to get some privacy — which can be productive and/or beautiful. But there’s more: You’re not just providing yourself with shade. Plants will also provide a noise reduction effect; so you’ll have all the privacy you want, without a dent in your pocket.
Act as natural insulates
Saving costs for home maintenance doesn’t stop with being a simple protector. If you want to increase energy efficiency in your home, vertical plants are great insulators and can really help you save some money whether you live in hotter climates or cooler ones. By layering your home with plants, you’ll get some very effective, natural insulates. If you’re living in harsher environments, this just might be the thing you need. You don’t necessarily need to cover your entire wall with plants, but have pockets, plants or slabs attached to a wall to reap your garden’s insulator-like benefits.
Cast natural shades
When placed outside and against the upper window sills (or as a barrier wall), such gardens can act as natural shades. You can even cleverly use plants to create interesting and beautiful shadow illusions at different times of the day. An added benefit? You’ll get a unique, beautiful view of your surrounding as well.
Cover up those unseemly walls
We all get them from time to time. Wear and tear are common inside and outside any apartment or house. Whether indoors or outdoors, vertical gardens could be used to hide unpleasant wall features. In fact, you can go one step further and beautify the area instead of simply covering it up. If you’re not into growing organics, using flowers would be the perfect thing to add a dash of colour and class to your home. Customize flowers to go with your room’s look and nobody will ever know there’s a bad wall behind all that beauty.
Grow more, better crops
Now, if you’re into vertical gardening for its agricultural benefits, you’re getting plenty of those. In fact, you’re probably better off with vertical gardening, than if you used a traditional horizontal system. One of the best features being the amount of well-grown crops you can grow within your fixed area. As previously stated, you’ll have more room available. Which in this case, can be used to grow more organic food. That said, that’s not the only benefit for at-home, small farmers. You’ll be able to provide each yield with better nutrition focuses on the requirements of each batch. Some plant batches sometimes require a little more nutrition than others. Using this method, you won’t need to mess up any other plants to help one particular plant grow.
Can be fashioned into a cost-effective separator
As discussed above, vertical planting can be used to create indoor separators as well. Not only are these more cost-effective than regular walls, but you’ll also have more flexibility with your walls as well. Since this divider is flexible, you’ll be able to adjust your room’s size or placement of the divider according to your preference. And unlike other pre-made dividers, its noise reduction ability gives your room the same feel it would have with a regular wall.
Improves air quality
There’s no better feeling than taking a whiff of O2. The freshness of your air has a relaxing, motivating effect on you. Not just that, you’re actually taking away bad indoor odours. Plants will absorb Carbon Dioxide, as well as formaldehyde.
Saves the world
Might seem like a bold claim, but it’s our individual efforts of curbing the harmful impact our lifestyle has brought to our ecology. As previously stated, vertical plants act as natural insulators and they’re able to provide high amounts of pure oxygen. But we can go one step further and be environmentally friendly with the materials we use. Repurposing items to create your garden helps reduce costs to recycle them. Soft drink bottles and old boxes are often repurposed as pots for such plants. This not only helps save the world with what you can, you’re actually increasing what you can do with these plants. No need to style them up in traditional beds or pots — be as creative as you like and help improve your ecology, as well as your garden.
Saves money
Some of us just don’t live in environments or zones where planting is possible. It might be costly to create the proper soil, and it would still need constant treatments. Vertical planting can fix that problem. Instead of using your unusable soil, you can buy some dirt at a cheaper price than your treatment. A greenhouse can be built to place vertical plants inside, so you’re able to control your environmental conditions. Tailoring things is sometimes much more effective than treating pre-made things, so if you’re in such a predicament, do give vertical gardening a shot.
Protects your crop with ease
Much like controlling a plant’s nutrition or its environment, you’ll be able to protect your plants from animals as well. No birds, pests or pets to accidentally (or otherwise) ruin your plants. Not to mention, you’ll be able to protect your gardens from getting weed infestations and be able to manage them better as well.
Gives healthier plants
All these conditions help optimize plant growth, but the nature of vertical gardening automatically allows for better plant health. For plants that need it, the height can provide them with proper sun exposure and air circulation it needs to grow healthy and strong.
Can be educational for the children
Children are our future, and our planet needs more plants on it to balance the harm we’ve done to our ecology. By having a creative, fun looking garden at home, you can get your child interested in seeing green, and really help promote green values. It’ll be an investment that will pay out for generations. As you can see, vertical gardening is by no means a fluke or a bargaining method. You’re getting more benefits than what traditional gardening methods provide and increasing your chances of yielding much better results. Now, many individuals get into vertical gardening for its decor nature, but as we’ve mentioned, it can be a great tool for growing organic foods as well.
