If you are a shopping centre with an 'edge' it seems you need a green wall or a living wall.
The latest public display of a vertical garden is at the Anthropologie store, Regent Street London (designed by BioTecture). Another one can be found at Westfield in London's west designed by Edaw .
If a visit to Anthropologie has inspired you and you want to create your own vertical garden or green wall and you can not afford
a Patrick Blanc- do not despair. There is a new
wall planter on the market that makes building your own green wall easy. The wall mounted planters are called Woolly Wally Pockets - often referred too as Woolly Pockets.
Woolly Pockets are sold in the UK by Garden Beet. A contemporary
garden accessories on-line shop.
The wall planters are shown in picture above and come in three sizes.
Your vertical garden can be a reality. Its not hard but you need to read the '
living wall instructions'.
The planters can be located on an indoor or outdoor wall and you can grow your own veggies in them too.
Yes they will need watering and a bit of normal gardener love but you will be off to a good start with Woolly Pockets. Plus they are made from recycled plastic.
The growing enviornment is specifically designed to promote plant growth. Due to the water saving design of the pocket less water is required than other vertical gardening systems. Plus these planter pockets are designed to enable a plant's root systems to breath and thereby be air pruned rather than becoming pot bound.
If that is too technical no need to worry - all you need to know is that the Woolly Pocket system gives your plants the best opportunity to grow and meet your design idea.
NEED FURTHER HELP ?
If you want to read my review on the curent debate surrounding the enviromental concerns of vertical gardens go to my article on
vertical gardens.
If you want to join a small friendly discussion group on green walls go to
Nats DIY Vertical Gardening. This group is like self help therapy for vertical garden enthusiasts.
Another great website on the mechanics of green walls or vertical gardens is by
Enviornmental Graffitti.
Oh yes there is also a shoe holder gardening movement shown on the Instructables web site. This is a great idea (it won the
gardening award) however there are problems with this design if you want your vertical garden to look good with time.
Namely : the shoe pockets will eventually go rank and mouldy as they are not waterproof. The stitching is likeley to give way with the weight of the soil. The plants have a small soil area and will therefore be limited in size and the root system will become pot bound.
Nevertheless I think it is a great idea if you just want to experiment for one growing season and a big congratulations to the Queen Inventor Pippa.
If you want Garden Beet to help you - please drop me a line via phone or email (details on website). I am a landscape architect and would be delighted to design and construct your vertical wall.
