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Nowadays, vertical flower beds are appreciated by the owners of small suburban areas, who count every meter of free space. Such an innovative look at the organization of gardening allows you to create a real green corner with your own hands in those places where, it seems, only a medium-sized flower pot can be placed.
Features of vertical structures
Vertical flowerbeds are three-dimensional structures stretched upwards and planted with various vegetation. In addition to the different shapes of the usual flower beds, these are arches, screens or topiary structures. Taking up very little space, such flower beds become a bright accent element of the landscape decoration of the site, also allowing you to cover up a fence or a blank wall that does not look very nice.
Such a vertical miracle is not difficult to do with your own hands, with not so much effort and some imagination. At the same time, it is often customary to build them from various improvised means: plastic bottles or pipes, worn-out car tires, geotextiles, bricks, wooden boxes, etc. When creating such a decor element, you should pay attention to the shading background. The best option in this case would be a hedge or an emerald lawn.
The advantage of such vertical structures is their compactness and variety of forms, which allows them to be used for landscaping areas limited in area. They differ in simplicity of arrangement and ease of care for planted vegetation. Isolation from the soil of the site prevents many pests from accessing the planted plants. When thinking about how to make a vertical flower bed on your site, you need to carefully approach the choice of planted plants, since in this case they will have a limited amount of soil at their disposal, and hence nutrients for development and growth. An ideal option for such flower beds would be the planting of petunias, sponges or marigolds. Growing, they create a bright beautiful carpet.
Petunia is especially popular for such flower beds, because for all its unpretentiousness, it has a delicate aroma and has a huge variety of colors and varieties, which allows each gardener to create a composition to his taste. Petunia care is quite simple and the plant is drought tolerant enough not to be afraid of the heat of the day. She does not tolerate only stagnant water. At the same time, petunia will delight the eye with its cascades of flowers with the onset of summer and right up to the onset of cold weather.
However, at the same time, vertical flower beds also have a number of disadvantages. The main ones are a small amount of soil for plants, which requires them to be fed frequently and regularly watered. You can correct the situation by installing a drip irrigation system or by adding a hydrogel to the soil. Also, such structures freeze through in winter, so they will need to be insulated, dismantled and transferred to a warm room with the onset of cold weather, or cold-resistant annual plants should be planted in them.
Video “How to make a flower bed for petunias yourself”
Video instruction with a detailed action plan for creating a vertical flower bed.
Create a vertical flower bed
You can create a vertical structure for landscaping a site with your own hands either by purchasing special ready-made containers in a large garden center, or interconnected planter modules, or using a variety of improvised means. In any of the selected options, you will need to fill them with nutrient-rich soil and plant unpretentious plants. An excellent option would be the choice of ampelous vegetation with long lashes. For example, for large containers collected in a pyramid, planting petunias of the Rambler or Opera varieties will give a beautiful effect.
From car tires
On the site, vertical flower beds made of such improvised materials as worn tires look very attractive. There are several ways to build them with your own hands. The simplest of them is the arrangement of whole tires filled with earth in several layers on top of each other. In each of the layers, the tires are shifted in a checkerboard pattern, opening up a plot in the lower tier for planting. You can create flower beds of any shape in this way. And by painting with resistant acrylic paint and adding some additional elements, you can even equip original garden sculptures.
Another option involves cutting the tire lengthwise into strips. Then the strips are folded into a ring, fastened with wire and covered with soil. The vertical structure is built in the form of a tower with such annular tiers placed on top of each other with a decrease in radius. The lower strip is slightly buried in the ground and a drainage layer of crushed stone or expanded clay is equipped at the bottom. By making a vertical structure of strips with your own hands, a tire with a woven or plastic cord can be cut with a sharp knife without much hassle. In the event that the tire has a metal cord, you will need to use an electric jigsaw and a file with a large tooth. You can cut such a tire with a grinder, but at the same time the rubber will burn, stink and spoil the tool quite badly.
From stones and bricks
A variant of the vertical structure is also the so-called raised flower bed, which came from England, which is arranged in a flower garden raised above the ground to a height of 20 cm and up to a meter. Usually it has a round shape and brick or natural stone is used for its manufacture. The flower bed is used as an element of landscape design and by itself, and also often serves as a decor for a barbecue area or a recreation area.
This kind of flower garden allows you to use any soil for plants, regardless of the soil on the site. Plants are also easier to care for because you don’t have to bend over. For planting, as a rule, annual plants are used, since the ground freezes in winter. The material used is able to emphasize the overall style of the site. So, brick is ideal for country-style decoration, and a raised flower bed made of stone can harmoniously decorate a regular garden.
From other improvised materials
For arranging vertical flower beds with your own hands, the easiest and most affordable way is to use plastic bottles. Before proceeding with the direct formation of the intended design, they must be thoroughly washed, the labels removed and the lids screwed on. There are many ways to use bottles. They can be cut in half, then wire fastened at the bottom for connection or hanging. After that, fill the upper part of the bottles with soil, slightly unscrew the cap to allow water to drain and insert it into the lower part.
From such plastic bottles, you can create a wide variety of designs of vertical flower beds with your own hands and decorate various surfaces. They can also be painted and painted with acrylic or spray paints. You can equip a solid green screen using plastic bottles by fixing them at some distance from each other on a fence or wall. In this case, for plastic bottles, a hole is cut on the side surface, and they themselves are located horizontally. The plants in them grow over time and cover the structure that is not very presentable in appearance, forming a continuous carpet. Since the amount of land in this case is very limited, you have to carefully select plants. So, for two-liter plastic bottles, you should choose plants with a small root system such as manthiolla, minitunia, lobelia, etc.
In addition to plastic bottles, pipes are good for building a vertical flower garden with your own hands. Such designs look good when planting very proliferating flowers, such as petunias or nasturtiums. The pipes are completely covered with flowers, turning into magnificent bright columns. It is also convenient to grow strawberries and various greens on them.
The design of such a flower bed provides for two plastic pipes of different diameters with holes made in them in a checkerboard pattern. The thinner one is inserted inside the wide one and serves to supply nutrients and water. It should be wrapped with geotextile, and wrapped with tape or foil at the bottom. The space between the pipes is filled with expanded clay drainage and soil diluted with baking powder such as vermiculite or perlite. Then the flower garden is carefully fixed in a vertical position. Plants are planted in the holes of the outer pipe.
Also, vertical flower beds are often created using a garden net. This DIY design is just perfect for showcasing the beauty of blooming petunias. In this case, a frame is made from the mesh in the form of a cylinder, inside which the geofabric is placed, and a pot is placed on the bottom, the diameter of which is equal to the size of the cylinder. Then the structure is covered with soil. Plants are planted in holes cut in the geotextile and on top of the tower.
Video “A selection of ideas”
Video selection of ideas for creating a landscape design solution – flower beds.
