Vertical Gardening NZ: How to Grow Food in Small Spaces
Most gardens have more growing space than we realise.
We tend to look across a balcony, courtyard or patio and notice how little floor space there is.
We don't always look up.
A fence can support climbing beans. A sunny wall can hold herbs and strawberries. A narrow corner can become somewhere lettuce, basil and leafy greens grow one above another.
Once you start looking at height as growing space, even a small area begins to look rather different.
The simple idea: vertical gardening uses the space above the ground as well as the ground itself. For smaller New Zealand homes, that can open up some surprisingly good places to grow food.
Vertical gardening can be surprisingly simple
The words vertical garden can conjure up elaborate living walls covered in hundreds of plants.
It doesn't have to look anything like that.
A few pots fixed to a sunny fence count.
So does a shelf of herbs. A trellis with peas climbing it. A stackable planter filled with strawberries. Or a hydroponic tower growing upwards from one compact footprint.
What connects them is simply the decision to use height.
That makes vertical gardening particularly useful when you're working with a balcony, deck, courtyard, townhouse garden or a backyard where every square metre already has a job.
A few ways to grow upwards
Beans, peas and other climbing crops naturally want to head upwards. Give them something sturdy to climb and a narrow strip of ground can become remarkably productive.
Useful for herbs, leafy greens and strawberries, especially when you have a sunny wall or fence that isn't doing much else.
One of the easiest options. Pots sit at different heights rather than competing for floor space, and the setup can often move as the seasons change.
Several growing pockets share the footprint of one planter, making them useful for strawberries, herbs and smaller leafy crops.
And then there are hydroponic towers
Plants grow around a central tower rather than spreading across the ground. Water and nutrients circulate through the system, making this another way to fit more growing positions into a compact area.
The best vertical garden starts with the space, not the system
Before buying anything, spend a little time looking at the area you already have.
Where does the morning sun land?
Which wall stays bright into the afternoon?
Does that sheltered corner get more light than you thought?
And what happens when the Nelson summer sun hits the patio at three o'clock?
It's easy to fall in love with a beautiful vertical garden online and then try to squeeze it into the wrong position.
Plants are rather less interested in Pinterest than we are.
Light, wind, heat and access to water will usually matter more than how clever the setup looks.
Worth doing first: check your proposed growing area in the morning, around midday and again later in the afternoon. You may discover the best growing spot has been sitting there unnoticed.
Sunlight still matters when you grow upwards
Vertical gardening saves floor space.
It doesn't remove the need for light.
Leafy greens and many herbs are usually more forgiving and can cope with somewhat gentler conditions.
Fruiting plants such as strawberries, chillies and compact tomatoes generally need stronger light if you want good flowering and fruit production.
There's another small quirk with vertical gardens too: plants at the top can sometimes shade the plants below.
That doesn't mean every level needs identical sunlight. It simply means plant placement deserves a little thought.
Give sun-loving plants first pick
Strawberries, chillies and compact tomatoes generally benefit from the strongest light available.
Use the softer light too
Leafy greens and many herbs can make useful use of positions that receive a little less direct sun.
Instead of fighting the light, you start arranging plants around it.
Think about wind as well as sun
This one is easy to overlook in New Zealand.
A balcony may have fantastic sunlight but also catch every afternoon breeze coming around the building.
The higher plants sit, the more exposed they can become.
Lightweight pots can move. Tall structures can wobble. Leaves can dry surprisingly quickly on a hot, windy day.
If your growing area is exposed, choose a vertical setup with a stable base and position it somewhere sheltered where possible.
Wall-mounted systems also need secure fixings, especially once pots contain wet growing mix and mature plants.
Remember the finished weight
A planter that feels light when it's empty can become considerably heavier once it contains wet potting mix, water and mature plants. This matters particularly on balconies, walls and raised shelving.
What grows well in a vertical garden?
This is where vertical gardening becomes fun.
You don't need to fill every available space.
Start with plants you genuinely like eating.
Herbs are an obvious choice because you can pick a little whenever you need them. Basil, parsley, coriander, mint and chives can all earn their place surprisingly quickly.
Leafy greens are another good fit. Lettuce, rocket and similar crops stay relatively compact and can be harvested gradually rather than all at once.
Strawberries suit many vertical systems beautifully because the fruit can hang away from the growing surface.
Then there are climbing crops such as peas and beans, which practically volunteer for the job.
Depending on your system, light and available support, compact chillies, peppers and smaller tomato varieties can also work well.
Lettuce, rocket and other compact greens suit many shelves, planters and hydroponic towers.
Basil, parsley, coriander, mint and chives can give you something useful to pick regularly.
Naturally suited to pockets, hanging containers, stackable planters and towers.
Peas and beans make excellent use of a trellis and naturally grow towards the available height.
The funny thing is: a vertical garden doesn't need to produce baskets of vegetables to become useful. A shelf that regularly supplies the herbs you cook with is already doing a pretty good job.
Different plants suit different vertical systems
This is worth thinking about before you buy the plants.
A climbing bean makes perfect sense beside a trellis.
It makes considerably less sense in a tiny wall pocket.
Strawberries are happy spilling over the edge of a stackable planter.
Large sprawling pumpkins are probably going to have other ideas.
Vertical growing works best when the plant and the system suit each other.
For small pots and wall pockets, look for compact plants with relatively modest root systems.
For trellises, choose plants that naturally climb.
For hydroponic towers, leafy greens, herbs, strawberries and selected compact fruiting crops are generally the most useful choices.
You don't need to make every plant fit the garden.
Sometimes it's easier to let the plants tell you which garden they want.
Pots behave a little differently when they're off the ground
One thing people often discover after setting up a vertical container garden is that smaller pots can dry out quickly.
There's simply less growing mix available to hold moisture.
Add sun and wind, and you may find yourself watering more often than expected during warm weather.
That doesn't make container vertical gardens difficult. It just means it's worth choosing decent-sized pots where possible and checking moisture regularly.
The top level of a tiered planter may also dry faster than the lower levels.
After a while you begin to notice which plants ask for water first.
That's part of getting to know your growing space.
So where does hydroponic vertical growing fit?
For some homes, pots and planters will be the obvious answer.
For others, a hydroponic tower starts to make sense.
Instead of arranging individual pots upwards, plants sit around a central tower while their roots grow inside the system.
In a FlowGrow tower, a small pump moves nutrient water from the reservoir up through the centre of the tower. At the top, the Flow Cap distributes it into several gentle streams that cascade past the roots.
The plants take up the water and nutrients they need, while unused water returns to the reservoir and begins the cycle again.
Plants grow around the tower
Planting positions use the height available instead of spreading across a wide garden bed.
Unused water comes back
Nutrient water cascades through the tower and returns to the reservoir so the cycle can begin again.
One noticeable difference is that you're no longer walking around watering individual pots.
You still check the reservoir, top it up, add nutrients when required and give the system an occasional clean.
The gardening hasn't disappeared.
Some of the repetitive watering has.
See the full process in How FlowGrow Works.
Why hydroponic towers work particularly well in small spaces
The obvious advantage is the footprint.
FlowGrow towers grow 18, 27 or 36 plants upwards rather than spreading those planting positions across a traditional garden bed.
That can make a tower useful on a patio, sheltered deck, courtyard or in a bright indoor position where floor space matters.
There's no traditional soil to dig or garden bed to establish.
And because the water recirculates, unused nutrient water isn't simply draining away after every watering.
But hydroponics isn't a magic shortcut.
Plants still need enough light.
The reservoir still needs checking.
Fruiting plants still need stronger growing conditions than
