Growing a vertical garden and foil the cats !

A Vertical Veggie Garden - easy to do !

I came across this idea and think it is just brilliant! :-)

If you don't have the space, or like me a household shared with cats, then planting and growing a proper vegetable garden is an issue. Solution - re-purpose your shoe organiser !!

This solution gives you an alternative for the space issue and solves the problem of cats littering and soiling in the vegetable garden.

So what do you need:

• Hanging pocket shoe organiser (preferably canvas type)
• Pole and attachments (curtain pole or pipe fittings, screws)
• Strong metal hanging hooks 
• Compost of a good quality moisture holding type
• Selection of plants or seeds... e.g. mixed leaf salad, herbs,sorrel, peas, mini tomatoes
• Piece of wood (5cm x 5cm) and as long as the width of the shoe organizer to keep the base of pockets  away from the wall
• Planter box, this will catch drips from organiser - Plant with herbs / veg

Hanging Vegetable Garden

Full instructions and sourced from  www.instructables.com

Step 1:

Attach a strong pole to a wall.
Curtain rods, wooden broom stick or any other suitable strong pole or rod can be used.
Make sure it is high enough to leave space for plants in the planter box to grow

Attach pole to a wall

Step 2:
Hang the shoe organiser.
Use strong hooks to hang the shoe organiser.  They must be able to carry the weight of the organiser, wet soil and plants.

Hang organiser on pole attachment

Use strong hooks

 Step 3:
Test water flow and drainage
Pour water into the pockets to check the drainage, if the drainage is not sufficient, poke a few holes in the bottom of the pockets

Water drainage test

Step 4:
Fill with compost
Use a good moisture retaining compost. to ensure the water does not pour out, fill the pockets to about 5cm below the pocket rim.

Add compost

Step 5:
Add plants or seeds
Plant seeds or seedlings.
Suggested plants:
Herbs - Thyme, Chives ....
Leaves -  Mixed salad leaf, spinach...
Peas - Petit pois peas
Tomatoes - cocktail, minibel tomatoes

Plant seedlings / seeds

Step 6:
Add a drip aid
Using the piece of wood, place at the bottom back end of the organiser to make sure the excess water drips directly into the planter box

Drip spacer

General and Maintenance:

• Water slowly to ensure that you dont wash the soil and plants out of the pockets
• Find out if your plants will need fertilizer and add to the soil as per instructions i.e. tomato
• Salad leaves can be picked and eaten and re-picked, but don't over pick in one go
• Watch out for pests and treat when spotted
• Replace dead / unproductive plants add fresh compost to the pocket and replant with a new plant / seed

Full instructions and sourced from  www.instructables.com