Now that the kitchen is mostly done, I have been working on finishing up the last few rooms on
the first floor and my latest has been the sunroom just off the kitchen. This might be my favorite room
because it gets so much light and I live for the sun. Anyway, it is kind of a multipurpose room - it serves
as a little relaxing/minibar/plant area.
Due to it's proximity to the kitchen, it is great for a spill-over entertainment area and as far as the plants
went I knew that I wanted to grow a lot of herbs to cook with.
I had been eyeing the
wall planters at Williams-Sonoma, but I am a cheapskate and knew from past research
there was quite a lot of DIY "living wall" supplies out there, so I decided to make my own. The Williams-Sonoma one
is also pretty small and I wanted mine BIG.
Luckily, I think I found a similar if not the exact product used
in the WS version. It is called GroVert Vertical Wall Planter Kit by a company called BrightGreen. They are super easy to hang and use, which was
important to me. You can just buy one or many to create an entire wall of plants - I just used four. I had everything hung and planted in just a couple hours.
The slightly trickier part is if you choose to frame it,
which I did because it is also serving as a decoration, not just function. My frame was free (and recycled) because I made it out of pallet wood that
I had stripped last summer, so I nailed together a very simple, rustic frame/box. The only pieces I (hubs) had to cut were two small ones for the top layer
on the right and left sides. The frame didn't take me long either, but I also had the pallet boards ready and didn't have to cut them because they fit the
plant boxes pretty perfectly.
The only challenge for me has been the water to herb watering requirement ratio. Because you water
from the top and it trickles down, I am not entirely sure if all the plants get watered evenly. I
give it a good watering from the top but also spray lower plants with a spray bottle to make sure they are
getting enough. I stupidly planted rosemary at the very top which doesn't fare well with overwatering in my experience so
that is another reason for the spray bottle.
Wall Before:
Hanging Each Individual Planter:
Here are some basic Planting and Hanging Instructions that I performed.
To hang the frame I used two "L" brackets that sit under the top board so that I can easily move it on and off if I need to take
a planter down or water more easily from the top. I did drill holes over the top of every planter so that
I could water through it, but sometimes it is easier to just remove it.
