Inside Urban Green

Vertical Gardens: Count The Ways To Make Them

Here is yet another way to make a living wall (aka vertical garden, green wall). This one is a cleverly done aquaponics planter. It has a fish tank below it. Check out the step by step photo instructions.

Harking back to my days in the interior plantscaping business, my big concern is that many people who make gardens like these may not have experience growing plants in low light interiors. I don't see any sign of auxiliary lighting in the photos. This is tricky business. I see many "brown walls" in the future. 

Figure out how you are going to arrange your plants first. Here we’ve chosen Alocasia (elephant ear), Nephrolepis (fern), Scindapsus (pothos), Ficus pumilla (creeping fig), Chlorophytum (spider plant) and Asparagus.

via urbangardenmagazine.com

A Kennedy Valcent Video Plug

How much magic still remains in the Kennedy name? We may find out since Robert Kenndy, Jr. and Stephen Kennedy Smith have associated themselves with the Valcent VertiCrop hydroponic system.

This video was my first opportunity to hear them both plug Valcent. I wasn't particularly impressed with these interviews but recognize that their family name still has clout in the marketplace. Have a look and see what you think. Are they persuasive?

VertiCrop Will Be Growing Fresh Salads In Hong Kong

I think of this VertiCrop hydroponic growing system as a giant "salad spinner". It doesn't really spin but it sure does rotate and it will soon be growing fresh salads in Hong Kong, one of my favorite cities in the world. It's New York east to me, make that Far East.

Valcent, inventor of the system, has signed an agreement with VF Innovations Ltd. (VFI) to install one VertiCrop demonstration system and then form a joint marketing venture. After Hong Kong, who knows where else the giant salad spinners will be growing fresh food in China.

via www.marketwatch.com

VANCOUVER, BRITISH COLUMBIA, Jun 16, 2010 (MARKETWIRE via COMTEX) -- Valcent Products Inc.  today announces that its wholly owned subsidiary, Valcent Products (eu) Limited signed an agreement to supply a VertiCrop(TM) high density farming system to Hong Kong's VF Innovations Ltd. (VFI), a new company specifically created to foster innovation in vertical farming. Valcent is currently in discussions to form a Hong Kong-based partnership with VFI to manufacture and distribute the company's vertical growing systems for the Peoples Republic of China (PRC). 

Vertical Gardens: Root Wrappers Look Like A Good Idea

This looks like an excellent idea from Plants On Walls in San Francisco. Although I haven't product tested them, I like the fact that the roots have an "anchoring medium". All of this is evocative of the green wall maestro Patrick Blanc.

via plantsonwalls.com

Root Wrappers keep the roots protected and moist, and the dirt contained. Use them in the pockets of our Vertical Garden Panels where the water-absorbing fabric wicks water around the root ball. Great for changing and arranging your plants and keeping collections that are portable and easy to handle because the dirt is completely contained. It's a whole new way of thinking about gardening.

Woolly Pocket Vertical School Gardens

Woolly School Garden from Drew Falkman on Vimeo.

I must admit that this is a school garden idea that is growing on me. Pun intended.

Although I've yet to product test Woolly Pockets the concept obviously relates to the needs of space short city schools.

Like sub-irrigated planters (SIPs), Wooly Pockets do not require breaking up paved surfaces and they avoid the risk of contaminated soil. This makes a lot of sense that so many dirt huggers seem to ignore.

I need to do some hands-on work with them to experience their horticultural functionality. I'm also very interested in their portability. Can they easily go home with teachers or students over the summer is the question? It appears that they can.

via latimesblogs.latimes.com
Website: WoolySchoolGarden.org

From an L.A. Times blog...

I’ve been smitten with Woolly Pockets ever since they came on the market in the spring of 2009. The fuzzy, brightly colored planters create an instant vertical garden without any complicated construction. Just fill the pockets with dirt, pop in a seedling or some seeds, and water. They're simple, they look great and they're green -- made of recycled plastic bottles.

Link Vertical Community Gardening In Our Future?

Call it what you like, vertical garden, living wall or green wall Lushe in Australia is most likely going to be on top of it.

This post is about a clever idea meant to be the basis for "community gardening". I'd love to see a system like this along with sub-irrigated planters (SIPs) become a reality in the community gardening movement.



Do they ever need some new thinking? My observation is that many of them are homes for Luddites when they should be encouraging people from all lifestyles including technology.

Catering solely to dirt huggers makes a mockery of the word community.

via www.lushe.com.au

Vertical Gardens Around The World

This site presents a most interesting collection of photos showing the diversity of vertical gardens (aka living walls, green walls) around the world (mostly Europe).

The descriptions are brief so you will need to do some searching for more information about those that interest you. Nonetheless, the collection is impressive and adds much to the subject.

Vertical gardens are obviously a significant urban greenscaping movement. For one thing, they could revolutionize the interior plantscaping industry.

via www.verticalgardendesign.com

Green Walls Around the World: Check Off Nova Scotia

If we're building a green wall (aka living wall, vertical garden) to go around the world, check off Nova Scotia, Canada. Well, not all of it, but at least one wall at the Nova Scotia Community College (NSCC) Centre for the Built Environment in Dartmouth.

It's great to see these young people stretching their minds and experiencing something other than a horticultural world of dirt and drain holes. Well done NSCC! 

via www.greendiary.com (see more photos)

Not only will the green wall (living wall), installed at Nova Scotia Community College’s (NSCC) Center for the Built Environment, bring a shade of green to the Waterfront Campus, it will also create habitat for numerous creatures and purify the air as well. Laden with no less than a 7,000 plants, the wall will be a breathing canvas that changes with every season.

A New Green Wall In The UK: Yet Another First

It seems as if there is a new "living wall" (aka green wall, vertical garden) "first" at least once a week. Is the planet destined to be covered with green walls?

This one in the U.K. has the distinction of being temporary. It's part of the construction fence, or hoardings around the new Library of Birmingham building. 

Although not quite portable, this living wall will move on to another construction project when the library is completed in 2012. Then it will be relegated to being the second, third, or who knows what place "hoardings living wall" in the world. Alas, such is life in our fast changing, fifteen minutes of fame world.

via directoryofbirmingham.com

The Library of Birmingham is set to demonstrate its green credentials before it is even built with the introduction of a world first – a ‘living wall’ on the site hoardings in Centenary Square.

Kuwait’s 360 Mall’s Vertical Garden

Gavin at Living Wall Art posted a cool photo spread of the vertical gardens (aka living walls, green walls) in Kuwait's 360 Mall. Have a look.

via www.livingwallart.com

The Gardens in the 360 Mall is the only place where you can find a vertical garden in Kuwait. The garden centre also boasts Japanese Koi, reflecting pools, cafes and seats on warm wood decks.

Since introducing the new vertical garden, the 360 MALL has been attracting many visitors across the country and from around the world. The zone is surrounded by glass walls which allows the sun’s rays to penetrate the mall’s surroundings providing a naturally beautiful scenic view.