It all started with the view from the kitchen window, which showed nothing but a fence. So, in January last year, I set to work with my Christmas present from Mr. Mouse and created my first mini green wall.
To my surprise and delight, my creation held up fairly well over the year. Yes, a few plants dried out. A few plants have gotten long stems, but altogether, it was fun to look out the window. Some plants bloomed. It was as lively as I had hoped.
Even at the time, I had thought that I wanted a little more green wall goodness eventually. So, after my plant exchange had blessed my with a very fine collection of succulent cuttings, I took the leap and bought two more green wall units, this time from The Urban Gardener. What's great about this batch of units was that
- they are cheap
- they are made from recycled materials (some kind of felt-like fabric)
- they are very light.
What was less great was that there were very few pockets. But I'm handy with a sewing machine and I made the transformation from 6 pockets to 24 in a few hours. After that, I mounted the pockets on the fence. Because this unit was so light, it was possible to use some simple hooks. The hooks also keep the unit away from the fence (and avoid mold behind the unit).
Then the fun began. I mixed some potting soil with some small lava rock--for extra drainage and to keep the weight down. Next, I filled each pocket 3/4 full with the soil mix. And finally, I collected my succulents and added them to the pockets and watered everything well.
I collected some extra cuttings from the garden - this was a great opportunity to just get creative and have fun.
I didn't get around to the second unit until a month later, but it was even more fun to prepare that - and by now, the view from the kitchen window was really starting to make me smile.
As before, the interesting question is how my creation will fare over time. But these two units have been planted entirely with gift plants, so even with a few losses, I'll be ahead of the game. And it will be fun to watch how things change as some of the plants - usually much bigger than the pockets - grow and have to be swapped out.
Who knows - maybe I'll even experiment with some native grasses and bulbs next year!
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