If you love the idea of growing your own veggies, but just don’t feel like you have the room for it, we gotcha covered. Vertical vegetable gardening is a way to make the best use of your garden space, and allow you to grow fresh fruits and vegetables for your family, even if your space is tight.
Whether you are just looking for ways to grow more crops in your existing backyard garden, or you need to find ideas to grow food on the tiniest balcony, we have a vertical vegetable garden project for you! Check out these genius ideas for growing up!
Vertical Vegetable Garden Ideas
If you are trying to grow vegetables on a patio, balcony, or tiny backyard space, the best choice might be to stop looking at the ground (or lack thereof) and start building yourself a vertical vegetable garden planter. These allow you to optimize your space even more than with typical patio planters (though we love them, too). You can attach these planters to walls, squeeze them into an odd corner, or hang them from the roof! These ideas will allow you to create a kitchen garden even in the tiniest of spaces!
DIY Modern Vegetable Garden Crate Planters
Our first project is a modern, space-saving DIY vertical garden from Chris at “Man Made DIY.” He grew veggies in it, but almost anything is fair game! I love the stylish, modern look of this one.
DIY Vertical Vegetable Garden From a Pallet
Learn some awesome pallet vertical vegetable garden ideas over at “Garden Therapy.” She has some great tips for finding safe pallets for growing food in, and for using them for more than just veggies, too.
DIY Vertical Vegetable Garden for Deep Roots
‘The Paper Mama‘ used wood crates to create this pretty rainbow garden that fits up against a wall, hardly taking any space at all! This vertical vegetable garden has space for deeper roots, allowing you to grow any veggies suitable for containers. Beans, tomatoes, even patio squash varieties.
Vertical Hydroponic Garden DIY
Create a vertical vegetable garden that stacks rain gutters into a frame to maximize your yield. Place this planter right outside the kitchen door for quick access to anything you might need for your culinary creations. This one is moveable, too! Find all the how-to’s at ‘Garden Gate magazine‘.
Vertical Vegetable Garden Trellis DIY
One of the tried and true ways to grow up is to use a trellis. This DIY garden trellis from ‘Finding Lovely‘, is exactly that, lovely! But it also can be used to grow vine vegetables in between regular crops to maximize yield. Peas, beans, cucumbers… These could even be used as tomato cages.
Space-Saving DIY Vertical Vegetable Garden
Make this three-tiered raised bed with these plans from “GardenTherapy,” She used this planter to create a viable growing space out of an awkward, tiny area. Side yard, anyone? Patio?
DIY Vertical Garden Ideas for Herbs
Herbs are a great option for vertical gardens because they don’t need lots of space to spread out, and it’s always nice to have a bunch on hand when you need them! Check out these vertical planter ideas for herbs – some of them can even be kept inside the house.
PVC Pipe Vertical Herb Garden
‘The Kim Six Fix‘ used PVC pipe and a 1×4 to create a wall vertical garden perfect for growing herbs, greens and small veggies like radishes or globe carrots. You can hang this from any wall, and make as many as you need. We love how she painted them pretty soft colors to make them an artsy part of the garden.
Cedar Vertical Gardens
Find out how to build this cedar vertical vegetable garden that is complete with a drip watering system from “Houseful of Handmade.” They are growing herbs, but this would be perfect for lettuce, spinach, radishes, carrots, cherry tomatoes… the list goes on my friends.
Angled Vertical Herb Garden Boxes
This cedar wall planter is the same idea but uses less floor space. This complete tutorial is from ‘Rogue Engineer‘, and is the perfect way to have a pretty garden when you really don’t have space to put down planters. Free plans and step by step instructions.
DIY Vertical Garden with Arbor
“Home Made Lovely” built an arbor support for their DIY vertical garden. I love these kinds of container gardens because they are so versatile. This could be all moss, ferns, succulents, herbs, or flowers. Use a color theme or all the colors you can. Either trailing plants or mounding ones, while having the same pot throughout ties it all together. Great tutorial!
DIY Vertical Herb Garden with Individual Hanging Pots
This vertical herb garden trellis wall from Carrie at “Making Lemonade” is perfect for adding some shade to a window with none, or just making fresh herbs easily accessible from the kitchen door! This is a simple project anyone can do with ordinary trellis from the home improvement store, and some Ikea pots. Plus, I love her theory on how important it is to take care of yourself! (So go read it, the whole deck makeover is so cute!)
DIY Indoor Vertical Garden Projects and Ideas
Looking for a vertical garden you can use indoors? Look no further! As long as these gardens get enough light, it’s pretty simple to keep a healthy vertical garden growing indoors. It’s perfect for herbs and greens – the closer they are to your kitchen, the more likely you are to use them!
DIY Lettuce Hanging Basket
Use a hanging basket and some sphagnum moss to grow a cut and come again DIY lettuce ball! This is not only a really efficient way to grow greens, it’s really pretty too. You could also grow certain herbs and other small veggies like this as well. Find this easy tutorial at “This NZ Life.” She also suggests this would make a great Christmas gift for gardeners- I love that idea!
Simple Indoor DIY Vertical Garden
Learn how to plant a vertical garden from “Front & Main,” the blog of “West Elm.” This project would look amazing indoors or out on a covered patio. Simple and awesome!
Indoor Vertical Herb Garden for Small Spaces
This one is outdoors, but it would do just as well on your kitchen wall! It takes up almost no space and keeps your herbs nearby, always. Get the tutorial from “A Beautiful Mess.”
Vertical Kitchen Herb Garden DIY
These gorgeous pots are both sleek and practical – who says you can’t have it all?! Get the details from “Inspired By Charm.”
Wooden DIY Indoor Vertical Succulent Garden
All you really need is some scrap wood for this one – the tutorial will spill all the secrets! Find all the details for this stunning wall-mounted design over at “Blesser House.”
DIY Hanging Planters from Upcycled Colanders
You know what makes an amazing indoor hanging garden container? Old colanders! They make surprisingly effective little hanging flower baskets. It’s a great way to upcycle – you can find all the details from “Country Living.”
Cheap DIY Vertical Garden Ideas
Don’t worry, you don’t need to spend much to create a functional vertical garden planter. You know we love finding ways to garden on a budget over here! Here are some ideas that won’t break the bank.
Upcycle Rain Gutters as Planters
These rain gutter garden planters from “Hunker” allow you to slip a little growing space anywhere there is a wall to hang it. You could also hang rain gutter gardens from roof eves with chain. This one looks sleek and modern, and you would never guess what it was made of.
DIY Garden Trellis from Old Pallet Wood
Use an old wood pallet to create a trellis with this idea by “Lovely Greens.” This can also be really useful with crops you need to get off the soil to prevent rot, like melon and squash. This trellis could double your growing space if you plant shade-loving greens underneath, as well.
DIY Trellis for a Raised Bed Garden
Raised beds are great way to grow healthy crops in a backyard garden. Especially if you use the square foot gardening method. But you can find even more growing space by growing up! ‘Frugal Family Home‘ used wire cattle panels to create space saving trellis’ to be used in their raised beds. They are sturdy and they last, and are inexpensive. They fold tight even when in use, so that they maximize space.
DIY Outdoor Garden with Arch
“Delia Creates” used a similar idea with cattle panels to utilize space between the raised beds… up in the air! Creating a trellis between the beds allows crops to grow up above the walking path, doubling the growing space!
Inexpensive Vertical Garden DIY Using Old Fencing
Got a roll of rusty metal fencing? Or do you already have a fence that could use a spruce-up? Punch holes in simple metal or plastic containers, and hang them onto the fence with an S-hook. Plant with your favorite flowers or herbs! Remember, keep the containers small enough so that the fence will hold the weight when they are full of soil. This awesome project is from Jill at “Sew a Fine Seam.”
DIY Hanging Garden from Upcycled Paint Cans
This DIY outdoor succulent wall garden from “Sugar & Cloth” was made using an unfinished handrail and used paint tins! And we love how clever this is.
DIY Vertical Garden Towers and Other Ideas
Garden towers, a different type of vertical gardening, are a great option if you’re looking for a fun addition to your garden. There are lots of different materials you can use (as you’ll soon see) and most of them are cheap or recycled – check out these vertical tower garden ideas for inspo!
DIY Garden Tower for Strawberries
This DIY Strawberry tower is from “Creating My Happiness.” We love how simple and inexpensive this project is, and that it takes up so little garden square footage. They used cheap 2×6 lumber, but fence boards would work too. This doesn’t have to be just for strawberries though!
Garden Tower Idea with Terra Cotta Pots
Terra cotta pots (you probably already have some!) and a piece of rebar from the home improvement store allow you to stack your veggies! This vertical planter tower adds a little touch of whimsy, too! Tutorial from “Budget 101.”
Hanging Planters and Baskets on a Ladder
Rachel at “Shades of Blue Interiors” wanted a pop of color for her small front porch. Her ladder DIY vertical garden brought that color to eye level and added charm to her porch as well! This is an easy project with inexpensive materials. The key would be an attractive wooden ladder! If you don’t have an authentically old one, consider picking up a cheap wood ladder at a home improvement store and staining it.
Succulent Frame DIY Vertical Garden Idea
Make succulent frames with this tutorial from “Sunset.” This is a fun project that can turn a patio or balcony space into a really special area, even if you have only concrete flooring (but we have tips to dress up those too)! Photo from “Sky Parlour.”
Customizable DIY Vertical Garden
Love this suspended garden idea from “The Heathered Nest” via “Remodelaholic.” This project is made with some simple pots and galvanized wire, and they walk you through it step by step. They even make suggestions on how you can customize it!
Cinder Block Vertical Garden Planter DIY
Make a cinderblock garden! You can visit our tutorial for our DIY cinder block planter to get all the instructions. This photo from “The Rainforest Garden.”
Maximize Your Gardening Space with DIY Vertical Garden Ideas!
I hope you come away with a sense that whether you want to build a vertical vegetable garden on a balcony or in your backyard, you can still get excited about growing food for your family! Check out our posts on Top Garden Seed Catalogs, DIY Raised Planter Boxes and Growing Seeds Indoors. Also, be sure to check out our posts on Indoor Vertical Garden Planters over at OhMeOhMy!