Thursday, April 22, 2010

Vertical gardens, Backyard Herbs & Veggies and more!


In honor of Earth Day you better believe that I have a few posts up my sleeve pertaining to mother nature!

So here goes the first... Don't you absolutely love what you see in the picture above!? I do too!! It's a work of art made from nature.... made of various succulents to be exact! Oh me oh my!!!! You know I love succulents, so I'm thrilled that there's a step by step slide show for making one of these masterpieces on this website called Sunset (How to live in the West). For the full how-to guide on how to make your very own living wall art with succulents, visit this link: Sunset: Make Your Own Living Succulent Art.



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A while back my boyfriend sent me a very interesting article from the New York Times called The Rooftop Garden Climbs Down a Wall which talks about new technologies stemming from green roof technology which brought us the concept of rooftop gardens. Yup, now rooftop gardens are creeping down walls thanks to Barthelmes Manufacturing Company who has developed edible walls that are basically metal panels containing soil and seeds hung vertically. As a new offshoot of green roof technology, these edible walls provide a thick layer of vegetation on the outside of buildings which in turn provides added insulation and helps reduce the costs of heating and electricity. In addition, they sure are an attractive and ultra space saving way to grow a garden, not to mention a very healthy habit in the way of food. These days, with the way our food is fumigated with pesticides, travels from thousands of miles away, even across continents.... there's just no way to be sure it's healthy unless you grow it yourself! I plan on doing several future posts that pertain to the food issue, I have A LOT to say about that. In the meantime, check out the article on these vertical edible walls!


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Here's a do it yourself version, Make a Vertical Garden Tower ...with how-to video, check out the results:


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I also liked the image below which is featured in another how-to article from the Sunset website called Edibles in Boxes....


I really love having fresh herbs, at the moment I have a large strawberry pot stuffed with Parsley, Basil and Thyme and it's thriving, but some day I'd love to have my own yard so I can grow as many fresh herbs and vegetables as I can fit! This will definitely be on my mind until then... in the meantime I want to get another strawberry pot for some additional herbs. However, for those of you that have the space, here are some other great ideas for how to grow your own herbs and veggies at home....


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