Garden Towers grace this town (Bloomington, Indiana). Here’s the one at Willie Streeter Community Gardens.

These are all wonderful DIY ideas for urban gardening. But nothing beats the Garden Tower, a product my son Colin has invented which snugs 50 plants in a tiny space and creates its own fertilizer with worms and your vegetable scraps: gardentowerproject.com.

Thinking Outside the Box: Vertical Planters

April 27, 2012
Guest post by Lily Ellis of Birch + Bird
The temperatures have been slowly rising and it’s been so fantastic to get outside and enjoy some sunshine lately, sporadic though it may be! These April showers have been encouraging our garden beds, hedges and trees to sprout new life and blossoms but we have several planters on our newly stained patio that are noticeably bare. The raised vegetable boxes that we planted a couple of years ago don’t get nearly enough sun in our lower yard so I’ve been on the lookout for easy and affordable ways to start growing herbs and maybe even some vegetables up on our deck. We’ve all seen the beautiful succulent frames and walls floating around out there but why not switch it up a little and plant lettuce and herbs on the vertical instead?
I love that most of these are DIY projects that could easily be accomplished over a weekend and they’re perfect for smaller urban patios as well. Not sure what to plant? I love lavender for its scent and purple flowers…it also acts as a natural mosquito repellent, which is a bonus! Check out this Country Home Top 10 list for more great container options whether you’ve got a shady spot, full sun or something in between.

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