| Hi, I recently got an idea for a compact garden layout. Using large 32 ounce styrofoam cups and cheap plastic cup holders, I have a dozen plants arrainged into a vertical layout. There are three clusters of four cups, Each level is off-set by 45 degrees. The cost is less than $10 dollars for the materials. The cup holders are available at wal-mart priced at 1.65 for a set of 4. They are 4 inches wide, but can expand to 5 inches on the top. I used dry wall screws through the tab normaly used to hook over the car window frame in normal use. It extends 2 inches out from the frame of the holder. This allows the bottom of the holder to be swing in to the vertival support to cause about a 15 degree outward pitch of the cup axis allowing the plants to grow away from the vertical support. I used a 1 inch pvc pipe for the my vertical support, but will be using a plain old 2X4 on the next one. The bottom end of my support is buried, but I might try setting one in a bucket of cement so the whole array can be moved around when needed. I have some pictures via the link below. I found the large 32 ounce cups at a sams club, but any resturant supply store should have them. I punched holes around the base of the cups for drainage. I got this idea from a commercial strawberry grower design, but it was very expensive, but very nice. The best thing about this cheap version is that the cups can be removed from the cluster without having to disturb the plants. chuck |
Here is a link that might be useful: vertical grower design
