deweymn

I great minds think alike. Well similar anyway. Im here in hot sunny Florida and the sun can be hard on roots in black pots. I canÂt grow tomatoes or peppers in ground. Bad thing happen there. So I decided to go with containers and to use shredded leaves as insulation from the sun. Basically I have sunk my pots into a cold compost pile. I made a 10Â long by 4Â wide by 14" high rectangle for one and another one in the shape of a hockey stick (or sock if you want) that is 36" high and about 14Â long and 2.5Â wide. It is this one where some vertical gardening is combined with the container gardening.

The tall one started out with a

to get the most from my space and the available sun. I then decided to use 36" tall wire fencing for the sides and metal t-posts to hold the fencing in place. I dug a little ditch for the fence to sit in so the finished height would be about 30" tall, as 36" was too much for me. It looked like {{gwi:81736}} empty. (looking northwest) I then {{gwi:81739}} and sunk the pots.

from early May. The cucumber vines are planted at the base with pepper plants and tomatoes in pots up top.
from a few days ago. The cukes are producing great now. Tomatoes and peppers are growing good but not much picked yet. Those crooked green trees things growing behind the setup prevent me from getting a good photo of the north side. I planted Black eyed Susan vines into the side of the composting leaves. They are growing great. No soil per say, just partial compost. Jigged a hole in the leaves through a fence opening and stuck Âem in.

One thing which is happening as expected is that as the leaves decompose, the pots settle lower and lower, which is fine. It sat for three months before planting, so settling had already occurred with more to come. When the plants were small, they were closer to eye/hand level. Now as they grow taller, the pots keep sinking down lower and lower. I like it, but might not do that next time, as they donÂt sink totally straight. ItÂs hard to keep the tomato cages vertical. IÂll put blocks under them like in my other set up.

Another thing I worry about, for no reason so far, is that my virgin potting medium is touching composting leaves, so bad things have a path into the pots. I donÂt think it will be an issue, as the leaves will be new each year, so I can rotate my leaves instead of my crops. Nothing will transfer from one year to the next.

As far as drainage goes. I do have a few plants with yellowing of lower leaves. I think this is normal, but I wonder if they drain well enough. Most of my plants look great, so thatÂs probably not a factor.

Slightly off the vertical topic, but similar raised bed photos:
{{gwi:81735}}that hold the pots up, no matter how much the leaves settle. As the leaves settle, the pots become exposed to more sun, so I just add more leaves.

Lasagna bed prepared in the background.

{{gwi:25386}}

I hope I get some

out of this.

Good luck

Vance

Vance
I love your last bed with (what looks like) recycled shutters used as the outside frame. What a great idea to make a bed for people who can't bend down or in wheelchair.
Just fill with soil/medium and plant. No digging needed.
I also like your privacy hedge so the neighbors won't complain.
Wish I had one so I could do as I want in my yard without the Gestapo HOA getting on my back.
Thanks for the photos.

naplesgardener
Yeah, rhey are the old shutters I took down when I painted the house last year. They were semi-sturdy, but had some bad spots, so I went with new ones after the repaint. I hate wasting things. They are doing fine filled with composting leaves, but they might not be strong enough for actual soil. I didn't like the blue paint, as it no longer matches the house, but I didn't want to bring more paint into the equation, so I left them as-is.

The hedge is illicium parviflorum (Anise). Almost 11 years old (east-west 60' section) with the small north-south section almost 6 years old. I love it.

Thanks.
Vance

Nice going. I got some ideas from your setup. I went with peas and beans above my planter type box. Then, a neighbor had an old mattress spring he was getting rid of. Probably from a full size mattress. I put this up on the garage wall above a long planter box and put in peas and beans. Didn't look so great at first but now the plants are climbing right up the springs and metal frame. It makes picking easy too.

If I had the space I would sure like to incorporate your setup and I think I can work something out for next year.

Happy eating.

Suggestion, you can grow blueberries in 20-inch diameter containers, larger is better. Perennial sunflowers work well as do buddleia, (must use 24-inch diameter container or larger). Good luck.

Hey folks,

I assume that growing things this way would be especially good for someone like myself that wants to "take it with her" when she moves, such as, renting a property vs owning it.

What do you think?

Thanks

Flo

I see this post is over a year old. Have you completed it yet?