Get Out and PLAY Event – Day 19
For the past four summers I have been cultivating a small, urban vegetable garden in our backyard. The challenge was how to not completely take over our small plot of land so we could leave space for the kids to play, but to still be able to grow a substantial amount of food in the small space. This year we decided to look for vertical options, using space that has until now, been completely unutilized in our yard.
The answer was a Lakeland Mills Hanging Garden from ATG Stores that allows us to create a whole new dimension of gardening and turn everything we know about gardening {literally} upside down.
Hanging gardens can be planted in one of two ways – in baskets or buckets that take your container garden and suspend it, or upside down in planters that allow your plants to actually grow downward instead of up {often called inverted gardening}. With the Lakeland Mills Hanging Garden, you can plant either upright or upside down, and in a variety of different configurations to suit your garden, which makes it ideal for gardeners of all types.
Because we grow lots of tomatoes, vining cucumbers, beans, eggplants, peppers, and peas, we designated a portion of the hanging garden to upside down planting in large buckets, and then we did some herbs, lettuce and pepper plants in the tops of the buckets, maximizing the space for vegetables and herbs and giving them the best environments to flourish.
Steps to create a hanging garden:1) Purchase the Lakeland Mills Hanging Garden from ATG Store that suits your needs – choose from small, medium, or large. We chose the medium size which was perfect for our fence height and raised bed size.
2) Purchase 4-6 buckets with nice metal hangers. The buckets we bought were standard size and grade because we wanted them to match, but you can actually get free or cheap buckets at many restaurants.
3) Drill small holes in the buckets for drainage and large holes for inverted planting.
4) This step is only for inverted planting only: Starting inside the bucket, I worked the tops of our vegetable starts through the drilled holes, leaving the root ball inside the bucket all ready for fresh soil to be added to the top.
5) Hang the buckets by their metal handles by unhooking one side and re-attaching it once around the cross bar, and then fill 2/3 full with a mix of organic vegetable soil.
6) Add herbs and small veggie starts on top and fill to ¾ with dirt.
As an added bonus, if you are starting your planting early in the season {or happen to be having a cold spring as we are in Washington}, you can easily cover your vegetable starts by draping a cover over the hanging garden without damaging the plants inside. It’s a great way to extend the growing season and protect against unexpected spring frost, which would have been really nice this year.
How we designed our garden: We used 6 buckets for our garden and opted to use 3 of the buckets for inverted planting with plants on top and then 3 buckets that only have starts at the top. This was a good way for us to almost triple the space we had available this year by utilizing the tops and bottoms of the buckets as well as the raised beds below the hanging garden. While we could have easily added even more vegetables to the hanging system, we wanted to see how we did with a smaller amount first and will likely try even more next year to even further maximize its usefulness.
Another huge bonus of a hanging garden is that it requires less weeding and pest control than in-ground or raised bed gardening does. Typically the slugs get my lettuce in my raised bed, so I was really happy to raise it up out of harm’s way this year on the hanging garden cross bars. When the garden does need tending to, I also find that it is easier to care for the hanging garden as the plants are all higher and easy for me to reach without having to stoop or require knee protection. Since I was in a bad accident a few months back that gives me limited mobility, I really appreciate the ease of caring for the hanging garden this year especially.
Whether you are working with a small lot, a concrete or wood slatted space, or simply want to raise your vegetables out of reach of animals and pests, growing a vertical vegetable garden just makes sense. You can easily produce a good deal of fresh vegetables without taking up excess space or needing to give up your entire yard with this easy-to-use, and high quality system from ATG Stores. In addition to hanging gardens, ATG Stores has a variety of different items to help make your backyard your own oasis, including patio furniture, grills, and more. Whether you are looking to create a backyard “room” or a play area for kids and adults, ATG Stores is a great place to start your search.
Want to see what's top of my wishlist for my garden for next year? I will definitely be ordering this compact greenhouse from ATG Stores to kick start my garden next spring... or maybe I should just get it for the fall?
One very lucky Rave and Review reader will win a $100 Gift Code to spend at ATG Stores!
To Enter: Simply visit ATG Stores and tell me what set you would choose to spend your $100 credit on
And, as always, there are extra entries available!
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On July 22nd at 11:59pm PST a winner will be drawn via Random.org, announced here and notified via email. Winner will have 48 hours to contact me or a new winner will be chosen. Open to US & Canadian Addresses.
This giveaway is now closed. Thank you to all who entered and congratulations to:
Thank you to ATG Stores for getting us started with inverted gardening with the Lakeland Mills Hanging Garden as well as offering a $100 giveaway to our fabulous readers. All opinions are 100% ours and no form of monetary compensation was received in exchange for this Rave Review.
