It was a time when banks were handing out cheap money for any project, work was plentiful and wages were, annually, on the increase. It was a time when Supermarkets were tempting you with cheap plastic patio furniture and six burner gas barbecue grills. Salesmen were calling door to door offering to landscape your garden with fountains, imported limestone flagstones and Italian tufa volcanic rock, framed by decorative pebbles from around the world. So you got your rear garden area upgraded to the status worthy of any ‘person of modern means.’ Yes we put our hands up; we are all guilty of dreaming delusions of grandeur as charged.
Now, with an increasing positive focus on the healthy eating of fresh vegetables, we now do not have enough earth exposed to sow a head of lettuce or an onion, not without having to ‘root up,’ some of our very expensive garden landscaping, fixtures and fittings, or do we?
Have you ever thought of ‘farming,‘ your garden wall? Well it is not as stupid as it sounds and same can really enhance visually the colours in your garden, see the picture above.
All you need is some deep Aluminium or PVC House Gutters secured to a wall as shelving, to grow lettuce plants, scallions, beetroot, parsley and shallots etc.
Note: Not suitable for the growing of long rooted vegetables, such as carrots or parsnips.
Tips:
- When securing your Gutters to an unplastered brick or stone wall, spray the unplastered area with heavily salted water a few days beforehand, to remove any small snails that may be using same as a daytime hiding place.
- Purchase and install a few extra support brackets, as these Gutters will be supporting soil or peat moss, moisture, plus the weight of the produce you intend to harvest. (One bracket every 3 ft should suffice.)
- Allow for drainage by means of a few drilled holes every 3 ft and water your growing produce in the late evening.
Remember Gutters and Brackets are available from all leading Hardware Stores here in Thurles (Stakelums, Ronayne) and can be ordered to your precise measurements. For Seeds, Onion sets and Lettuce Plants (Latter subject to seasonable availability) drop into Frank Roache, Liberty Square or Thurles Co Op on the Templemore Rd.
Surprised that Gutter Manufacturers are not looking to support new ideas like this, to boost flagging sales, caused by the building slump. Come on guys waken up, call in the design and marketing team, or do I have to do all the work?
George: what a brilliant idea. Who ever came up with this idea should patient it now because if the idea gets here I can assure you someone will come on the TV gardening show making thousand of dollars telling us its there brilliant idea.