When it comes to creating a garden specifically for children, half the fun is in the planning. Here’s where your family’s style, your garden’s conditions, and your region’s climate come together in your backyard. There are plenty of tools to help you with the latter two, but when it comes to designing a garden that reflects your family’s personalities, you’re the expert.
Try to incorporate some of everyone’s suggestions, even though your kids insist on a three-story tree-house and a pond with a cave that can only be reached by swimming. They’re implying that they’d like a lookout and a hideaway.
Start small (and expand): A simple design is to divide one-foot squares with paths, adding as many as you like in whatever pattern fits your room. Blocks, bark mulch, newspaper covered in straw, or even boards may be used to create roads. In each square, the children plant something unique. The layout is neat and easy to use. Circular gardens are also enjoyable. With the roads, slice them like a sandwich.
Plot the garden: Once you’ve figured out the basic form, draw it out on graph paper, one square equal one square foot. Add paths first, then any systems you have in mind.
Plants should be chosen last. But before you do, remember the following landscape considerations as you fill the patch of land:
- When deciding on a venue, consider the inside out. Place the garden/play area where you can see it from your kitchen window or other frequently used rooms.
- Take a look both up and down. Be mindful of any power lines, pipes, septic systems, or other current restrictions before digging.
- Make your own room. A fence or wall provides protection and establishes boundaries for children and their belongings.
- Choose the products carefully. They should be resistant to rust, decay, and rough treatment. When wet, the surfaces should be comfortable and clean for bare feet but not too slick.
- Make room for yourself. Make paths with a minimum width of 2 feet.
- Make a garden for family get-togethers. Is there no room? At the very least, make space for the children’s outdoor lunches. You don’t need to create a deck; in a country yard, a simple fire pit for roasting marshmallows or a canopy in the corner of an urban lot would suffice.
- Make the yard adaptable to the children’s changing needs. Is it possible to dismantle the playhouse and transform it into a teen game room in the future?
Where will your vertical garden be grown?
A vertical garden has the advantage of being able to be grown almost anywhere. Your vertical garden will flourish, whether it’s on a garden wall, an indoor wall, an exterior wall, a balcony, a free-standing screen, a pool fence, or a rooftop if you get the right plants for the right place. It would be best if you tended to edibles, annuals, and perennials as long as you have a blank space that requires beautifying.
Selecting the Best Plants
In order to have a successful vertical garden, you need to choose the right plants. A little research into what’s best for your place will pay off. Consider the following plants:
Vegetable and herb gardening
Plants that are ornamental and showy aren’t needed in any vertical garden. Vegetables and herbs can be grown vertically as well. Most people would confess to wanting to grow their own crisp vegetables and tasty herbs at home if given the opportunity. However, when you’re working with a small amount of room, it’s a little more difficult.
Choosing the best location
Plants with similar ‘habits’ and rates of growth should be mixed together in general. It doesn’t take a genius to figure out what would happen if you put a slow-growing plant next to a fast-growing plant.
Since gravity draws the water down, plants that don’t need a lot of water should be planted near the top of the greenhouse, as this is where it will dry out the fastest. Plants that thrive in wetter environments should be placed at the bottom of the structure.
Getting your garden started
For a few weeks, you should grow your vertical garden horizontally to allow your plants, herbs, and vegetables to develop themselves in their new setting. If you’re using a wooden pallet or a container with panels, start by laying them flat and then planting them vertically.
Your plants’ still-fragile roots will not have to deal with gravity dragging your soil down. After the plants have built themselves, hang them on the wall or on the structure of your choice.
For city dwellers, urban gardening is a great way to learn about gardening and plants. This can be a beneficial hobby for both children and adults.
The bottom line
As technology advances, we become more and more reliant on it; we spend the majority of our time interacting with it, which is detrimental to our bodies as well.
For city dwellers, urban gardening can be a good source of recreation.
