Building your Own Vertical Hydroponic Garden

Building your own gardening system can be an interesting and satisfying project resulting in a versatile, inexpensive garden where plants flourish.

For do-it-yourself types, EasiestGarden.com sells hydroponic garden plans for the home gardener who wants to grow lettuce, strawberries, flowers, herbs and other small plants. We recently had a look at the plans for building your own vertical hydroponic system. The final product is a four tube vertical garden that is quite attractive and functional. If you are looking at wall (vertical) gardening, these plans are excellent as they can be scaled to your own requirements.

The package consists of a DVD and a booklet. The booklet summarizes the video but also has an itemized parts list which is quite helpful and expands on a few points such as fertilizer, maintenance and best crops to grow. The 45-minute video takes you from beginning to end. Video quality is good and the individual presenting is knowledgeable and clear in his demonstration. The audio is adequate but you will have to pay attention at times. Also at times references are made to lines being drawn on the tubes – you can’t see these in the video, but it really doesn’t matter as the presenter explains these steps clearly and it is accompanied by written instructions in the booklet.

While the hydroponic system itself is fairly simple to maintain, the construction of the system does require a bit of skill. I would call it an intermediate project – if you are a weekend handyperson, you should have no problems. In the video, the project is built by one individual; however, a second set of hands can make this project much easier. Tools used include: a circular saw, a heat gun, scissors, carpenters square, and a cordless screwdriver. If you don’t have these, the project will prove a little more difficult.

The parts are easily found at most large hardware stores, however, we did have some difficulty tracking down the 4”, thin-wall tubing. In our city of slightly less than a million people, we were able to locate only one source for these. You may be able to get them online but be sure to check out the shipping costs as the 10-foot lengths required may make that an expensive option. In the booklet that comes with the DVD, the authors also suggest checking out your local plumbing stores.

I like that the video also touches on how to prepare the perlite medium and plant seedlings as well as tips for day to day maintenance. There are also plenty of ideas for modifying and expanding the system to suit your needs.

Following these plans, you will end up with a very efficient and functional vertical garden which is also aesthetically pleasing. The very first hydroponics system that we ever built was an interesting process of trial and error, that produced nice results but it certainly could have been simpler with a step-by-step video such as this.

For more information and to purchase plans, visit EasiestGarden.com.