I’m always trying to find a way to add plants to my outdoor spaces. Since I’ve been focusing on our landscaping the past few weeks, I thought it would be nice to shift gears and focus on our patio when it comes to plants. Sometimes the hard part about incorporating plants on a patio is the limited space. But I have a great solution: creating a vertical wall garden.
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Rather than making ours free standing, we wanted to build one that would hang on the wall above our potting station. Not only would it allow us use our potting station more, but it brings a piece of decor to the patio that you can see from every angle. And as you can see, here’s what we came up with.
The best part? This is perfect for any type of space since you can build it to meet your custom measurements. So, how exactly did we build this vertical wall garden? Allow me to share our process with you!
Materials
- HomeRight Super Finish Max Paint Sprayer
- Exterior latex paint
- 1 x 2’s
- Brad nailer
- 1 inch nails for the brad nailer
- Wood glue
- Miter Saw
- Table Saw
- Kreg Jig
- Pocket hole screws
- Fence pickets
- Sander
- 60 grit sandpaper
- 1 inch screws
- Drill
- Dirt
- Flowers + herbs
- French cleats
- Concrete screws
The How-To
First we determined the size of our vertical wall garden. I had my heart set on a size that would give me an abundance of flowers but our vertical wall garden went through a few changes. We realized after building the original design (that you’ll see in the step-by-step), that the weight was just too much with using wood. We cut it down to a little over half the size and it ended up being the best decision! The final size is one that provides a huge impact but isn’t overwhelming.
We then cut out the top, bottom and two side pieces for the frame of our vertical wall garden using 1 x 2’s. Using a Kreg Jig, we drilled a pocket hole on both ends of the side pieces. We attached all four pieces together using pocket hole screws while also applying wood glue on the ends.
Next up we cut the remaining 1 x 2’s to fit on the inside of the frame creating a modern design. You want to look at these like the slats of the vertical wall garden. I quickly and easily attached them by using the kreg jig once again on the ends and screwing them into the side pieces.
Once the frame was done, we started on the planter boxes. We decided to build these out of fence pickets since they’re durable for weather conditions and a very affordable option. I used painter’s tape to map out the placement of the planter boxes and to help determined the size I wanted each one.
For each planter box we cut out two side pieces, a front piece, back piece and bottom piece. The boxes varied in length but were the same with the depth and height for a clean, overall look on the vertical wall garden. To make it simple, we used the width of the fence picket as the height for the planter boxes. We then cut the side pieces to the depth we wanted each planter box. For the bottom piece, I measured the inside of the box from left to right and front to back. This gave us an exact measurement for a snug fit which is best done with a table saw for this piece.
Using wood glue, I applied it on both short sides of the bottom piece and attached the side pieces using the brad nailer. Then followed the same method to attach the front and back piece. These planter boxes are really that simple to piece together. You just want to make sure you’re nailing the pieces into the side of the bottom piece so that it doesn’t show at the bottom.
This next step has to be my favorite because of how enjoyable painting projects have become. It wasn’t always this way and used to take hours to paint something like this. But ever since I invested in my HomeRight Super Finish Max, painting projects take a quarter of the time. Honestly, the clean up sometimes takes longer.
So, with my HomeRight Super Finish Max in hand, I loaded it with Iron Ore by Sherwin-Williams and painted the frame for the vertical wall garden and all of the planter boxes. The best part about this paint sprayer is that I don’t have to thin out the paint. I just pour, secure and go!
This is all thanks to the interchangeable tips it comes with (I used the green one for latex paint) and the 450 watts of power it provides. I’m sharing over on HomeRight’s DIY blog how I prepped and quickly painted this project if you’re wanting more of a detailed tutorial on it.
Once the paint dried, I planted my flowers and herbs in the planters. I figured this would be easier to do before I attached them to the frame. Once everything was planted, I held a planter box up against the top slat of each section and made sure it was level. As I was holding it in place, Ryan screwed it to the slat using a few screws.
With all the planters in place, we hung the the vertical wall garden on the wall using a french cleat that can hold 100+ pounds. Just remember to take your time with this step to ensure that the frame will be centered where you want it on the wall.
Even though there were a few learning curves along the way with this project, I’m beyond excited about the final look of the vertical wall garden. It’s the finishing touch I was looking for when it comes to this corner of the patio. Plus, it motivated me to finally decorate and utilize the potting station that has just been sitting there.
I’m looking forward to watching the flowers grow in abundance (if I can keep up with this summer heat and watering) over the next couple of months. I can’t forget about the herbs either that we’ll be using while we cook some fresh meals out here on the patio. There’s something about creating a pretty, yet functional, space that I just love!
The best part about this vertical wall garden is that you build it to fit your space. So yours may be larger or smaller than mine. Either way, I’d love to see it if you re-create it for your home by tagging me on social media.
Want to see another way I’ve used the HomeRight Super Finish Max for our home projects? You can check out our AC unit/trash can storage, side yard privacy fence, and our faux cabinet for the utility sink projects.
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