One of my favorite and easiest DIY’s we tackled years ago was this vertical garden on our fence using gutters. It is the perfect DIY for a beginner and a great way to add greenery to a small space. When we moved into our house, we had planned to use the courtyard as an extended dining room for alfresco dining on warmer nights. While the idea was good- the cinderblock retaining wall and our lifestyle (two tiny kids at the time) didn’t jive with those plans. We needed an area to relax and play so we created a lounge area. To hide the unsightly fence and cinderblock wall we added the vertical garden.
This project was originally completed before I started blogging, please excuse the terrible photos!
Supplies
What you need for this DIY: (this post contains affiliate links which means I make a commission on your purchase through these links)
2×4’s for support
Wood screws
Drill to make drainage holes
How we Installed the Vertical Garden/Gutters
We started out by attaching the 2×4’s to the fence posts for support. This way we could screw in the gutters in multiple places and not worry about the gutters buckling.
We added drainage holes to the gutters by drilling holes. Our gutters are 120 inches wide and we spaced out and added 7 holes in each. After adding the caps on the end of each, the gutters were screwed to the 2×4’s.
Originally the gutters were home to succulents. This worked for a few years but the succulents grew too large for the area and it became cluttered. We recently added flowers, herbs and also stained the fence black. It really makes the vertical garden pop against the contrasting fence. The stain color is called charred gray from Valspar.
If you are considering adding a vertical garden to your backyard or patio, I recommend it!
With love,
Shahla
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