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Student needing help on a vertical garden

cranky341cranky341 Posts: 1
in Problem solving

Hi, I'm a UK art student whose always been interested in gardening but has never had the opportunity to pursue it. I recently moved into a new house near my uni and in the process of redecorating my room decided I would build a feature piece in the form of a free standing vertical garden above my desk. So far the entire project has been done on a tight budget using only what I could acquire cheap or free. Left overs from the sculpture studio namely pallets, old decking, screws, wood glue and equipment on lease, have made up most the structure.

[current state of self standing vertical garden, waiting to be painted before the waterproof lining is installed followed by the pockets. The gaps at the bottom are for my laptop and printer to fit in once its installed on top of my desk.]

Once the structure is finished it should have enough pockets to hold 24 plants and two 600mm troughs at the bottom. I plan on using the troughs for my ever expanding carnivorous plant collection and would like the vertical section to follow in an accordingly rainforest/tropical fashion

[example photo; I'm particularly interested in displaying a different variety of plants, focusing on leaf size, shape, colour, texture and the way they fall. However I would also like a couple of feature plants with vibrant colour: Orchids, Bird of Paradise Plants, Ginger Lily, Wandering Jew Plant and Red Croton all spring to mind]

However I have very little knowledge on the names or types of plants that would go well together to achieve this. The room this shall be installed in only has one north facing window which boasts a highly obstructed view of the house next door. As a result my room receives little daylight although being next to the boiler is always warm and I would be happy to adapt the current structure to hold artificial lighting if it were an issue. Although as a student budget is a huge issue, currently the entire project has cost me around £25 and realistically speaking I only have another £30-£40 to spend.

Therefore I'm looking to answer the following questions;

  1. What plants should I be looking at buying?
  2. Where could I cheaply source such plants?

Thanks in advance for any help, its much appreciated

Posts

  • Hampshire_HogHampshire_Hog Posts: 1,089
    Try a few local florists they may have a selection of plants good one's don't just sell cut flowers these days.

    Orchids would be a good choice they are really easy to look after put them in a light open compost just water and mist occasionally I never use rain water just out of the tap and about every six week's five drops B Bio in 1lt of water.

    "You don't stop gardening because you get old, you get old because you stop gardening." - The Hampshire Hog
  • Kitty 2Kitty 2 Posts: 5,150
    My initial thoughts are don't put your laptop and printer in the gaps. I'd worry too much about any drips near the electrics.
  • DovefromaboveDovefromabove Posts: 88,147
    edited October 2018
    The big problem will be the very low light levels ... but most ferns should be able to cope. 

    Of course you’ll need to watch out for drips from your plants onto your electrical equipment ... your plants will need frequent misting so drips will be unavoidable. 

    Let us know how you get on ... could look amazing!  Best of luck, from a former art student  ;)

    Gardening in Central Norfolk on improved gritty moraine over chalk ... free-draining.





  • ju1i3ju1i3 Posts: 189
    edited October 2018
    My local garden centre has a skip where they put old plants - quite variable but if you go at the right time after they've had a clear-out you can pick things up. I'm sure officially they'd say customers aren't allowed to take from it but if you do it discretely you can do it without being noticed. I wouldn't do it at the weekend when it's busy. I picked up a couple of Begonia Escargot from it. That would probably be a good plant for your environment (https://www.rhs.org.uk/Plants/229799/Begonia-Escargot-(R)/Details)


  • AnniDAnniD Posts: 12,585
    Nice idea, but as others have said, water and electricity don't mix ! Is there anywhere you could put your printer and laptop so that there is no risk whatsoever of the 2 coming together? 
  • SkandiSkandi Posts: 1,723
    I would put the printer in a plastic storage box turned on it's side so anything that does drip down will not be able to get it, might not work quite so well for the laptop, but you can move that at watering time.
    Light is going to be your issue I think you will need to add light even plants directly in a north facing window struggle, orchids like phalaenopsis do like shade but deep shade will be too much.
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