Edible Balcony - Green Wall Goes Up

The big day has arrived! I'm having a vertical green wall installed that can accommodate up to 15 herbs and salad greens.

This is Jock. He's a horticulturalist so I can't show you his face.

Jock's company Junglefy has spent the past 2 years perfecting their ecoVert domestic green wall planting system. I am one of the first people to trial the ecoVert as it is still not commercially available. It will be soon though. 

It consists of a super-light recycled plastic shell that is mounted on a wall.... and tray-like modules with holes for the plants to sit in.

The plants and planting medium are held in place by a bag that allows water to pass through but holds the soil in tact

Junglefy developed a planting medium that delivers plants support and nutrients but is lighter than soil. It contains coconut fibres, perlite, organic matter and a slow release fertiliser.

It has sufficient nutrients to support plant life for 5 months. You can then start adding a water-soluble fertiliser into the water reservoir.

Each compartment needs to be packed firmly with the growing medium making sure it gets into all the corners. Make a little incision into each pocket and you're ready to start planting.

Feverfew, Some chives, Spanish sage , Mint Julep

Plant in alternating holes so the seedlings have room to expand

Now give them a good water

And screw compartments into the Ecovert shell

It takes a little time to get the hang of it but by the time you do the second compatment you're an old pro.

The ecovert has a water reservoir and pump at the bottom that is controlled by a timer (silver box to the left). The timer needs fine tuning so I'm hand-watering for the time being. But eventually the Ecovert will take care of the plants with only a little pruning now and then required from me.

Well that's the herbs planted.... now the lettuces...

So by making use of a disused wall and saving on floor space at the same time I've managed to plant 15 new edibles.

From the top down and from left to right they are:

Warrigal Greens - Mignonette lettuce

Feverfew

Watercress-Sorrel

Butter lettuce

Vietnamese Mint-Japanese Greens

Sage

Tatsoi-Cat Nip

Zataar (oregano)

Chives- Red Coral lettuce

Mint Julep

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Over the next few days I'll be monitoring the plants carefully. We get strong winds up here quite regularly which the plants will not take kindly to - especially the long-leafed varieties. Also, there won't be a lot of direct sun on this East-facing wall until the end of March.

How will my new tenants survive  in the big city?

Stay tuned.......