How do I make my own greenwall?

Hi,

If you'd like to make your own greenwall I recommend you start at the first post (click this and scroll all the way down to the bottom and read up). That should answer all your questions. After you read all the posts if you still have questions feel free to comment on a post or email me.

Good Luck,

Matt

Great DIY Greenwall Info in Danish

Per wrote to me to share his blog (in Danish) on his experience making a greenwall. He did a great job documenting his process and his wall turned out really well. He wrote to ask me about my basin. He's using a plastic storage container as a temporary basin. As I have mentioned before my basin is made of expanded PVC. If I could do it again I'd use stainless steel instead. PVC is not a great material for the environment. That said to answer Per's question my basin is glued and screwed together. I'm not sure exactly what glue was used but I did find a PDF for expanded PVC that has a table with acceptable glues. If this blog helped you make a greenwall please send in your photos or any questions that you have.

Brianna's Question

Brianna wants to build a wall of basil for her restaurant:

Hello! I am going to be building a greenwall of basil in my restaurant and have been scouring over your instructions. I have a few questions for you. 1.) For watering the wall, should you have just one tube at the top of the wall or a few tubes running horizontally at different levels? My wall is going to be about 10 ft. tall. 2.) I clicked on the link to "Jungle Walls" and they suggested using a "non-woven polypropylene geotextile fabric", which looks as if it replaces the moisture retention mat. Do you know anything about this material and if it would in fact work? It's much cheaper than the moisture retention mat, so I was just wondering! Thank you so much for your help! I'm really looking forward to putting my greenwall up!

For watering on a 10ft wall one tube across the top should be sufficient. Gravity will do the work. Almost any non-woven synthetic will work. Some fabrics will retain water better than others. You'll need to adjust your watering accordingly to suit your plants. You may want to start with a 2x2 test square before you make your wall. See what works best for basil. That way you aren't losing many plants as you work it out. Good Luck, Matt

Adrian's Wall in Uruguay

Adrian wrote:

(This is) the first green wall in my country, Uruguay. South America.. i study architecture and i took on the challenge after seeing it in france.

Looks like a beautiful and ambitious wall. Well done Adrian!

Patrick Blanc Presentation at the Academy of Sciences San Francisco

Found this over at Nori's site. I feel like I ran across it once before but I neglected to post it. Don't think I even saw the whole thing. Looking forward to it. So here it is for anyone else who missed it.

Patrick Blanc: The Vertical Garden from California Academy of Sciences on FORA.tv

My Youtube Account Hacked/Canceled. Greenwall Time Lapse Reposted

Last week my youtube account was shut down. As far as I can tell it was either hacked or closed due to copyright infringement (I was using music I didn't own on one of my videos). I reposted my time lapse greenwall planting video with music by Omniphobe; my friend Eef's band.

I need your help. If you know a blog where my old video was posted can you please let them know that I reposted it here. Thanks.



I also posted the video on the Internet Archive Community Video project so please feel free to re-post/re-purpose it.

http://www.archive.org/details/DiyHowToMakingOfPatrickBlancStyleGreenWallVerticalGarden

The original video is still posted here.

http://vimeo.com/4267171

Sophie's Questions

Sophie asked some questions about getting a wall started:

Hi Matt,

I´ve read your blog with great interest and I have some questions on the construction of a green wall meant for the outdoor. As far as I can understand there is first a layer of treated wood or pvc, attached to that is a mesh of stainless steel and the comes the fabric. And here is my question. I´ve been looking at the MRM, but to me it doesn´t seem thick enough for cutting and putting in the plants? How thick is it? And does it only need one layer? Does the cutting of the holes go the whole way through?

Also when the plants are out into the holes, are the roots then cleaned for dirt?

This was just some practical wondering that I hope you may be able to help me with.

Best regards

/Sophie

Here are the answers to your questions Sophie:

1. The first layer is the frame. Usually that's made of aluminum or wood. Then there's a waterproof layer of plastic. Lately I have been using recycled corrugated polyethylene sheeting; 2 sheets 6mm thick layered to make 12mm.

2. Click here to see the MRM that I use. It is 3/16" thick and in my experience has been thick enough. I have seen some Blanc walls that have used an even thinner material. The material is stapled to to the plastic in two layers. The cuts for pockets are only made to the first layer.

3. The dirt from the pot is left around the roots.

Because you are making a wall outside you should also consider adding a plastic woven or pierced layer behind and in between you MRM sheets. See this post for more info.

Good Luck,

Matt