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| THE GERMINATOR |
This is a DIY that not only doesn’t take long, it doesn’t involve any tools at all and so is something I’m really pleased with. I’m always looking for new spaces to grow things in my garden but short of tine hover boards being invented in the next couple of weeks, I’ve always despaired at the lack of vertical space on which to hang things. I have a whopping 44 wall planters and hanging baskets and to be frank, I’ve run out of space to hang them (having been reduced to hanging them from sticks). I don’t want to fill the small patio we have with heavy pots because my toddler GarlicBoy needs somewhere to play and we need somewhere to sit. So I started thinking. What if I put some pots on skateboards and just wheeled them about into the house whenever I needed the patio? The idea wasn’t entirely ludicrous but it clearly wouldn’t be worth the effort for just one pot. And that’s when it hit me. A hanging rail! A heavy duty one would provide me with a considerable amount of growing space in the form of four hanging baskets, two large herb planters and a large trough planter and best of all, I could wheel it out of the way in seconds when I needed to use the patio. I think there’s space on the market for a proper one of these (I call it “The Germinator”, patent pending of course…) as they’d be very useful on balconies as well I should think. \
You will need:
1 heavy-duty hanging rail (check the weight limits) Mine is 3ft long
Heavy duty chains and some steel rope
Various hanging baskets
Two large wall planter bags
One balcony trough planter (designed to sit on a rail)
How to:
1. Put the hanging rail together and, using the steel rope, tie the hanging baskets to the top back to back
2. Slide the chains in between the bags and over the rail so that they hang down and hook the hanging basket hooks through both sides of the chain
3. Put the trough on the base and secure it well (I used electrical tape) to the rail so it doesn’t slip off
4. Fill the bags, trough and baskets with whatever you want to grow
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| Herb bags secured to top of hanging rail |
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| Hanging basket hook threaded through two chain links |
I chose to use three of the baskets for hanging tomatoes (something I can never get enough of) and the trough has a couple of dwarf bush cucumbers in it. One of the baskets has a bunch of sacrifice French Marigolds (and another sneaky cucumber) in it and the two huge herb bags have basil and various types of mint respectively. I love growing herbs (hence my vertical garden for them) but I didn’t want to use a whole raised bed for mint or basil. This means I get a large enough supply of both without losing a bed I could use for things like squash.
A side note: the hanging rail is obviously carting quite a lot of weight so do be careful around pets and little people. When our garden is open, my rail is securely wedged in next to the playhouse where my toddler and/or cats can’t get to it to pull it over on themselves.
London to Land Girl 