I recently stumbled upon some articles on Gutter Gardening.
Yes, planting strawberries, some lettuces, and other shallow root plants in gutter material in vertical arrangement.
Instructions on construction from Lowes
Link 1
Link 2
Link 3
Link 4
Link 5
Link 6
Link 7
This idea is appealing to us because of the limited about of yard space we have for gardening. The lot is 0.31 acres but the house (1900sqft rambler), driveway (60ft long), and landscaping limit our options. The front yard faces dead east and has 4 large trees (3 cedar, one old douglas) and the backyard has a tall cedar toward the north third. The front yard is about 50% landscaped mulch and 50% lawn and gets partial shade so not a prime area. The backyard is fenced but there is a 15-20 foot wide strip of property outside the fence adjacent to the private back drive.
This strip, as it is south and west facing, is where we plan to install our raised bed gardens next spring. We have been conflicted as it didn't seem like we would have the space to grow all we wanted. My wife's parent's garden is 100' x 100' and we had a descent sized one when we lived in Ohio. But we have not gardened in the PNW yet. Specifically, we were having a hard time justifying strawberries due to their space but really want to plant a huge patch.
Anyways, when I stumbled upon Gutter Gardening I got excited as it seems perfect for strawberries and lettuces. As we have a long fence line (the one I am pressure washing and re-staining) the prospect of hanging gutter on the fence posts for vertical gardening is very appealing. Using 3 rows high I figure we can get about 250 feet of gutter that gets substantial sun. The pros of no slugs and rabbits is a big plus. Having the fruit hang for easy harvest and not get soil rot is big, too. Watering? 100' of soaker hose custom kit is $25 at Home Depot 10' of gutter with caps and hanging hardware will be in the $10 range. I may try 50 feet or so the first year to gauge performance but everything I have read is fairly positive.
Some of the challenges in my mind:
Finding affordable deep/wide gutter.
Wintering strawberries (stick them in our empty raised beds?)
Nutrients as I gather the shallow gutter with frequent watering could sap the soil.
Making it look good (paint my fence white?)
Whether to go with vinyl or aluminum gutter.
Any other considerations I am overlooking?
We are pretty excited to get our gardening going next year. We have settled on planting ~10 highbush blueberry bushes running north where our torn up water line is up front. Not sure what we are doing with the front mulch beds yet (maybe raspberries?) The south facing side strip of property between our fence and the wrap around drive will be raised beds (wood, probably polyurathaned). We like the idea of the gutter gardens on the fence. ~ 13 semi-dwarf fruit trees on the back strip facing west. And the front and fenced in back lawn are being rehabbed. Moss and Weeds are now dead (yay for Rid Moss and Roundup!) and we are scheduling 10-13 yards of top soil to properly slope and smooth the yard as decades of erosion and mole hills have taken a toll. Hooks from the eaves overhang are already in place on the south and west facing and we intend to do hanging baskets with mostly tomatoes. Not sure where we are going to put the asparagus patch. Wanted to get that in the ground this year as it takes time to mature.
I know that all sounds like a ton of work. We really enjoyed gardening in the past and with 6 kiddos growing as much as our own food is an affordable way to eat a LOT of healthy food. We don't have a TV so I need something to do in the evenings
But this year is mostly planning as we had some big projects like replacing the entry doors, dig up the water line, some plumbing I am working on, tore out a wall (cat box soiled), tiling an entry, etc. All my outside work has been rehabbing the lawn and salvaging the fence. So I have a good 10 months to work out the exact trees and plants we want.
Yes, planting strawberries, some lettuces, and other shallow root plants in gutter material in vertical arrangement.
Instructions on construction from Lowes
Link 1
Link 2
Link 3
Link 4
Link 5
Link 6
Link 7
This idea is appealing to us because of the limited about of yard space we have for gardening. The lot is 0.31 acres but the house (1900sqft rambler), driveway (60ft long), and landscaping limit our options. The front yard faces dead east and has 4 large trees (3 cedar, one old douglas) and the backyard has a tall cedar toward the north third. The front yard is about 50% landscaped mulch and 50% lawn and gets partial shade so not a prime area. The backyard is fenced but there is a 15-20 foot wide strip of property outside the fence adjacent to the private back drive.
This strip, as it is south and west facing, is where we plan to install our raised bed gardens next spring. We have been conflicted as it didn't seem like we would have the space to grow all we wanted. My wife's parent's garden is 100' x 100' and we had a descent sized one when we lived in Ohio. But we have not gardened in the PNW yet. Specifically, we were having a hard time justifying strawberries due to their space but really want to plant a huge patch.
Anyways, when I stumbled upon Gutter Gardening I got excited as it seems perfect for strawberries and lettuces. As we have a long fence line (the one I am pressure washing and re-staining) the prospect of hanging gutter on the fence posts for vertical gardening is very appealing. Using 3 rows high I figure we can get about 250 feet of gutter that gets substantial sun. The pros of no slugs and rabbits is a big plus. Having the fruit hang for easy harvest and not get soil rot is big, too. Watering? 100' of soaker hose custom kit is $25 at Home Depot 10' of gutter with caps and hanging hardware will be in the $10 range. I may try 50 feet or so the first year to gauge performance but everything I have read is fairly positive.
Some of the challenges in my mind:
Finding affordable deep/wide gutter.
Wintering strawberries (stick them in our empty raised beds?)
Nutrients as I gather the shallow gutter with frequent watering could sap the soil.
Making it look good (paint my fence white?)
Whether to go with vinyl or aluminum gutter.
Any other considerations I am overlooking?
We are pretty excited to get our gardening going next year. We have settled on planting ~10 highbush blueberry bushes running north where our torn up water line is up front. Not sure what we are doing with the front mulch beds yet (maybe raspberries?) The south facing side strip of property between our fence and the wrap around drive will be raised beds (wood, probably polyurathaned). We like the idea of the gutter gardens on the fence. ~ 13 semi-dwarf fruit trees on the back strip facing west. And the front and fenced in back lawn are being rehabbed. Moss and Weeds are now dead (yay for Rid Moss and Roundup!) and we are scheduling 10-13 yards of top soil to properly slope and smooth the yard as decades of erosion and mole hills have taken a toll. Hooks from the eaves overhang are already in place on the south and west facing and we intend to do hanging baskets with mostly tomatoes. Not sure where we are going to put the asparagus patch. Wanted to get that in the ground this year as it takes time to mature.
I know that all sounds like a ton of work. We really enjoyed gardening in the past and with 6 kiddos growing as much as our own food is an affordable way to eat a LOT of healthy food. We don't have a TV so I need something to do in the evenings
But this year is mostly planning as we had some big projects like replacing the entry doors, dig up the water line, some plumbing I am working on, tore out a wall (cat box soiled), tiling an entry, etc. All my outside work has been rehabbing the lawn and salvaging the fence. So I have a good 10 months to work out the exact trees and plants we want.
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