Have you considered building your own vertical garden, but feel overwhelmed by the amount of research and work required? A vertical garden kit might be the solution to your worries. These kits include everything you need (minus the plants) to create and install your own hanging wall garden in your home.
However, choosing the right kit for your dream vertical garden can seem overwhelming. Countless products exist, and some are much better quality than others. But we want vertical gardening to be an enjoyable, stress-free experience. To make things easy, the best options to help you navigate the world of vertical garden kits.
An Introduction to the World of Vertical Gardening
Vertical gardens come in many varieties, but most vertical gardens in the home are a form of decoration. If you’re living space is tight, or you simply prefer the aesthetic of a hanging garden, then a vertical garden is the best way to bring greenery and life to your home.
Some of the most impressive examples of vertical gardens are called green walls. These are a popular design choice for retail stores, office buildings, and malls outside of the United States. While you’re probably not going to install a green wall on the same scale as these, it’s a great way to introduce a vertical garden to your home.
The Benefits of Using a Vertical Garden Kit vs. DIY
Putting together a well-orchestrated DIY vertical garden is a lot of work. Not only do you need to source the planters or pots, wall hanging equipment, and watering system, it also all needs to fit together. After all of this is done, what are the chances that everything will look cohesive? It’s much more likely that you’ll end up with a mix-and-matched vertical garden system that looks DIY.
- Everything works together
- Parts fit together
- Match aesthetically
- Amount of time saved
- Eliminate stress
The most obvious benefit of a vertical garden kit is that everything works together. Parts will fit together and match aesthetically. When it comes to installing a vertical garden as home decor, this is especially important.
Another key benefit of using a vertical garden kit is the amount of time saved. If you have experience with creating and installing DIY vertical gardens, then this might be a fairly easy job. But for most people, trying to create a DIY vertical garden is time-consuming and stressful. Using a vertical garden kit eliminates most of this time and stress so that you can enjoy your new garden sooner.
The Cost of Starting a Vertical Garden
One thing to consider when comparing a DIY vertical garden to a vertical garden kit is the price. While sourcing all the parts and putting them together can take quite a bit of time, the reality is it will probably be cheaper than many of the kits on the market. However, for many people, this extra cost is worth the ease of a kit.
- Price
- Take quite a bit of time
- Kit’s size
- Watering system
When it comes to vertical garden kits, the two main factors in pricing are each kit’s size and watering system. Cheaper kits are smaller and often require daily hand-watering, while more expensive kits hold more plants and include either a water reservoir or more primitive drip irrigation system. That said, the vertical garden kits featured in our review will fit into almost any budget.
How We Reviewed
There are many different types of vertical garden kits on the market. Some are designed for growing produce in a small, practical environment. Others, for hydroponics. And others still, for aesthetics or green design. For our review, we focused on the latter category.
- Key features
- Design
- Mount to the wall
- Watering system
We chose five of the most popular vertical garden kits on the online market. Unfortunately, vertical gardening is still an up-and-coming trend, so kits are sometimes hard to find in local retail stores. We looked at the key features and design of each vertical garden kit, such as how they mount to the wall and the watering system. Finally, we referenced reviews to see what praises and complaints past customers had for each product.
Our Favorite Vertical Garden Kits
Below, we’ve compiled our five favorite indoor vertical garden kits. You’ll find a summary of each kit’s key features, product specifications, customer reviews, and pricing. We’ve also provided links to where you can find these kits for sale online. While these kits are in no particular order, you can find our final thoughts at the end.
Florafelt Compact Kit
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The Florafelt Compact Kit is a segmented hanging planter. The planter is tall and narrow, but you can line up multiple Florafelt kits for a more filled-out look. This planter can hang from almost any wall or vertical surface, as long as it’s within reach of a standard electrical outlet. This outlet is necessary for the Florafelt Compact Kit’s built-in water reservoir and pump.
This vertical garden kit features eight recycled felt pockets. Each of these pockets acts as a separate “pot” for your plants’ soil and roots. If you don’t want to plant directly into the felt pockets, you can also use them to hold ceramic or plastic pots up to six inches across. Once your Florafelt vertical garden kit is full of plants, the felt structure is hidden, and you’ll have a lush hanging garden.
This vertical garden kit weighs about 1.5 pounds when empty, and up to five pounds when full. In its entirety, the hanging felt planter measures 12 inches wide and 62 inches tall. Each Florafelt Compact Kit includes the felt planter, three-gallon water reservoir, pump system, and pump timer.
Positive reviews mention the vertical garden kit’s easy installation and ability to grow healthy plants. Negative reviews were concerned with the product’s price and issues with root rot. This vertical garden kit is available from Amazon, Plants On Walls, and the Florafelt website.
Savvy Grow BloomWall Vertical Garden
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The Savvy Grow BloomWall Vertical Garden is a modular planting system. You can hang one planter or dozens, and they all connect together. This also offers customization when designing your hanging wall garden because the planters can hang together vertically and horizontally.
One potential downside of the Savvy Grow BloomWall Vertical Garden is that the planters themselves are visible. You would need to use thick, trailing plants to cover them, and even then they might still be visible. If you want to use a vertical garden kit to create a “floating” wall garden, then this probably isn’t the best option for you.
Each BloomWall vertical garden kit includes one plant rack with four compartments, the self-watering reservoir system, and a wall bracket. Each plant rack is 22.5 inches long and weighs about 5.3 pounds when filled. The self-watering system doesn’t use a pump, but there is a convenient external water level indicator. This takes the guesswork out of when you need to add more water. However, each plant rack is self-contained, so you will need to add water to each planter.
Positive reviewers were impressed by the kit’s sturdy construction and self-watering feature. Negative reviewers had issues with the water reservoir leaking, weak mounting equipment, and inconsistent planter colors. The Savvy Grow BloomWall Vertical Garden is currently available at Amazon and the Savvy Grow website.
Framed Grovert Living Wall Kit
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The Framed Grovert Living Wall Kit brings a touch of style to an otherwise traditional vertical garden kit. The wood frame included in this kit hides the plastic planter cells and water trays from view, even with more compact plants like succulents. The Framed Grovert Living Wall Kit is available in several wood finishes to match any interior decor.
Each framed planter holds ten small plants in separate cells. The bottom of each cell allows for soil aeration and proper drainage. This vertical garden kit uses a type of drip irrigation system. This kit includes both the irrigation tray and collection tray, as well as mounting hardware. The entire planter, including frame, measures 27 inches tall by 17 inches wide.
Positive reviews complimented this kit’s artistic design, irrigation system, and lack of soil spillage. Negative reviews said that the planter leaked, was overpriced and that the item arrived cracked. This vertical garden kit is available from Amazon and GrowEdibleWalls.
Algreen Garden View
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The Algreen Garden View Planter is another wood-framed vertical garden kit. But, unlike the Framed Grovert Living Wall Kit, this one is designed with the planters exposed rather than hidden. This planter is reminiscent of a window frame, and the wood comes ready for painting to match your home’s interior design.
These planters feature a pluggable drainage hole. Unfortunately, this means that you will either need to place something under the planter to catch dripping water or sacrifice your soil’s drainage. This could be a dealbreaker for anyone concerned about water damage or wanting to grow plants that are vulnerable to root rot.
Each of these vertical garden kits includes three resin pots, hanging hardware, and the wood frame. The resin pots can lift from the frame at any time for planting, watering, and other maintenance. The entire frame measures 24 inches wide by 32.75 inches tall.
Positive reviewers mentioned the trellis backing, use as an indoor herb garden, and portability. Negative reviews were unhappy with the planter’s crooked construction, small size, and lack of access for sunlight. The Algreen Garden View Planter is available on Amazon, Houzz, and The Home Depot.
Vertibloom Living Wall Starter Kit
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The Vertibloom Living Wall Starter Kit is another type of modular vertical garden kit. This kit comes with two types of wall mounting systems: direct mounting and a mounted grid. The direct mounting is like pretty much any other vertical garden kit. But the mounted grid allows you to remove or rearrange your plants at any time.
Each of the grid’s pots easily clicks out of place for planting, watering, and deadheading. Some vertical garden kits require you to remove the entire planter to perform this maintenance. The removable pots feature flat bases so that they can easily sit on a shelf or windowsill. This is great for plants that need a little more sunlight than their hanging location can provide.
The Vertibloom Living Wall Starter Kit comes with six different pots. These include two large, two medium, and two small pots, but even the largest ones are not very big. Although the mounted grid will blend into most white-colored walls, any other paint color could create an unattractive contrast.
Positive reviewers discussed how this vertical garden kit kept their plants out of reach of pets and was easy to install. Negative reviews mentioned leaking water and that the mounted grid was unattractive. This vertical garden kit is available from Amazon and How To Grow.
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Our Verdict
Each of the vertical garden kits we reviewed has its own benefits and drawbacks, but we have a couple of favorites. If aesthetics are your main goal, our kit-of-choice is the Framed Grovert Living Wall Kit. This kit comes in a wide range of wood finishes, including a custom paintable one, and completely disguises the actual plant receptacles. The contained drip irrigation and water tray are also huge bonuses.
If you’re willing to sacrifice some aesthetics for planting versatility, we prefer the Florafelt Compact Kit. The electric water pump gives you the freedom to leave town or simply forget about your indoor garden for a few days. And as far as looks go, you can easily paint or hide the plastic base if desired. While this is the most expensive vertical garden kit on our list, its unique features justify the cost.
No matter what features are most important to you, one of these vertical garden kits is sure to fit the bill. With a little more experience, perhaps you’ll feel confident creating your own vertical garden from scratch. But, in the meantime, these kits are a quick and easy way to add some greenery to your living space.
Last update on 2022-01-27 at 20:02 / Affiliate links / Images from Amazon Product Advertising API