DIY Vertical Garden with Reclaimed Gutters

Posted on April 29, 2009 by Matt Embrey in DIY

Suzanne Forsling Gutter Garden

When Suzanne Forsling moved to Juneau Alaska from Iowa, she found that it was a little bit harder to get her garden to grow. Frustrated by cold soil, scarce sunlight, hungry slugs, root maggots, porcupines, cats, bears and ravens she got resourceful. She got her crops off the cold ground and into the light by afixing gutters to the wood siding of her house on the sunny side and using them as planters.

DIY, garden, gardening, gutters, reclaimed, reuse, vertical garden

62 Responses to “ DIY Vertical Garden with Reclaimed Gutters ”

Martin

29. Apr, 2009

Excelente idea!!! thnks!!!

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Cornelia

29. Apr, 2009

Love this idea!! I posted about this article on HOMEGROWN.org, too - then made my own this past weekend. Will be posting more pictures as seedlings go in.
http://www.homegrown.org/profiles/blogs/repurposed-raingutters-as

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marshall

29. Apr, 2009

Best to avoid using gutters made from lead or lead-coated copper, in light of toxicity.

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Dody

29. Apr, 2009

AWESOME. Thank you for giving me an idea to increase my garden space.

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beth

29. Apr, 2009

That is so awesome!!!

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prefabproject

29. Apr, 2009

This is a great post! I love the recycling of cast off items into new things.

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patrick

29. Apr, 2009

uhhh just to clarify… those are horizontal gutters

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- Billybob
  
  30. Apr, 2009
  
  Just to clarify, the vertical reference meant up the wall, off the ground.
  
  Reply to this comment
  - thejungleman
    
    01. May, 2009
    
    Horizontal gutters are the ones that are open along the length of them to collect the rain. Downspouts would be the complete tube that carries the water to the ground. You would want to use the horizontal gutter sections rather than the downspouts that would require cutting.
    
    Reply to this comment
  - Arby
    
    03. May, 2009
    
    It’s the rows that are vertical.
    
    Reply to this comment
    - :)
      
      05. May, 2009
      
      the rows are horizontal…
      what’s vertical is the wall, which the gutters are affixed to.
      is it really that hard to figure out?
      
      Reply to this comment
      - Megan
        
        27. Jul, 2009
        
        For real. Please explain to me how you would have a garden with the gutters aligned vertically.
gefforyt

29. Apr, 2009

This is a very interesting article. I am only wondering if you are having any trouble with the roots being too confined. I tried something similar to this but the plant roots were basically strangling each other.
P.S. with your permission i would like to add this link to my blog

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- Matt Embrey
  
  31. May, 2009
  
  I think it depends on what you plant and how close together you plant them.
  
  Reply to this comment
- Suzanne Forsling
  
  16. Aug, 2009
  
  The vegetables that I plant in my rain gutters are typically what we think of as “greens”. Things like Simpson Lettuce, Gourmet Lettuce varities, French Breakfast Radishes, Swiss Chard, etc. The root ball for these is not too large and if the plants are thinned properly they will be just fine. The biggest problem is watering them often enough. Where I live this is not much of a problem, but if you get really hot summers you would have to water each day. Again, greens are normally Spring time vegetables so the temperatures aren’t too bad anywhere. The lettuces etc., will bolt once the weather gets hot to produce their seeds.
  
  Reply to this comment
Adelle

29. Apr, 2009

This is SUCH a great idea! you are reusing; self-sufficient; growing green things; using less square acreage; saving your knees; do you use less water than an “in-ground” garden?

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Garden Mad

30. Apr, 2009

What a great idea. I have a large shed that could support the old gutters that were taken off my house last year - these could be the perfect solution to my lack of space in the greenhouse for seeds.

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Amanda

30. Apr, 2009

That is a very cool idea!

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nightowl

30. Apr, 2009

I hope the gutter has 2 sides to it, otherwise you’re going to rot away the side of your house.

Reply to this comment
- Don
  
  02. May, 2009
  
  Actually, gutters have three sides.
  
  This won’t rot the side of the house any more than gutters do in their normal application.
  
  Reply to this comment
- Suzanne Forsling
  
  16. Aug, 2009
  
  Rain gutters are designed to go on your house. They are designed to collect water and channel it to the downspout, typically at the corners of the house. My rain gutters are filled with good quality soil, and the soil holds water so the plants can grow. Just go to a local hardware store and you will see how they are designed . We really have no problem with the siding at all. The gutters we chose are plastic and very inexpensive - $6.00 for a 10 foot section, hardware another $5.00.
  
  Reply to this comment
Thomas

30. Apr, 2009

All that moisture against the wood? Not a smart idea.

Reply to this comment
- Don
  
  02. May, 2009
  
  It’s exactly like the typical practice of installing a gutter against the wood panel on the soffit of a house.
  
  One advantage of this system is the ease of watering; water is distributed all along the length.
  
  Soil volume is a limitation, but this looks like an ideal way to grow lettuce. Rabbits would be confounded and slugs would be discouraged.
  
  Reply to this comment
- Suzanne Forsling
  
  16. Aug, 2009
  
  The water typically doesn’t get on the wood. I use a watering wand to water the plants so that the water coming out of our hose is easy to control.
  
  Reply to this comment
Mont

30. Apr, 2009

Now that is f-ing GENIUS!!!

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anonymous

30. Apr, 2009

Excellent!
Probably a good idea to remember
1) distance to the house/wood to avoid moisture damage, 2) Tox-free (plastic?) gutters if growing food, 3) plants that do not need too much root space
(as has already been pointed out)
Would look great with “hanging” plants or vines!

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Bob

01. May, 2009

I’m going to sink a couple of 4X4s into the ground, attach 2X4s to those, and attach plastic gutters to the 2X4s. I wouldn’t want them attached to the house, but it will be very easy to modify this and make it work for me. I’ll need to drill drainage holes every 3 inches or so.

Reply to this comment
- Matt Embrey
  
  31. May, 2009
  
  Great Mod idea!
  
  Reply to this comment
Cheri Collins

01. May, 2009

The deer in my neighborhood would use as feeding troughs, but the rabbits and groundhogs would be shut out!

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Peter

01. May, 2009

Einstein and Edison were brilliant but Suzanne Forsling is way ahead of the bunch with this “groundbreaking” idea.
Well done and thank you, I am going to try the same system in South Africa.

Reply to this comment
- Suzanne Forsling
  
  16. Aug, 2009
  
  Thanks, Peter, my husband and I are both physicists, so this is quite a compliment!
  
  Reply to this comment
sir jorge

01. May, 2009

wow, i never thought that I’d see a great use for reclaimed gutters. This is amazing

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MGL

03. May, 2009

A great way to increase your garden space, for sure, man.

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richard

03. May, 2009

Good article!

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Jessica Reeder

04. May, 2009

I love it! Will totally do this. Thanks for the great idea.

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tedzzz

05. May, 2009

simple but great potential
1 add plastic cover and there is a mini hot house
2 Put perforated sheets in before dirt and could great drainage
3 use a hanger that permits gutter to lift off and you could start seeds inside and move 3 ft gutter sections outside at appropriate time.
4 place them in an off set step manor, then have trailing plants at ends that cascade into the gutter below

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Mike@EcoSalon

05. May, 2009

Seriously clever idea, that one. I bet it came about Suzanne Forsling was up a ladder, dragging leaves and gunk out of her guttering. Still, it’s a flash of genius.

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Patric

05. May, 2009

love this idea
It would be nice if put some technology such automatic temperature/humidity control the garden.

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claudio

05. May, 2009

kool idea thank you

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Pine

09. May, 2009

No water goes to wast, a fantastic idea!

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geraldinecullinan

10. May, 2009

What a good idea! I regret throwing away all those old gutters last year. I have serious knee problems , so this would help me a lot.

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Craig

16. May, 2009

Excellent idea, I’ll be doing this as soon as I can. My addition would be to get the current downpipe and have it run water into each of these troughs, or better yet to a pipe running along behind the trough with holes all way way along so the water can more easily reach the far end.

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Kiran

28. May, 2009

its really a fantastic idea !!!

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Bridget

04. Jun, 2009

Excellent Article - this remind me of an article about recycling water using old whiskey barrels. Check it out
http://www.bulbblog.com/bulbs-to-plant-in-spring/

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desiree@lookiloos

14. Jun, 2009

Great idea. Definitely will give this a try.

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DC

22. Jul, 2009

I think it’s a great idea, I just think of something completely different when I read “Vertical Garden”… Cool DIY project!!!

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