VERTICAL GARDENS OFFERS A SUSTAINABLE GARDEN DESIGN SOLUTION

No more excuses that your garden is too small to grow your own veg...

Vertical growing is one of the hot new sustainable garden ideas that is on everyones mind at the moment and one which could easy scale up for commercial growing.

Take a look at this great new system for growing lettuce - you could easily adapt this idea for your own small garden courtyard or balcony and get to enjoy fresh salad, herbs tomatoes - even veg!

Vertical growing systems have been proposed as possible solutions for increasing urban food supplies while decreasing the ecological impact of farming. The primary advantage of vertical growing is the high density production it allows using a much reduced physical footprint and fewer resources relative to conventional agriculture.

Valcent Products have introduced a great new high density vertical growth (HDVG) system for growing vegetables.

The HDVG technology provides a solution to rapidly increasing food costs caused by transportation/fuel costs spiraling upwards with the cost of oil

How It Works

The HDVG system grows plants in closely spaced pockets on clear, vertical panels that are moving on an overhead conveyor system. The system is designed to provide maximum sunlight and precisely correct nutrients to each plant. Ultraviolet light and filter systems exclude the need for herbicides and pesticides. Sophisticated control systems gain optimum growth performance through the correct misting of nutrients, the accurate balancing of PH and the delivery of the correct amount of heat, light and water.

The Benefits

• Produces approximately 20 times the normal production volume for field crops
• Requires 5% of the normal water requirements for field crops
• Can be built on non arable lands and close to major city markets
• Can work in a variety of environments: urban, suburban, countryside, desert etc.
• Does not use herbicides or pesticides
• Will have very significant operating and capital cost savings over field agriculture
• Will drastically reduce transportation costs to market resulting in further savings, higher quality and fresher foods on delivery, and less transportation pollution
• Will be easily scalable from small to very large food production situations

These same ideas can be applied on a garden design scale. Why not try planting up some lettuce in a windowbox or wall planter and take it from there...