Try wall gardening if space is limited
The green window box planters are atleast Shs30,000 from Nakummatt. Photo by Constance Obonyo.
What you need to know:
The lack of a chunk of land for gardening should not deter your green thumb. Use your wall to hang your plants.
Sometimes when you don’t have garden space and your budget is limited, huge containers to adorn your patio, for example, are not a welcome option. Besides, when you have young children, this becomes a no-go area.
So what do you do?
Lillian Katiso, an Accountant and resident of Kyanja who resorted to wall gardening for lack of space explains, “I used wrought iron for the stands I put on the wall. They are whats on vogue. You can make good designs for holding the pot.”
If you have a perimeter wall, that would be the best place to position your wall stands, because there, your plants will get as much sun and water as any in the ground. Another option would be the walls if the house.
The beauty with these wall gardens is that they are raised, so the possibility of children ruining the carefully nurtured spices you may have positioned outside your kitchen door is minimal.
For custom-made the stands, Katiso hired a neighbourhood artisan who makes gates and is good with metal.
“I told him what I wanted and he got them right. He made four for the outside and charged me Shs160,000.”
“I got the big green ones from Nakumatt in Bukoto. They were around Shs30,000 each. I got the smaller window boxes from Shoprite. They were selling them in pairs and each pair was around Sh30,000. I got some other green window boxes from GAME,” she says.
Maintenance
She uses cow dung to fertilise the soil in the containers.
On plant maintenance, she adds: “I water them in the evenings. It depends on whether I have come back earlier from work. I prefer to water them myself. That’s when I notice whether they have any need for attention, spraying or anything like that. But when I’m not around, I let the house-help water, if she remembers. If she doesn’t, they dry. I water them at least three times a week.Every weekend, I have to go and pull a weed here and there. I don’t have a set time. When you weed every weekend, then they don’t overwhelm you.’
So, there’s no reason for you not to have your very own hanging garden along your walls.
Lack of space cannot be an excuse forever. The purple in a creeper like the wandering jew (Zebrina Pendula) would look spectacular hanging from a green window box.
