Why Bother with a Gutter Garden?
Gutter gardens are a great way to take advantage of the vertical spaces around your home to grow flowers, edibles and create a stylish space divider or privacy screen without spending too much money.
Materials
1 – 8′ PVC white rain gutter cut into 3 32″ sections
6 – PVC white gutter end caps
2 – 1/8″diameter steel cables cut to desired length
6 – Feeney Cross Clamps (see image below)
6 – 1/8″ diameter Feeney steel rods
2 – Galvanized eye hooks
Potting soil and Plants
Tools
Cordless Drill with drill bit set
Hand saw or hack saw
T-square or straight edge
Tape measure
Permanent marker
Level
Eye protection
1. Determine the center of your gutters and draw a reference line (otherwise your gutter won’t hang right).
2. Mark and drill the holes for the steel cable rods. Find a drill bit the same diameter as the cable to minimize the wiggle room.
3. Space drill holes a few sizes larger to make sure you get good drainage (plant roots hate sitting in water for long periods of time).
1. Locate a spot that gets at least 4 hours of sun. I placed mine on the cross beams of a pergola I built a couple of years ago.
2. Drill pilot holes (a hole slightly smaller in diameter than the screw diameter) to make screwing in the eye hook a lot easier. Make sure the holes are the same distance as the steel cable so they hang straight down.
3. Slide the gutters through the holes and secure them with the cross clamps at your desired heights. You’ll notice I placed mesh tape (normally used for drywall joints), left over from another project, over the drainage holes to keep the soil from seeping. However, I think the holes are small enough, this step is not necessary. I did it out of habit.
4. Secure the gutter with the cross clamps and half circle steel rods.
Now you’re ready to fill it with organic potting soil and plant them with your choice of shallow rooted plants.
These wow gold fast sales receipt are awesome. I exploit the washing soultions to remove stains.
[...] 10. How To Make A Hanging Gutter Garden [...]
i saw this project some time ago and waited patiently to start. i am now ready.cant wait for it to finish.i was doing renovations and had extra gutters left. wow, was i suprised to find this article in the same week about what to do with these gutters.i am going to use it for some colourful hanging plants.thanks for great ideas.
I’ve seen this kind of thing before and always wonder whether anything leeches from the plastic of the gutter into the soil and on into the food. I doubt the gutters are “food grade” plastic. Can anyone comment?
What about a coco mat as a degree of separation and it would hold moisture?
Why would this be of concern people use this gutter all the time to take water to their rain water tanks for drinking!
Who drinks rainwater from their gutters? Not unless you filter the bajeezers out of it first and purify it.
Actually, a large number of residents of Hawaii get their water just that way. The rain is run through a gutter system and then into large holding tanks where it is treated for use. I do not know for sure if this water is used for drinking water or not as there are a large number of ‘stations’ where people can get drinking water located around the island.
They don’t use this system for drinking water. The water saved is used for almost everything else.
A friend of mine lived in a tree house in Hawaii for many years and had this system that you’re talking about. They had to buy their drinking water, as the rain water (even in the jungle in Hawaii) would make you really sick.
this is the same PVC/ plastic/ vinyl that brings water to your tap, are they ‘food grade’?
I don’t drink the water from my tap! Conundrum!
I agree with you wholeheartedly, PVC has lots of BPA so I would not use these for food. Copper would be expensive, gorgeous, and the only safe food grade prefabbed gutter. Galvanized aluminum is not healthy either. I saw them with strawberries in them. The pic was being shared around FB, love the idea. Now just waiting on the copper gutters.
Galvanized aluminum leaches lead, aluminum leaches aluminum and plastics (almost all) especially PVC is loaded with BPA a endocrine disruptor. Copper is the most safe product for food in this application.
Can you provide a list of materials please???
What are the names of the metal parts? Are they a part of guttering stuff or from something else?
People, Everything you need is listed and named at the beginning. Don’t panic. Slow down and reread.
There is nothing in the plastic that will leech out so don’t worry about that. You can also substitute PVC drain pipe (3″, 4″, 6″, 8″, 10″ & 12″). Each size has end caps and ‘T’s” for drainage. The hardest part is to cut the pipe in half. Find someone with a band saw or use a table saw and jig. Cut only one side of the pipe at a time – cut, roll 180° and cut again. Done right and you have two even halves. On the end caps use PVC glue to glue a 1″ PVC pipe that is 1″ long. Bolt 2 chains to your patio cover or overhanging bracket on your fense the same distance apart as the pipes are long. Thread the chain through the 1″ pipes at each end. Raise the pipe bed to the height you want, make it level, insert a bolt through the chain under that 1″ end pipe and attach a nut. That will keep the pipe bed at that spot on the chain. Do that for every tier and you have a multi-tier vertical veggie/herb garden.
Excellent idea, all I can find is the odd shaped gutter material. Did not think about cutting PVC pipe for this usage, and yes a table saw works great for cutting PVC pipe, leaves no jagged end and is quick. “Sometimes we cannot see the forest for the trees.”
Thank you ,this is so much simpler than what I’d been thinking/planning, appreciate the ‘KISS’ methodology.
PVC contains lead. No question. Will it leech? Not sure.
So if PVC contains lead, then just use it for flowers.
PVC does contain lead – White PVC guttering. Black PVC guttering does not as is uses carbon for its colour. So it’s up to you! I grow veggies in black PVC and ABS pipes and guttering, have done for years!
This project is great and produces a wonderful cascade of plants, if you use pendular varieties like lobellia in several shades of the same colour it looks stunning.
Most modern water line is made of pvc so if it leeches you are already screwed.
OMG! Hello people unless you grow all your own vegetables organic, your are eating some messed up stuff. Pesticide residues, crop contaminants (aflatoxins, patulin, ochratoxin, etc.)
naturally occurring toxic substances and heavy metals are the major contaminants
found in fruit and vegetables. Pesticides are used in management of pests and
diseases in Agricultural and Horticultural crops. Heavy metals are present in the
irrigation water and other manures. Infested seeds, irrigation water and soil act as
the source of the fungal toxins.
Also ethylene gas,acetylene gas, carbide gas, ethephon and oxytocin, are all known to be used for ripening and increasing the size of fruits and vegetables. Keeping in mind that all these contaminants are present prior to artificial preservatives and waxes.
So slamming a great idea for a back yard hanging garden, for the minute chance that leeching may occur, seems unreasonable.
What about bamboo stalks? Granted, it takes a while for them to grow as large as the pvc pipes, but they can, and I’m sure it’s better than plastic or metal, and more practical than glass lol.
you can also use, used rain gutters, can usually get that for free, hammer out dents,
if it leaks, that’s ok it will water the plants below.
Or thin untreated wooden boxes, applying the same principal of assembly.
Thanks! I am passionate about gardening and love new ideas – especially when they are pleasing to the eye while being simple, convenient, and space conscious. Great job explaining the instructions, adding photos for visuals, and the ‘ingredient’ list. Keep up the good work!
wondered which types of veggies and/or herbs you could grow in these?
I don’t know of many veggies that would be very happy for long in such a shallow amount of soil. If anything, stick to baby greens and flowers. No fruiting veg
It is also possible to use new gutters which are made from metal, no cutting required except for length. Caps are available where ever gutters are sold, use the same method for hanging as you can keep the beds level in this manner. I might suggest drilling several small holes along the bottom for drainage since fungus will kill your crops.
What a great idea. What was your cost on this project?
I couldn’t find the clamps or the half circle steel rods ANYWHERE…
I really want to make this but Home Depot, Lowes, eBay didn’t have the parts.
Where can I get them? I live in the Boulder Colorado area.
Thanks!
I think it’s a fantastic and innovative use of space – might have a go, just need to think where to put it!!
I can not find the “cross clamps” anywhere. What has anybody else used that provides the same function? Thanks.