Vertical planters and vertical living walls are trending up for a few reasons. Vertical garden planters are space savers because they allow you to take advantage of vertical space to hang plants or grow vegetables and herbs. You can create a beautiful garden space for growing fresh produce to eat, or beautifying a space with succulents or other plants. Vertical gardens are appearing in offices, homes, buildings, and patios to help the environment through the addition of more growing plants.
When you first see a vertical green space, you might be intimidated by the project’s complexity. However, creating a green planter for your patio or deck can be done with some simple supplies, tools, and wood. Using free DIY plans, you can learn how to make indoor or outdoor wooden freestanding planters, create a living wall or a hanging pallet fixture, or create a mini, tiered wall to fit into your allotted space. To get you started, here is a list of 10 vertical garden planter plans made from wood that you can build yourself over the weekend.
10 DIY PLANS
Some of these projects assume you have a house wall or a shed wall or a fence available to mount your planter onto
On this page
- 10 DIY PLANS
- 1. Vertical Pallet Garden Plan
- 2. Standalone Vertical Garden Wall
- 3. Vertical Herb Garden Planter Plan
- 4. DIY Gutter Garden Idea
- 5. Succulent Garden Wall Plan
- 6. How to Build a Vertical Garden Tutorial
- 7. Make a Small Wall Mount Succulent Garden
- 8. DIY Vertical Garden Pallet Planter Plan
- 9. DIY Fence Mounted Herb Planters
- 10. DIY Ladder Vertical Garden
1. Vertical Pallet Garden Plan
This DIY plan, from Hearth & Vine, is made from a full-sized wooden pallet, although you can use other sources of wood if you wish. This project is one of the easiest ones on this list and doesn’t require a lot of tools or experience. You can paint the pallet, varnish it, or leave it in its original unfinished state depending on how you want it to look. Just remember to use paint made for the outdoors.
While you do use landscape fabric to hold the plants and soil, this DIY vertical pallet garden is designed to be outside because water will drip. If you decide to move it indoors, you’ll need a tray to collect water at the bottom.
Creating a vertical garden is an excellent way to expand your outdoor garden with more plants. This planter gives you three more rows of space for fresh tomatoes, parsley, or lettuce.
2. Standalone Vertical Garden Wall
This DIY vertical garden wall, from The Handyman’s Daughter, can fit on a patio, deck, or balcony. With this vertical planter plan, you are creating a standalone piece, which doesn’t need to lean on any wall to stand up. While this image shows the planter without any paint or finish, you can varnish or paint it. The best choice is to paint the pieces of wood once they are cut to size before you begin to assemble the planter. However, since this planter uses cedar wood, without a finish the wood has a lovely cedar scent. If you finish the wood with paint or varnish, it will seal the wood, so it won’t smell like cedar anymore.
This planter requires several tools to complete, including a miter saw, Kreg Jig, and speed square that you might not have at home. If you don’t have the tools, then you may be able to get the wood pre-cut from a lumber supply store.
This freestanding planter uses French cleats to attach the individual planter boxes. This means you can remove and replace the planter boxes for any reason you wish. You also get a bottom storage space for tools, toys, or anything else you store on your patio.
3. Vertical Herb Garden Planter Plan
If you prefer a more decorative style for your DIY planter, this project, from Making Joy and Pretty Things, is for you. The project incorporates both planter boxes and shelves, and it is affixed to an outside wall. Once the wood is cut for this wall-mounted planter, the first step is to finish the wood. You can use any outdoor-grade finish for the desired look. That means you can style the herb garden planter to match or contrast your deck or patio setting. Staining and sealing the wood with a waterproof finish means it will continue to look great for years to come.
Don’t forget that your brackets and other hardware can add style to the planter, too. You can paint them to have a specific style, for instance, black paint gives them a vintage style. You can use the hardware to contrast with the wood finish for a more artsy look or leave them a metallic color for a modern appearance.
Since you have shelves on this frame you can add decorative pottery or other colorful accent pieces for a more distinctive style.
4. DIY Gutter Garden Idea
This unique vertical garden idea, from Numi Tea Blog, is great for anyone with limited garden space. It uses inexpensive metal gutters available at most hardware stores to create garden shelves. You can use this idea for decorative plants, flowers, or vegetables.
Using metal gutters that are easy to find in your neighborhood hardware store, you can create these shelves to any length that fits your space. Stagger them like shown above, or line them up in a single row. Depending on your preferred style, these gutter shelves can be left in their original finish or you can paint them for a more stylistic appearance. You can hang them anywhere you have outdoor wall space and can attach the drip irrigation.
Turn this into a small vegetable garden, herb garden, or decorative succulent garden.
5. Succulent Garden Wall Plan
This succulent-inspired plan, from East Coast Creative, is designed for an urban or suburban sunroom, or indoors with good sunlight. It can transform your wall into a living vertical garden. The urban, geometrical style of this garden wall looks best in a modern or minimalistic setting. You do have the option of staining, painting, or varnishing the surface for a more sophisticated look. And remember, if you do put this indoors, you need a tray to collect water that drains from the bottom of the planters.
If you have a balcony or small patio, you can mount this planter outside, or you can keep it in your kitchen to grow herbs to use in cooking.
6. How to Build a Vertical Garden Tutorial
This DIY idea is from Decor & the Dog, and it uses pre-made plans from Home Depot. You can get all of the necessary supplies there or you can use wood that you already have on hand.
This project offers a complete tutorial so you can learn how to make this vertical garden by following the plan. The result is a classic, timeless hanging flower bed. This particular lattice style is a popular structure for growing vines or hanging plants when it is freestanding in a garden setting. Since the lattice comes already assembled, you can cut it to the size you need.
You can apply some finish to this planter, but it looks terrific unfinished, and hang or mount it on any vertical wall or fence. This vertical garden design makes a lovely accent piece for your deck. Your choice of flowers will give it color and interest, impressing guests when they walk outside to the deck.
7. Make a Small Wall Mount Succulent Garden
This simple vertical succulent garden, from Builders, adds greenery to your bare walls in a smaller garden space. This plan is smaller and easier to assemble than most of the other plans on this list. It makes a good project to work on if you’re a new DIYer.
Succulents have a unique look especially when you grow them together in one spot. You can easily fit this garden box on an indoor patio wall or outside. If you want to hang it indoors, you will have to add a drip tray similar to the type potted house plants have.
This succulent garden has a modern, edgy feel which can accent your wall. It would work well in a desert setting or a terra cotta patio space. It’s designed to hang on a wall, but you could lean it on a wall instead. Planters can be heavy because the weight includes added soil and water used for irrigation.
8. DIY Vertical Garden Pallet Planter Plan
Cocoon Home designed this plan made from a free pallet obtained from a building supply business. This vertical pallet planter design is rustic looking with a compact-style garden that you mount on an exterior wall. What makes this planter stand out from the others, is its small size and the appearance of the garden surface.
A single pallet can make more than one of these planters, although you can use an entire pallet for one garden. When mounting this piece, make sure your hardware is designed for heavy, exterior usage.
While it looks like the top pieces of wood are removed, the plants are still secured inside. The reason is that this design uses chicken wire to support the plants. Once the plants grow large enough, you can’t see the wire holding them in place.
9. DIY Fence Mounted Herb Planters
This garden project, from Styled to Sparkle, features several single planters that are designed to mount on an exterior fence. If you have a fence, take a look at the instructions to make sure this DIY plan will fit.
If you like freedom when working creatively, this design gives you that freedom. The measurements and planter size are completely up to you. Whether you are an experienced woodworker or just love wood, you should enjoy making these planters.
Since you do have the freedom, you can choose the type of wood and wood finish that works well with the style you want for your garden. You can match the planters to your fence as shown, or create accent pieces that contrast with existing decor.
You can build the individual planters to the sizes that fit in your space to create the effect you’re looking for. So, they can be distressed, contemporary, or rustic. The planter boxes are removable which gives you better access when planting.
10. DIY Ladder Vertical Garden
Shades of Blue Interiors has created this DIY garden plan for people who have small patios or outdoor spaces. You don’t need to be a building expert to make it. Any first-time DIYer should be able to create it.
This plan is designed to lean on a wall. If you decide to mount it on a wall, you’ll have to accommodate for smaller space to hang the planting pots. Using a ladder as decor gives a space a farmhouse or rustic look if the ladder is made of wood. For a more industrial style, you can use a metal ladder.
If you are worried about flower pots adding too much weight to your wall, this project is a good choice to make. The total weight is only the ladder itself, the weight of the filled pots, and the chalkboard sign. Your guests will be wowed at your creativity when they see your DIY ladder vertical garden.
Which one of these 10 DIY vertical garden ideas is your favorite? Or do you have room to try them all? Time to get out some tools and supplies. Enjoy.
