Vertical Garden

“Please help us stop Global Warming by planting trees; it absorbs CO₂.” They keep saying this all over the TV, magazines, advertisements and even mass media! Schools also have this hot issue as our homework. But have you ever thought; ‘How can I plant trees? I live in an apartment!’ or ‘But there is no space for that!’ May we present… "Vertical Garden", the garden that requires less space on the ground!

            Vertical Garden is a garden that grows vertically. To be precise, vertical garden is actually a way of planting; instead of doing it horizontally, do it vertically, by hanging on walls, partitions or even around hi-way pillars. Thus, the vertical garden won’t need a lot of space to grow verdantly.  In Bangkok, there already are more than 800 spots with vertical gardens which are taken care by the government

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           This standing garden doesn’t just look cool on the walls; if you take a look closely on what it could do you will be astonished, just as we were. As we all know, any vegetation that can do photosynthesis absorbs carbon dioxide and gives out oxygen. Also, if you have vertical garden on your walls, it will lower the inside temperature, since photosynthesis absorbs light and gives out water as well. Lower temperature means lower electricity used by air-conditioners. Also, it needs so little space to grow that it could provide some greenery in small space efficiently.

            Vertical garden seems perfect with all its pros, though without proper maintenance it would not last very long. It needs to be watched closely with great care. This problem happens with a lot of vertical gardens in Bangkok because the workers whom the government hired recklessly water plants in the bright sunlight. Furthermore, plants need water regularly, but the workers tend to water the garden whenever they want. Sometimes they just don’t water at all! Another problem is when growing plants vertically, it goes higher and it is difficult to water them properly. Also most plants don’t grow vertically, only some ivy and ferns do. So there’s a very small range of plants to choose.

            After considering pros and cons of the Vertical garden, we have some suggestions. Firstly the vertical garden doesn’t have to be only on walls and doesn’t always need to be ‘vertical’. It can be on roofs or fences. As of fences, vegetable is a good choice for home; it provides both fresh air and fresh food! Another idea is that government should run a campaign to encourage people who live in high buildings to have some plants in their balcony, which will beautify the scenery and provide fresh air. We also think that mosses such as sphagnum mosses will probably solve the problem of how to water. As mosses are capable of absorbing water and they would help maintaining moisture in the soil, especially plants that grow high and are out of reach.

            Normally, when people talk about ‘garden’ they would think of a vast space filled with all shades of trees, but in cities such an extensive land is priceless for investors. However, greenery is still needed in cities. Thus, Vertical Garden could solve this problem efficiently. So, it is one of the best campaigns that government runs in our opinion.