Imagine having fresh dill for a homemade veggie dip, some chives for your sour cream or even lettuce for a fresh picked spring salad… all year long, right at your fingertips! Sound delicious? Trust me, it is. Fresh, fragrant, organically grown herbs and veggies ripe for the picking from your own kitchen garden. That’s right, you can have a vertical herb garden right in the heart of your home growing on your wall! A relatively new concept here on the East coast, it is fast taking hold as people seek greener and healthier lifestyles.
One of my home improvement themes this year is designing a “natural” kitchen. I began my project by eliminating chemically toxic cleaning products and replacing them with my own home brewed products consisting of eco-friendly ingredients like baking soda and vinegar.
I have regularly been replacing damaged and scratched non-stick cookware and plastics with more enviro-friendly and reusable products like glass storage containers and stainless steel cookware.
I have upgraded to energy efficient appliances and have installed dimmer switches. I am using energy star-rated light fixtures and bulbs. So what’s next? Naturally…the food I am preparing and eating. But, like many homeowners, I have limited horizontal space for growing fresh herbs and vegetables and my short outdoor growing season is further limited by the climate here in upstate New York. Now, thanks to Green Living Technologies, I am growing fresh herbs and lettuce right on my kitchen wall! I have installed an edible, vertical garden. Complete with automatic lighting and irrigation system, this simple modular panel construction allows me to grow my own organic produce year round!
My edible wall is by far my favorite home improvement project to date. The aroma of the fresh cut herbs is indescribable and for a fraction of the amount of money I would spend growing annually or purchasing costly store bought herbs, I have a beautiful, sustainable and eco-friendly garden wall, right in the heart of my home.
