Vertical Farming and Gardening

Learn to grow plants in a Vertical Gardens or Vertical Farm

• make small small more productive by growing on multiple levels
• create small or large gardens or farms
• grow crops for bigger harvests per square metre, or
• grow amenity plants for more greenery (biomass) per square metre

Lesson Structure

There are 7 lessons in this course:

1. NATURE AND SCOPE OF VERTICAL GROWING
   • Nature of vertical growing
   • Green walls
   • Green facades
   • Crop production
   • Scope of vertical growing
   • The uniqueness of vertical gardening
   • Where to grow
   • How to grow
   • Benefits of vertical gardening
   • Mental wellbeing
   • Physical health
   • Environment
   • Food production
   • Reasons to create a green wall
   • Understanding biophobia
   • Health problems of biophobic design
   • Review what you have been learning
2. BUILDING THE GREEN WALL
   • The living wall
   • Design and construction of green walls
   • Hydroponic systems
   • Loose media/substrate systems
   • Fixed media systems
   • Mat media
   • Sheet media
   • Customising
   • Waterproofing walls
   • Weight loading
   • Irrigation
   • Drainage
   • Lighting
   • Nutrition
   • Other design considerations
   • Green wall design
   • Design considerations
3. GREEN FACADES
   • The green façade
   • Options for creating green facades
   • Some techniques in detail
   • Climbing plants
   • Hanging baskets
   • Window boxes
   • Epiphytes
   • Espaliers
   • Growing plants on trellis
   • Hedges
   • Wall shrubs
   • Green facade preparation
   • More on epiphytes
   • Succulents in green walls
4. VERTICAL FOOD PRODUCTION
   • Making use of vertical crop growing
   • Hydroponics
   • Nft systems
   • Alternative layouts for vertical nft systems
   • Nft system choices
   • Aeroponics
   • Gravel and loose culture
   • Aquaponics
   • Mushroom farms
   • Upright systems
   • Growing in protective structures
   • Greenhouse hydroponics
   • Design considerations
   • Temperature
   • Relative humidity and vapour pressure deficit
   • CO2 and O2
   • Water
   • Plant nutrients
   • Control of the environment
   • Artificial lighting
   • Outdoor vertical food gardens
   • Growing cucurbits in vertical systems
   • Cultural methods
5. AUTOMATION
   • The need for automation
   • Automated systems
   • Irrigation and fertiliser
   • Automated irrigation systems for green walls
   • Fertigation of green walls
   • Monitoring vertical growing systems
   • Optimum air quality
   • Drone inspections
   • Cation exchange capacity
   • Measuring ec levels
   • Measuring ph levels
   • Automated irrigation of hydroponic green walls
   • Ph tests for hydroponics
   • Ec testing
   • Automatic ec and ph testing and control
   • Irrigation pumps
6. MAINTENANCE
   • The range of maintenance tasks
   • Inspection tasks
   • Maintenance tasks
   • Maintenance of plants
   • The nature of plants
   • Watering climbers
   • Feeding
   • Mulching
   • Pruning and rejuvenating plants
   • Maintaining plants in containers
   • Watering
   • Feeding
   • Re-potting
   • Maintenance of hanging baskets
   • Problems with containers
   • Maintenance of hard landscape components
   • Maintaining plant health
   • Symptoms and diagnosis
   • How to conduct an inspection
   • Symptoms of nutrient deficiency
   • Pests and diseases problems
   • Occupational health and safety
   • Duty of care
   • Risk assessment
   • Identifying hazards and risk
   • Example of a risk assessment procedure
   • Work place safety
   • Safety with tools and equipment
   • General safety rules
   • Maintaining vertical gardens and farms
   • Maintenance issues when retrofitting green walls
   • Avoiding problem materials which increase maintenance
7. PLANT SELECTION
   • Planting considerations
   • Plants for green walls
   • Plants for green facades
   • Climbers to grow on trellis
   • Wall shrubs
   • Plants for hanging baskets
   • Plants for window boxes
   • Plants for hedging
   • Plants for vertical farms
   • Growing strawberries in vertical farms
   • Organic of cultivation of strawberries in green wall containers

Who is this course for?

• Growers, farmers, gardeners
• Interior plantscapers
• Horticulture professionals or Amateur gardeners - anyone with a passion for vertical growing.
• Hydroponic growers, Urban farms
• People seeking greater food security - for self sufficiency, food security
• Horticultural therapists, teachers, garden writers