So neat!!! Thanks for the tips and how-to's

.... now if only i could keep the plants alive

Oh, this is fantastic! I have a groundhog problem near me. It ate the chives, the parsley, a coleus, my tomatoes...sigh. Plus this will act as a sort of screen for me. As much as I love Miller products, I don't love seeing their shipyard from my patio...

BRILLIANT!

I would wonder how often that would need to be watered. Certainly wouldn't work in a dry climate like Phoenix or Denver...

I think even in humid Michigan, it would need twice daily watering. That's a lot of maintenance!

This is brilliant and perfect for our home! Thanks!!

Now I just need a pergola! :)

If you leave out the drain holes, (blasphemy, I know) you won't have to water it every 20 seconds. A lot of plants do not actually need the drain holes and grow fine without them, especially in slim line containers that can't hold that much water anyway.

That looks so great...but with my gardening skills it would only look like three weed-filled gutters strung together with chains.

@JosieDaisy
this is just wrong - these plants will die without drainage holes. not many plants (including all those in this picture) can have submerged roots. leaving out drainage holes will kill these plants.

i think this would be a maintenance nightmare!

Many hydroponic systems use a similar system with an ebb and flow set-up. Many plants do quite well with sub-merged roots. Would probably need to use a a soiless mix of coir and coarse vermiculite for planting. I'm looking forward to trying it even though I live on over-sized city lot.

This is gorgeous and a perfect screen for a not-so-great view, but I'm wondering how it holds up in high winds.

You could just leave out the drain holes in the bottom planter, the top 2 would drain down into that one.

You can use "water crystals" in the soil to hold water but not drown the plants, water crystals swell up and hold water, releasing it later, you can get these at most garden centers, I use it in my garden. You could also use potting soil that already contain these water crystals, I believe Miracle Grow is one brand that has it.

Wretha

This would need a very rich soil as gutters are too shallow for most plants to really thrive in. Herbs and lettuces should do well though, but not the root veggies suggested in the original post! Still, I like the idea!

In my experience, ordinary gutters don't hold enough water to make a good planter. They would be filled with roots in a very short while and would require almost constant watering in hot weather, especially in full sun. There might be hope in shade if they are planted with the appropriate shade loving plants such as impatiens.

Fantastic idea

I was a bit upset when I spent close to $40 on the materials for this gutter Planter system. The FEENEY CROSS-CLAMPS are impossinble to find even on their own website! Plus the FEENEY product in general is rediculuously expensive. The planters are very, very, very shallow. The gutter tends to tilt to one side or another (imagine when things start growing). Anyway, it was very unstable w/o the Feeney parts and again good luck finding them anywhere, ebay, the web, Lowes, Home Depot Nadda!

Hello everyone, I'm the one who built the gutter garden featured here. I wanted to reply to some of the comments and clear a few things up. (1) There are drainage holes about every 2" on the bottom of every gutter, and it drains great - no roots sitting in water. (2) I live in Oregon and I watered the gutters every day, and it did fine. NOTE: this was a fall - not summer - project. (3) probably not best for dry, arid climates. (3) Shallow rooted edibles, select annual flowers, and yes, even roots veggies (radishes, Tonda di Parigi carrots, beets 'bulls blood') grew just fine in this system. Harvest while they're young and tender. (4) This project is not meant to be your main garden, just a fun DIY project that's living and edible. (5) I have a new and improved model that is more stable, and the gutters can be removed and replaced A LOT easier. I'll post a new how-to when the weather gets better. (6) If you're a plant-it-leave-it kind of gardener, then this isn't the project for you. But if it's the only "green" thing you have, it's worth the extra attention.

@mcsholdings - I'd be happy to help you out if you're interested in modifying the project. All is not lost.

Hello Jayme,

I was wondering if you could share the plans for the new and improve model you mentioned in the above posting.

(5) I have a new and improved model that is more stable, and the gutters can be removed and replaced A LOT easier. I'll post a new how-to when the weather gets better.

I am trying to build and present this to my mother for Mother's Day. I am also finding it difficult to locate the FEENEY products that you listed in your building specifications.

Thank you for your assistance.

Hello Joya!

Thanks for your interest in my gutter garden design. My blog is in the midst of being redesigned so I can't really write a blog post about it. However, I will add some photos with comments to my Nest In Style Facebook Page (name of my new blog).

You can contact Feeney by calling 800-888-2418 and ask to buy the Feeney Cross Clamps.

I love this idea. I initially saw this concept here and on a few gardening sites, and when I started to have slug and other ground bug issues, I made the move to build a hanging garden, also. Here's my post about it: http://theurbanheirloomsproject.blogspot.com/2012/06/my-hanging-gutter-garden.html THANKS for posting about it.