Blech! I find this idea ugly and far from ingenious. Anything that holds dirt can hold plants. What if I stapled a bunch of socks to my front porch and grew basil out of them? My neighbors would complain, and rightly so.

And growing vegetables in something that might leach toxic chemicals (flame retardants, etc) never intended for human consumption? GENIUS! I can't wait until all the moisture rots away the fabric or it starts growing nasty green, brown, and black mildew or roots start clawing through the fabric, turning a shoe organizer that might have lasted 5-10 years into a single-summer-then-dumpster "green" innovation.

I like it. If it's canvas there wouldn't be any chemicals to worry about and you could easily take it down and launder it when the season's over.

Or it might be good for herbs that don't need much space.

Cute!

This looks great to me! Something that a black-thumber like me could definitely manage. I'm moving into a space with a rooftop terrace this April and this is going to end up on my roof for sure. =)

I think this would be really cute with trailing flowering plants. I love the ideas I get from Apartment therapy. Whenever I have some downtime, I have to log on to my laptop and see what wonderful ideas you guys will have for me today!

And then there those ugly old plastic ones from 10-20 years ago that would be vastly improved as planters with some plastic-suited spray paint. I have one of those in the Goodwill bag right now.

I'm in a house not a condo, but we have a rabbit problem. Something like this will let me expand my rabbit-safe planting area. I'm thinking cucumbers or viney tomatoes would work well -- start them in direct sun in the spring, and as it gets too hot there, move the hanging base into a slightly shaded area -- trailing the vines up the hot wall.

Kinda ugly now, but could look super cute with a stencil (veggies, damask, etc) on the individual compartments.

although monkeybrains above has valid arguments, you could easily purchase plastic ones form any dollar store with compartments of different sizes for various vegetable and flower needs. and if the chemical components of even the clear plastic, there is always the options of lining them with vegetable garden fabrics, placing growing pots inside them, or making your own using cheap canvas or jeans found at thrift stores.

I think its the perfect solution to our gardening problems. our second story apartment has a tiny walkout, roughly 4x8 or 5x10. not much bigger. hardly big enough for a table and a couple chairs. a swinging loveseat would not allow the patio or the storage door to open. yet, we would love to have a salsa garden, salad garden, and herb garden going. using metal hooks, we could easily hook around the top of the railing and allow to hang facing inward . it would give us a lot of space with minimal cost or work.

those who many think using a pallet would be a great idea, let me remind you of the added expense of buying the pallet, the materials, the tools, and the extra soil for setting it up. not many of us have that much to invest or the time to spend an entire weekend setting it up. this shoe organizer gives us a viable solution for apartment gardening, along with some properly set up tomato hangers. .