We wanted to create a unique garden for our back patio that would not take up much space. We found some great ideas online on How to Build a Hanging Gutter Garden and here we will show you step by step and what materials you will need.
Materials Needed:
2 – Thimble sets (for creating the hook loop on the top cables)
4 – Ferrule sets
1 – 10 foot plastic gutter cut in to thirds (Lowes did this for us)
6 – Gutter end caps (3 sets of 2)
2 – Screw-in hooks to dangle them from my patio roof
16 – Feet of 1/8″ non coated cable (two lengths of 3 feet for top cables – 4 lengths of 2.5 feet for the rest)
NOTE: We wanted the garden to hang down at a certain height. You will need to measure for yourself how far down you want your top cables to hang down or if you choose more space for your middle cables. The middle cables give us the distance of 18″ between gutters
Tools Needed:
Bolt cutters
Drill
1/8″ bit for drill
Here are all the materials we used to create our Hanging Gutter Garden.
Here is one of the holes we made for one of the hanging cables.
A view of the hole from inside for the hanging cable.
Here is the cable properly installed that will be holding up our gutter garden.
Here is a picture of the Hook Loop for our first hanging gutter.
When drilling, make sure to space the holes out at least 4 inches apart.
Once we drilled our holes, this is how the lower cable attaches to the gutter.
Here are our 3 gutters hanging and fully assembled.
We added our dirt and planted our little garden in our Gutter Garden.
How To Assemble Your Hanging Gutter Garden:
– Start off by measuring the distance from your patio to where you want the first gutter to hang and then measure all the way down just to be sure 3 gutters will fit without hitting the ground.
– We had our gutters cut into thirds which saved us from having to use a saw.
– Once you have your materials needed you can start drilling the holes. Where you drill your holes in the gutters will be up to you, just be sure to do the same with all 3 gutters otherwise the cables will not line up properly. (see pictures above for approximate location to drill holes)
– Once the cable holes are drilled, put the end caps on the sides.
– Now, measure out the drainage holes along the bottom. The drainage holes can be the same size as the cable holes. We used a 1/8″ drill bit and spaced them 4in apart.
– Next, run the cable through the top holes and secure it with a ferrule. The ferrule is clamped shut using the bolt cutters. Note: The bottom gutters hang from the upper gutters by using the single ferrule.
– We pulled the cable through the drill hole and slipped the ferrule on and then clamped it. Note: make sure you’re measuring your cable so that you are putting the ferrules on in equal length. Use a marker to mark the cable length.
– Once you have all of the cables clamped you can hang it from the hooks.
Note: Make sure they can hold some weight as you will be filling these gutters with soil and water….. Happy Gardening.
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