Fresh herbs provide more health benefits than dried herbs. Most herbs are not fussy. They can be grown at home, which will help provide your family with natural vitamins all year round. Making a hanging plant rack is not at all difficult with the help of available tools.
Selection of materials
The shelves will require natural boards. It makes no sense to use pressed wood, because the plants will have to be watered periodically. The high hygroscopicity of solid wood boards is a minor drawback if, before installing plants, the board is treated with an antifungal impregnation, which reduces the level of water absorption into the fibers.
For work, it is most profitable to take coniferous wood. The most unsuitable type of wood for work is birch. Such a board can crack when drilling, and during operation in a room where humidity and air temperature often change, this material is more susceptible to deformation than others.
To connect the shelves you will need a nylon rope. It will last longer than other types and is easy to work with. If the style of the room requires it, then you can use hemp rope.Its main disadvantage is that the odors absorbed into it will settle in the kitchen forever.
For hangers, it is best to choose screw-in mounting and decorative hooks. They are sold together with dowels. Considering the need for periodic maintenance of the shelves, which is best done outside the kitchen, in addition to the hooks, you can use 2 monolithic stainless steel rings. Plastic will not work due to the weight of the structure!
Progress
By choosing a wall that is exposed to direct sunlight for the minimum amount of time per day. We retreat from the most shaded corner and measure the area that will be occupied by the shelves. This will be the required length of the main elements of the hanging rack. Having marked the points of the edges of the upper shelf on the wall, gently indent 5 cm inward, make marks, and set an equal distance of 30-35 cm upward from them. This will be the place for drilling for installing hooks that hold the weight of the structure.
Attention! The hooks should be no thinner than 8 mm, the length of the part screwed into the dowel should be at least 8 cm. The more massive the shelves and the larger the pots with soil, the more durable the fasteners are needed.
The distance between the shelves is determined by the maximum possible height of the plants with an allowance of 10-15 cm. Their width depends on the selected diameter of the pots for which holes need to be cut. The distance from the edge and wall to the hole should not be less than 3 cm.
Tools you can't do without:
- drill;
- feather drill with a diameter of 12 mm (for wood);
- a concrete drill with a diameter suitable for dowels installed in the wall under hooks;
- electric jigsaw with laser pointer;
- plane;
- grinding machine or sandpaper with several fractions of abrasive grain.
Getting started with wood processing using a plane and sander. External corners must be rounded and sanded. Holes for the cord are drilled on all 4 sides. The distance from the edges of the board is the same - 2.5-3 cm, even if the rack is made in the form of a slide. In this case, it is possible that the lower element may differ from the upper one by a quarter of the length.
Pre-prepared elements need to be marked under the pots. It is preferable to choose a distance between them of 10-15 cm, so the plants will receive a sufficient amount of light. Having drawn the circles, all that remains is to drill a hole inside the circle so that a jigsaw can be inserted into it. Having made a cut to the line of the circle, you need to carefully cut holes in the supports and sand them with sandpaper (first with coarse sandpaper, and at the final stage with sandpaper).
The prepared wooden elements are fastened together with nylon cords (2 on each side) using volumetric knots that are larger than the holes. For greater reliability, you can knit additional wooden or plastic decorative elements into them. This way, under the influence of the weight of shelves and pots, the unit will not become critically small.
For rigid fixation, knots are tied both under the shelf and above it. This option requires more effort when adjusting the horizontal arrangement of elements. The selected step for fastening the shelves is determined by the segments between the nodes on the part of the cord located near the wall. The outer part will be slightly longer, which is determined by the width of the top element. The upper shelf is attached directly to the hooks, after which it can be removed and the lower ones secured using a ruler.
Having hung the shelves on hooks, all that remains is to insert pots with herb seedlings planted in them into the holes, and complement the kitchen interior with fluorescent lamps, because in winter the plants will be sorely lacking natural light.
