Gutter Garden

Iconic, Ironic, Views

By, Daniel Cetrone

Gutter Garden

July 25, 2018

Well you may have seen this before maybe at your own house. I can only assume, as a gardener myself, that this is not intentional. Or is it? The tall green plant towards the left could be a tree, a flower or even a weed. Then there are the shorter plants one on the far right seems to have white flowers on it.

Most people are afraid of heights, (acrophobia). So, at best we know that this homeowner may not have planted their “gutter garden” they just left it up to mother nature to do it. Mother nature is really good at growing wild things such as flowers, trees and of course let’s not forget weeds!

Queen Anne Lace, a wild flower, actually does really well in poor soil. I wish vegetables had the same characteristic. So why do they do so well in house gutters? Fortunately, my dad taught me lots of stuff when I was just a boy about how to take care of a home. Being the handyman that I am, I know that the gutter got clogged up with leaves and such over time blocking the outlet at the end of the gutter. This caused plant debris to decompose over time and of course act as a breeding ground for seeds of all types to get into the air and into the gutter.

Who wants to get on a ladder and clean their gutters? I certainly don’t. Many people hire gutter cleaners to do the job or they have “gutter guards” installed over their existing gutters to prevent this from happening. Thinking outside the box as I often do, would it be cleaver for some people to purposely grow gardens in the gutters of a house? Especially those who live in urban communities where land to grow things is limited?

You may be thinking, “what a crazy idea this is.” You may be right but, I bet a smart mechanical engineer could figure out a way to make a system that would allow for the raising and lowering of the gutters. Now that would take away the “acrophobia” issue wouldn’t it? Think of what you could grow in your gutters! They would have to be plants that thrive on water.

Let’s for a moment, take this idea to a new “height” I know what you are thinking, this writer has a “corny” sense of humor doesn’t he. What I would want to grow in my gutters is a plant or ivy that grows “down.” That way it would decorate my house and maybe provide some shade in the summer months.

Think of it, planting a garden with an easy to “download” system. Why you could “upload” some seeds into the decomposed crud infiltrating gutter you hate to clean and down the road reap a harvest of "mega bites".....tomatoes, string beans, squash, carrots and the like! If you are into flowers then you would not have to be concerned at all with cleaning the “blooming” thing.

Whatever way you want to look at this idea, you have to admit one really cool thing about it, all your neighbors would admire you for your ingenuity and they would have something fun to look at from their houses. You would be the talk of the neighborhood.