After buying our townhouse last year, I fell in love with gardening. At our home in Brooklyn, my husband and I have an edible garden as well as 2 apple trees, 3 cherry trees, blackberry bush and a wide assortment of herbs and flowers. Compared to our neighbors who have a better tended gardens than we do, my husband and I are still proud of our recently discovered green thumbs.

Last month, while toward the Union Square subway stop, I noticed a very cool display from a “green” brand called Woolly Pocket. Offering a lush oasis in the comforts of an urban home, I thought you, dear reader, might get a kick out of learning about this fun product.

Here’s some information below from their website. Let me know what you think.

1) What is a Woolly Pocket?
Woolly Pockets are flexible, breathable, and modular gardening containers. They`come in two styles: those designed to be placed on horizontal surfaces, and those designed to be hung on walls for vertical gardening. You can use Woolly Pockets both indoors and out; they have built-in moisture barriers to help protect furniture, and they’re equally at home outside in the elements. They’re perfect for creating urban gardens where you have space to garden but no land to garden in. Woolly Pockets are lightweight and can be folded flat, which makes them very easy to use, move, and store just about anywhere.

2) What is a vertical garden?
A vertical garden, sometimes called a living wall, is an organized system of plants that grow vertically up a wall, fence, or other vertical surface. Vertical gardens are a beautiful way to show off plants, cover an unsightly wall, or create privacy in a courtyard. Because they are hung vertically, vertical gardens hardly take up any space. The Woolly Pocket Vertical Gardening System is unique because it’s easy to install, completely modular, and very easy to maintain. We invented our vertical system because there was no other solution on the market that suited our needs.

3) What is breathability?
Plants need oxygen in their soil in order to thrive. Woolly Pockets are made of felt derived from recycled plastic bottles that allows the soil to refresh its oxygen supply. This feature is called breathability.

4) What are the benefits of breathable containers?
There are two primary benefits to container gardening in breathable containers. First, it allows the soil to aerate naturally, which reduces the need to drain the containers and also helps to conserve water. Second, when the roots sense air they do something called air pruning. This is the natural process of stopping their own growth when they sense they’ve reached the limits of their space. This keeps the roots healthy and stops plants from becoming root-bound by growing in continuing circles as they do in non-breathable containers such as clay pots.

5) What are Woolly Pockets made of?
Woolly Pockets have two main components: the breathable felt and the built-in moisture barrier. The breathable portion is made of 100% recycled plastic bottles that have been industrially felted. The moisture barrier is made according to military standards for impermeability from 60% recycled plastic bottles. We stitch each pocket together by hand with a double lock stitch and strong, UV-resistant nylon thread.

6) Where are Woolly Pockets made?
Woolly Pockets are handmade in the USA. We try to make as little impact on the earth as possible, and make every effort to use sustainable, local sources for all of our materials.

7) What kind of plants should I grow in my Pockets?
Nearly any container plant should be able to grow in Woolly Pockets. Pick plants that are the right size for their new Pocket home. The bigger the Pocket, the bigger the plant it can hold. We recommend finegardening.com, sunset.com, and Sunset’s Western Garden Book to learn more about plants and gardening. Please remember that gardening takes time and care. Woolly Pockets will help you be a better gardener, but your plants and Pockets are still depending on you to be a responsible gardener. If you have any questions, please contact us. We’re happy to help.