Tower Gardens – Fun, Easy and Productive

Three summers ago my daughter Amy introduced me to her Tower Garden and it was love at first sight! A little research convinced me to buy one. This vegetable garden takes 98% less water, 90% less space, grows in half the time to produce more than imaginable. For years my husband and I have grown a vegetable garden using various methods such as the tradition in-ground, Square Foot, raised boxes, and self-watering patio planters but nothing has produced like our Tower Garden. Nothing even comes close.

Tower Gardens eliminate the major problems we have experienced year after year with other kinds of gardening: red clay, weeds, bugs, unreliable watering schedule, short picking season, and dirt on produce.  Yes, I hate dirt on my lettuce!

Every summer we take 2 or 3 week-long vacations and I always dread coming home to the garden.  You know what I’m talking about — overgrown weeds, cracked tomatoes, dry patches, squash bugs, rotten roots, etc.  Just last week we experienced all of that in our raised-bed garden after being gone for 10 days BUT our Tower Garden was still producing perfect vegetables!  Before leaving I filled the water tank and added the necessary nutrients. It thrived on its own for 10 days.

Because there’s no dirt, there’s also no digging or weeding. Plus, you don’t have to worry about ground pests or soil contamination.  I’ve had good luck with pests eating the leaves. I spray off the plants every morning with a mist of water from the garden hose.  But, if you get pests, read This pest control article and mix up a bath of Neem spray.

Pests, disease, weeds—traditional gardening can be complicated and time-consuming. But because Tower Garden automatically delivers water and nutrients when they’re most needed, you’re able to grow strong, healthy plants with minimal effort. And healthy plants can better protect themselves from pests and diseases naturally, without pesticides. Plus, you don’t have to deal with weeds or getting dirt on your produce because there’s no soil. – JuicePlus

This is such a fun way to garden! I’m growing all the lettuce, peppers, and herbs are family thrives on. Every day I pick fresh lettuce and fresh herbs and they keep on growing – that’s something we never experience in a regular garden.  We’ll have fresh lettuce for 7 months then I hope to move the Tower Garden indoors so we’ll have year-round lettuce, herbs and lunchbox peppers.

Set Up

The Tower Garden came with everything I needed to start planting including seeds and seed pods, pH tester, and bottles of nutrition and pH balancer. The first year we purchased the Tower Garden Growing System which included everything to get started (buy here) and the Tower Garden Dolly (buy here). The second year we purchased the Support Cage.  Next, I’d like to get the LED Grow Lights so I can move it to my kitchen during the winter months.

I’m not mechanically minded at all but the directions were good and I assembled it in less than 40 minutes. Adding the cages took another 20 minutes.  I helped my daughter add grow lights to her office Tower Garden and that took less than 20 minutes, too.

 

 

 

Planting

The Tower Garden kit comes with seeds and seed pods to grow seedlings yourself. I lack patience so instead of using the seeds and seed pods I order seedlings from one of the Urban/Organic Farm sites near me.  I use ATLUrbanFarms ATL Urban Farms  Choose an Urban Farms site near you so the plants arrive healthy and ready to plant.  I have never had a seedling die.  They arrive in 2 days as healthy and ready to grow.

One thing I did that has helped a lot is numbering tower holes near the net pots so I can identify what is growing there so I know what I want to order again.  Without keeping good records everything would just be “lettuce” and “herbs” to me.  We have found there is some lettuce we like much more than others, especially the spring mix and micro greens.  When your box of seedlings arrives it will come with an index of seedlings.  On that sheet, I put a number corresponding to where I’ve planted it.  Here’s a list of plants and how to use them:  Veggie Use Guide

One added benefit of the Tower Garden is it’s right outside my back door in a corner on the deck.  It’s so easy to grab fresh lettuce or herbs but not in our walking path. What an awesome garden this would be for an older relative who misses growing a garden or needs a hobby.  The veggies grow in pods without soil.  Roots are fed with a nutrient-rich tonic mixed in the water which drips down on to the roots feeding the plant. The sound of the trickling water is music to my ears!

Here is what I am growing…

Lunch Box Peppers
Spring Mix Lettuce
Adriana Butter Head Lettuce
Coastal Star Romaine
Mild Micro Mix
Cilantro
Starboard Kale
Pesto Basil
Cherry Tomatoes

What an awesome garden this would be for an older relative who misses having a large garden.

If you’re interested in  learning more or getting a Tower Garden my friend Deedee is the one to talk to Tower Garden

 

Photos from Deedee’s Tower Garden