I have always wanted to have the fresh vegetables from a garden but the work and time involved would prevent me from moving forward. As someone who really does NOT like to get her hands dirty (literally!) and any flowers I’ve ever tried to grow always died quickly, I had resigned myself to gardening not being in my future. Then I saw the Tower Garden—it looked perfect for a beginner like me! A compact, keep-my-hands-dirt-free, aeroponic gardening system. It sounded perfect … until I saw the cost. I knew and agreed with all the research on its cost effectiveness over time, but I still couldn’t bring myself to lay out around $600 for the system. There are great tutorials out there to build your own, but again … time!
So it just stayed in the back of my mind and on my Pinterest boards
for several years. Then I was at my daughter’s baby shower at a friend’s house and saw her beautiful Tower Garden in the backyard. We started talking and she told me she had bought hers used. A lightbulb went on and that very night I began looking online for a used system. I found one about an hour south of where we live and my husband and I went down to meet up with the seller in a Target parking lot and I was a proud owner of a new-to-me Tower Garden. It was right around my birthday so I justified the cost (about half of retail) as “Happy Birthday to me!”
Well, this was early November and we were heading out on vacation so I decided to wait to order my seedlings until we returned. But the day we were heading home, my daughter went into labor 4 weeks early, followed by the start of the holiday season so there it sat for another two months. When I was finally ready, all of a sudden it felt overwhelming and I hoped I had not made a mistake. I did need to purchase some additional items like a timer for the pump and a heater to keep the water at the right temperature (it was January but since we live in a mild climate it was still a good time to plant). We also have very hard water where we live so I purchased a water filter for the outdoor hose.
With the help of my husband, setting up the tower itself was easy and took no more than 20 minutes. Definitely quicker than preparing the ground and soil for planting and adding irrigation! I ordered my seedlings from www.truegarden.com and Amazon delivered my timer, heater and filter, and I was ready to go. Side note: I decided to order seedlings because I was anxious to get started rather than go through the hassle of starting the seeds from scratch in the rock wool and dealing with the water pan, growing temperature and sunlight needed inside to get them going. Remember I’m going for easy! Oh, and if you join me on this venture, be sure the Tower Garden you buy comes on casters so you can move it around your yard throughout the year for optimal sun and shade.
She was set up and now all I had to do was wait for the harvest! It has been so fun and rewarding to watch how quickly the plants grow. You can literally almost watch them! Truly, you can see a difference from morning until night. My greens and herbs grew the quickest. I was most excited about the tomatoes, but they were only flowering and not producing. But as I Googled info on each plant, I learned what I needed to do (where to prune, hand-pollenating with a toothbrush, etc.) We have since enjoyed a wonderful harvest that lasted for months with our greens and herbs. Now our tomatoes, peppers, and watermelon are really taking off in the summer heat. I am still very much a beginner, but the Tower Garden is very forgiving, and I know as I research and learn more, my crops will get even better and last longer.
There is more upkeep with it than I had known or thought. In my naivety, I thought I would simply plant, plug in, and harvest. But there’s a bit more to it than that. So for any other gardening dummies out there like me, here are the other things I have to do to keep it going.
- Refill the reservoir with water every 2-3 weeks in the winter; twice a week in the heat of the summer.
- Add two types of mineral blends each time you add water that are available from the manufacturer.
- Check each time that your pH is the range for optimal growth and adjust if necessary.
- Reach into the reservoir hole each week to pull out the roots so they don’t get tangled in the pump.
- Do a little external cleaning from calcium build up (at least here!)
- Pruning and pollinating as needed
- And now that we’re in the heat of the summer, add frozen water bottles to the reservoir every afternoon to keep the water from getting too warm.
But comparing this list with all you would need to do to start an in-ground garden, this is definitely the way to go for those of us who want quick, easy, compact, and dirt-under-the-fingernails free! Plus when we move in the future, we will be able to take it with us! We are in love with our super fresh tasting lettuces, spinach and kale. Love having fresh cilantro, basil and rosemary for cooking. And the tomatoes … yum!! My peppers will be ripening soon and hopefully we’ll have watermelon this summer. This would have been such a fun project when my kiddos were growing up to do together. Maybe the two that don’t eat veggies would enjoy them more?? Instead, I’m looking forward to sharing this with my grandchildren in the future.
Hoping this inspires those who can relate to my lack-of-gardening-know-how and you’ll find yourself a Tower Garden (or build one!) and have a bountiful harvest in the next few months. Let me know if you have any questions and I’ll try to help.
