How to Make an Organic Garden Tower

Garden towers are a vertical food production system primarily designed for both home and commercial growers. This modern system of growing crops is cost-effective and highly efficient. It also gives opportunities even for new gardeners to produce food in a fraction of the time it would normally take to grow the same type of crops in soil. Almost any plant can be grown in tower gardens; the few exceptions include bushes, grapevines, root crops, and trees.

Planning Your Garden Tower

There are two essential things to consider when it comes to planning your garden tower.

1. Picking the most suitable location. Most ready-made garden towers fit almost anywhere. Aside from space, ensure that you take into account two of the most crucial factors when choosing the ideal location: light and water. To grow and maintain a productive garden, remember that most plants need 6 to 8 hours of full sun or 14 to 16 hours of under grow lights so ensure that you give your plants sufficient lighting. Water is also absolutely necessary; make sure that access to adequate water is there.
2. Choosing the right plants. Pick your plants not just according to your food preferences but to growing conditions as well. It’s best to grow those of which you normally buy from the supermarket. If you have got a long list, say of various greens to plant, narrow it down by looking into each vegetable’s growing requirements. For instance, while some plants like mints tolerate a range of temperatures, most prefer only either cool or warm weather. This means that what you should be growing on your garden tower depends on your area’s location, climate, and season.

Building Your Own Garden Tower

A garden tower design from Vera Gates (Arterra Landscape Architects, San Francisco) was described in https://www.sunset.com/. Building one can be done by following these DIY instructions:

1. To create a tower on a smaller scale, start by filling a 16-inch clay pot halfway with pot shards or pebbles.
2. Inside the pot, position a 34-inch-high cylinder of welded wire mesh purchased from a building-supply store or hardware. This will serve as your tower’s framework.
3. Work in tiers by lining the inside of the cylinder with moist sphagnum moss, filling it with potting soil, and then poking in your plants from the outside.
4. Repeat this process until you have reached the cylinder’s top.
5. Note that lightweight edibles that work well because of their small root system include radishes, arugula, and leaf lettuces.