This is the second year I have grown a few vegetables in the "Tower Gardens". Admittedly, I was a bit skeptical but now I am hooked and increasing the number of towers. I always start out growing cool-loving crops inside the greenhouse. Usually, lettuce, radish, and spinach to start off the season.
It works nicely since I do not heat the greenhouse unless the temperatures are going to drop below freezing at night. This is the first tower I purchased from Amazon and it works fine for lettuce and spinach. The cell depth is short and only works for small-rooted crops.
The most important advice I can offer is to start out with a good soil mix. I use a combination of quality container potting mix, perlite, leaf compost, and manure.
The second tip, drill a hole in the center of each pot so that you can put them through a stable rod. This is extremely helpful to ensure the towers are stable due to the weight of the plants and strong winds. Also, it allows you to rotate the entire tower to gain the maximum light for all the plants.
Here I show the progress of putting up the towers I purchased with deep cell pockets to grow large-rooted plants. I like to put a solid base on the ground to turn them easily. I used an old sheet of plastic and a tray from the bottom of another container I no longer use. I pounded a long steel rod deep into the ground to stabilize the towers.
I am excited to have the large-celled towers and have planted bush beans into each pocket. I have very limited growing space in my larger vegetable garden and hoping for great results. Every time I have planted beans directly into the ground some type of rodent chews them to the ground. This is my way of winning the battle against the little beasties. lol
This is the fertilizer that I mix into the soil when filling up each layer of the tower. It is a standard fertilizer to give the plants a good start. After the veggies are established I give liquid feedings every three weeks. I like to use fish emulsion, fermented eggshell water, banana peel water, and sometimes ash water.
Another great tip is to plant the dry-loving plants towards the top of the tower. This will keep them from becoming too wet if too much water flows down throughout the entire tower.
I planted Habanero Peppers in the top layer of the two large towers. They will enjoy this location and I won't have to worry about overwatering them. The next tip I can share is to plant your tallest vegetables towards the base of the tower garden. This will allow the smaller plants above them to receive good light.
The next tip is to plant your sun-loving towers where they will benefit the most. Then place your cooler-loving plants in a slightly shadier area, such as lettuce and spinach to keep them from bolting to early. I have found this quite helpful from experience.
I had an idea to use the frame where I hang my hammock to grow peas this spring. So far they are starting to climb the twine I rigged to a piece of wood. When I went to take a photo of them, look who I found lying in the morning sunshine. Now, that I know I have garden snakes around I will be more cautious when I'm working with the plants. I certainly don't mind them, well not too much, but don't want to be surprised. ;-)
I utilized one of my Lilac trees next to the veggie garden to grow pole beans. So, just like the peas, I rigged twine up and down from the branches and planted the beans in between the eggplant. I am sure they will do fine since this area gets great sun during the day.
In just two days the beans are taking hold and beginning to wind up the twine. I am so excited to have had the thought to do more vertical gardening this year. Growing organic vegetables to improve my family's health is a passion that keeps improving year after year.
Here I use cattle panels to support the tomato plants and cucumbers. It is much easier to tie them to the panels as they gain height over growing them inside a tomato cage.
My greenhouse is empty and all the plants are in their forever homes. The vegetables are doing fantastic now that the weather has warmed up. I just planted all the peppers this week and low and behold chipmunks chewed the tops off of 30 of my favorite peppers. Now, I have to start another round of seedlings to replace them. This my friends wraps up this post for today. I hope you are inspired to use your space and try growing vertical gardens too.
Until next time, this is Sunscape
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