For many of us living in the concrete jungle, having a backyard with soil with vermicompost sounds like a pipe dream. For condo dwellers in Toronto, some balconies are so small you can fit your houseguests to watch the sunset! If you’re looking to grow a lot of food in soil and in a small area, I have a recommendation for you, the Garden Tower, a composter and planter in one structure.
The folks at the Garden Tower Project thoroughly considered its customers’ needs when they developed this vertical planter. With its innovative, award-winning design, you can grow 50 plants and vegetables in 4 sq. ft of space, according to its inventors. The Garden Tower lets you compost your kitchen waste in the vermicompost column, whose soil provides a moist and nutritious habitat for worms.
I have grown in different mediums and used different techniques, but I always find myself returning to soil. I love how biodiverse it can be and how satisfying to use what Mother Earth provided for us. With all these amazing different growing practises, I still think what soil offers to be unmatched. In my experience with Garden Towers, I am able to get the best of both worlds: space efficiency and the ability to work with soil. Here are my reflections on the product and why it works well for city farming.
Why use a vertical planter?
📐 Space efficient
With sky rises, for example, have figured out the virtues of vertical developments, and now we need to incorporate it in our growing practice. It only takes up 4 sq. ft, which means that most city balconies can fit about two or three Towers.
You will need to take into consideration, however, the fact that plants will need more space once they grow. I would say leave at least a foot around the planter for basic leafy greens. If you are looking to grow tomatoes or other larger plants, make sure you account for the support of the plant’s vertical progression as well.
🪴 It’s soil!
I can’t stress my love for soil enough. Having grown in hydroponics, aquaponics, fogponics, and more, the amount of diversity that soil has over all of these other techniques is incomparable.
🚰 Reusable water
Living in a condo, we need to think about our neighbours below us, too. If we start watering our system and the dirty water drips over the edge, it will go on the units below us — which won’t make your neighbours happy. The Garden Tower has a catch basin below to capture the run-off, meaning you can reuse the water while also preventing leaking.
🪱 Worms and compost
That’s right! There is a space for worms and compost in the middle of the vertical planting unit — this really is a compact, all-in-one mini farm. It is also what takes this system above the rest. This really makes it a closed eco-system for your plants to thrive. As the worms breakdown everything in the middle, they provide vital nutrients to the soil that in turn feeds your plants.
Check out this post on urban composting made easy to understand how to do this properly. Even though it is a small amount of compost, it is important to still maintain the ratios.
🛻 Easy transportation
For tight spaces, the wheels and rotation ability are great features. You can spin the tower around for sun and also easy harvesting. Not only do you get easy access to plants as they grow, you are able to move it around as you see it.
Upgrades and add-ons
If you already own a Garden Tower, below are a few ways to up the ante.
💧 Self watering
This is really such a tough thing to incorporate, but it can make a drastic difference in the results. One thing I like about the self-watering feature is that it takes the pressure of regular watering off, especially as busy city folk. If you want to have a late night, or not go home from the office, your plants are covered. Having this feature added can make a lot of difference in the lifestyle and experience around growing food.
| Grounding rods
One thing I would add is a grounding rod, which I frequently talk about on Truly Local Farms and for good reason. People are starting to realize how important it is to be connected to the earth’s massive electromagnetic field. What’s great when you add this product to the Tower is that when you touch your plants, you are grounded too! So it’s such a win-win.
Endorsed by farming YouTubers
John Kohler from Grow Your Greens is an amazing resource for all that want to have someone with a diehard passion for farming. He was really one of my mentors. Here is his video reviewing the Garden Tower, which also shows you how to set up step-by-step.
A few notes: I don’t agree with using the garbage bag to stop the soil from falling out. I would urge you to use landscaping fabric instead. The garbage bag is not food grade and will leak toxins out over time.
When MIgardener adds the blended food scraps, he didn’t add dry things to the mixture. Blending is nice, but it can make the environment hostile for worms. Beside these minor errors, the design works and is a great weekend project for you to consider.
