Veggie Garden Diversification…The Tower Garden ®

I’ve already gotten one almost visceral “What?!?” response from a fellow veggie garden buddy when I told him that I was going to try my hand at growing veggies using a new-fangled approach to gardening. And when I say new-fangled, I mean that there’s no dirt…which seems crazy to me! But still…I’m entering the world of vertical, aeroponic gardening with a Tower Garden ®…looking forward to what we learn and what we can grow.

Why I Did Buy a Tower Garden ®

But I do get why my buddy reacted the way that he did…after all, I’m a self-proclaimed dirt lover. And for cryin’ out loud, the name of my company is Redeem Your Ground…and there’s essentially no ground to be redeemed when you use a Tower Garden ®. It’s effectively a big ole white PVC pipe with some holes in it…sticking vertically out of a stand with water dripping through it.  Although there’s much more to it than that…it’s still very different from my raised beds or the rows my grandparents hoed back in the day. So again, I get it…but let me tell you why I did choose to go down the Tower Garden ® route…

• Flexibility: We’ve been blessed and cursed with a yard that has mature trees. We love the shade that they provide when spending time outside, but this same shade makes growing veggies a bit of a challenge. The Tower Garden ® gives us greater flexibility in being able to take advantage of our few sunny spots…which for us is on our patio.
• Diversification: Our Tower Garden ® is not going to replace our raised beds, but rather complement them. By diversifying how and where we grow our veggies, we’ll hopefully not only yield more veggies…but if something goes wrong in one spot or with one approach, we’ll still have what comes from the other.
• Education: Besides the health benefits that come from growing our own veggies, the other primary reason we started growing vegetables at home in the first place was to help our girls have a better understanding and appreciation for where food comes from. The Tower Garden ® provides an added dimension of education for our girls…being able to see the roots, talking about what the water is doing now vs. the soil, etc. It’s Britt’s and my hope that with a closer connection to the food that they are eating, Brown and Lil’One will have better eating habits…and therefore live healthier lives.
• Experimentation: Possibly like some other more traditional home veggie growers, I’ve historically been a bit cynical of the Tower Garden ®. But at the same time, I have several close friends who have had a Tower Garden ® for several years and they swear by it. That…combined with a few frustrating growing seasons due to pests and disease…oh, and the increased shade cover above our raised beds, my interest in the Tower Garden ® has been piqued. So this year I plan on experimenting with the Tower Garden ®…to see if the claims of ease, speed of growth, and decreased incidence of disease and pests are true. Which…by the way, I’ll report back to you – so make sure to check back in to see how things are going.

Why I Didn’t Buy a Tower Garden ®

So those are the reasons why I am using the Tower Garden ®. Here are some other reasons why others are using a Tower Garden ®…they’re just not my reasons.

• Saving money: I didn’t build my raised beds to save money on our grocery bills…nor is it why I’m using the Tower Garden ®. However, some claim that they’ve made up for their Tower Garden ® investment within 2 years.  Although I won’t have a spreadsheet tracking these specific numbers, I should be able to tell where my yield of veggies is better…the Tower Garden ® or my raised beds.
• It’s the best, easiest, cheapest way to do vertical, aeroponic gardening: There are a number of DIYers out there who challenge the construction and cost of the Tower Garden ® … claiming that they can build a better design for a lot less money. Although I do like to do things with my own two hands, I don’t fall into that camp of DIYers. I don’t trust my skills enough, nor do I want to spend the time required to figure out all that the Tower Garden ® folks already have…and then build it. I fear if I went down the DIY route, I’d spend an inordinate amount of time building a sub-optimal vertical garden… potentially achieving some savings – if I’m lucky. For you other DIYers, knock yourself out…that’s awesome if you can build one yourself…and a very cool thing to be able to do.  That’s just not me.
• Making money: Tower Garden ® and Juice Plus ® (who markets and distributes the Tower Garden ®) folks sometimes get a bad wrap for being all about pushing product and making money (although those who I know personally do it more for the health benefits they provide their families). However, that’s not why I bought my Tower Garden®. That said…in full disclosure, I did become a “Tower Garden ® and Juice Plus ® Representative” so that I could benefit from the savings that I could get when I purchased my Tower Garden ®. But I don’t plan on selling Juice Plus ® or Tower Gardens® to all my friends and retiring from it; however, if you’re interested in either…reach out and I’d be glad to point you in the right direction.

The Basics of Aeroponic Gardening with the Tower Garden ®

For those of you who want to know more about how the Tower Garden ® works, check out the short video below.

So there you have it. Not only do I look forward to eating all of my Tower Garden ® veggies, I also look forward to learning from the experience and then telling you how things go. Check back in the next few weeks and I’ll show you what I’m growing and give you an update.

Take care,