It's been a few weeks since last post...what's been happening with the Tower Garden?

GROWTH and HARVEST!  That's what's been happening.  After 8 days vacation late June, we returned to a monster zucchini holding my youngest below...or maybe she's holding it.  I don't know, they're both about the same size.  Before our vacation, we picked almost all the lettuce to bring with us filling more than 2 large freezer bags.  The other photo below was taken a couple weeks ago and you could see the lettuce growing again.  Since then, we've enjoyed fresh summer squash, zucchini squash, basil and lettuce.  The tomatoes have multitudes of not-yet-ripe fruit and I've just started some lettuce and bok choy seedlings to replace the lettuce we finished off.  I went to my local hydro store (www.camarillohydro.com) and purchased some rockwool cubes and a local nursery (www.baronbrothers.com) for some great heirloom/organic seeds (www.botanicalinterests.com).  I've been researching nutrients for my garden and am finding it difficult to swallow the $19 shipping on top of the $40 price for the Tower Tonic.  It looks like the FloraDuo nutrient kit(www.generalhydroponics.com) has all the same stuff as the Tower Tonic but a little more concentrated and less money.  I'm also learning that the 2-part solution ratio can and should be changed during the growing cycle.  I'll have more on this in my next post.  In the meantime, enjoy the photos and we'll enjoy our harvest!



      ~~Impressive, isn't she???~~                      ~~Week 6 Tower Garden~~

Week 4: Garden is exploding with growth!

Picture below speaks for itself...unbelievable, isn't it?  I've never seen a garden grow this fast.  Continue to pick and eat fresh lettuce right off the Tower, and it continues to produce.  Here's a brief timeline so far:
          April 15, 2013    Ordered the Tower Garden Growing System
          April 22, 2013    Tower Garder delivered to my home
          April 25, 2013    Seeds planted in growing tray
          May 2, 2013       Seedlings starting to sprout
          May 13, 2013     Seedlings moved to Tower and Growing System started
          June 4, 2013       First lettuce picked from Tower Garden- delicious!

 

~~Week 4 Tower Garden~~

Week 3: Watching my garden grow!

Well it's been about 2 weeks since my last update and my garden has exploded with growth.  My wife and I have enjoyed some lettuce from the garden already (just couldn't resist!) and we will attest that it is some of the best we've ever had.  It starts with an initial crispiness then melts in the mouth with a sweet flavor- nothing like the tasteless or bitter and chlorinated stuff you'll find at the supermarket.  The squash plants and cucumber are going crazy and there looks to be the start of flowering on these plants.  The tomatoes are finally taking off with basil being the slow grower, however there are a few usable leaves already.  I'm now monitoring the pH about twice a week and added a little water to the tub a couple days ago.  I continue 15mins on and 15mins off with the timer setting and there has been no increase in electricity usage- actually a reduction in electricity usage vs last year according to my recent meter reading!  Here's a photo taken today:

 

~~Week 3 Tower Garden~~

Week 1: Tower Garden plant growth

My seedlings seem to have adjusted well after 1 week in the Tower Garden and I can now officially call them "plants".  I haven't noticed any signs of transplant shock and there is noticeable growth daily.  I've checked the pH every other day (lowered it twice- trying to keep at 6.0) and set the pump timer for 15 minutes on and 15 minutes off.  The water level has barely dropped and I try and rotate the Tower and Base 1/4 turn each direction daily to equalize the amount of direct sun.  I suspect this will not be necessary once the plants grow a bit more.  Below is a photo I took yesterday...quite impressive isn't it?

 

~~Week 1 Tower Garden~~

Tower Garden Started!

My Tower Garden build was incredibly easy- took about 20 minutes.  Just follow the simple instructions and you can't go wrong.  As you can see in the photo below, seedlings have been "planted" and we're up and running.  Below the photo, I have some pointers to supplement the information in the instructions.  Enjoy!

 

Here are some tips I'd like to share so far:

1. Certain seedlings need to be transferred to the Tower Garden sooner than others and not necessarily based on seedling height (above rockwool cube).  One example is cucumber.  It tends to root vigorously before leaf formation.  I believe I waited too long to plant in tower and the seedlings are suffering as a result.  Check the root formation out the bottom of your seedling rockwool cubes periodically.  If there is good root structure, the seedlings are ready for the tower.

2. When first building the tower make sure to tighten top wing nuts on rods just enough to keep tower sections close and wait a couple of days to allow plastic to creep and settle a little bit.  I recommend using large stainless washers (do not obstruct shower holes) under the top wing nuts to distribute the load better and tighten a little more to ensure the tower is stable.

3. To adjust pump flow in tower fill basin 1/2 full with water only first then turn pump on.  This will allow you to turn the dial on the submerged pump before you add the tonic and adjust the pH.  Make sure flow is just enough to keep top shower shelf (under Tower Garden cap) filled with about 1/4" solution.

4. Consider which plants enjoy one another and those that tend to not get along.  There is a lot of research- some speculative so be discerning.  We know that tomato and basil plants get along very well so grow them close to each other.  Some say that cucumber and tomato plants don't get along so train them in opposite directions if possible.

 

Seedlings after 2 weeks...

Lettuce on right came up in 1 week, tomatoes on top left, squash & cucumbers in middle, basil bottom left.  I'm very impressed with the fact all seeds seem to be germinating.  So far the system is working!  I make sure to keep water in the tray daily and haven't added any Growing Tonic yet.  I also give the seedling tray about 4 hours direct sunlight daily now.  Notice the lettuce cubes broken apart for aeration.  I plan to get Tower Garden started in a week or so...stay tuned for next post!

Seedlings started!

 

Using the Seedling Starter Kit included in the Tower Garden Growing System, I followed the simple instructions in the booklet to begin growing.  Don't forget to soak the rockwool for at least 30mins (I soaked mine for a couple of hours) and have a plan for what to grow- make sure it's stuff you like to eat.  On a half-sheet of graph paper I sketched a diagram of seedling distribution in the rockwool cubes.  There are 20 growing spaces in the Tower Garden and 21 rockwool cubes so I used them all with an idea to take 1 seedling and plant it in soil to compare growth rate and quality of product.  I'll probably use one of my squash seedlings as I have a total of 6 of those in my starter tray.  In my next post I'll talk about the Tower Garden and rolling stand builds (you will be amazed how easy it was) and we'll get into seedling transplant.  Very exciting stuff!  Oh, I forgot to mention we're starting with 7 lettuce, 2 basil, 2 red cherry tomato, 2 beefsteak tomato, 3 zucchini squash, 3 summer squash, and 2 cucumber.  We have a few vining plants and I have a plan for training these to grow out from the Tower Garden which I'll share in a future post.