I was wrong,
I was really wrong,
and this is proof...........
My 28 day old tower
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| Side A |
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| Side B |
Here is my story
About a year or so ago I made a trip over to Living Towers in Eustis to visit their Aeroponic/Hydroponic greenhouse. We toured the greenhouse, learned about the process , tasted the produce, etc. It was cool for sure, but I had about a million reasons why it was impractical to think people would do "this" at home. But I was wrong, and here is why....
# 1: My first issue was this, I like organics. What was this nutrient solution they were giving the plants?
Come to find out, it is not organic but that is o.k. and here is why. When you talk about organics you are talking about carbon based organisms ( something that was once alive like a plant or animal) . The solution is mineral based -inorganic meaning it was never alive or carbon based. That makes sense, it is not NON-organic it is IN-organic- big difference. Water is also inorganic.
#2: Here was my second issue. Plastic. Tower Gardens are made of plastic...
Here is what I found though. Towers are BPA free and they have been specially made so that they do not degrade in the sun like other plastics ( PVC) do.
O.K. cool!
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| The tower being assembled |
#3: My third issue. I know that plants fed lots of nitrogen will grow fast but the plants are not as good in general . They don't taste as good and they are more susceptible to pests because their cell walls are damaged by the rapid growth.
The tower tonic / mineral/ nutrient solution that is used in this specific system does not do that! There is a lot of information on all of this and I will attach the info at the bottom for you to actually read the articles but for now I will move to my next reason.
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| There ain't no bugs on me! |
#4: My fourth issue. O.k. towers need electricity there is a pump, how much does that cost to run?
Well, it was a lot less than I thought....$7 a year- yup not much. Another thing I learned is that you can convert your tower to solar power!!!! How cool is that!
I also found out that you can do aquaponics with them but that is a whole other realm. I am not ready to discuss that yet, but cool none the less.
I was running out of reasons......
#5: Oh, I can grow things in the dirt. Why would I want to use a tower?
Here is why. Florida is hot!! You can only grow things at specific times and the growing seasons are short. Towers eliminate the extremes in temperature and allow you to grow things during seasons that you would normally be unable to. Case in point it is summer in Florida and HOT! I would never plant lettuce in the ground. But do you know what I am growing in my tower right now? Lettuce and they are gorgeous! Normally I would have to wait until winter!! This is not specific to Florida though, the same benefits apply in other regions be it hot or cold. Oh and I found out that you can harvest several times off of the lettuces, they are not just a 1 time harvest!
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| Beautiful lettuce ready for harvest ( in just 28 days) |
Also, my back yard is only so big. I live in a community with very small yards! My tower is one of the smaller ones but it holds 20 plants in a very small space in the corner of my porch. If I had one of the larger towers it would grow 28 vertically. That's really a great space saver. I also found out that it only takes 5-10% of the water I would normally need to grow a garden......
#6: My last reason. The cost. Would it really be worth it to buy this? Yes, anything you do, ground garden, etc it going to take set up, time, and money. For this Tower garden, set up takes under 30 minutes, there is no dirt to worry about, and the average tower pays for it self in less than 2 years. Another benefit, there are less pest problems with a tower because there is no dirt. How many times have you tried to grow a garden and lose it to pests like insects? Another benefit, animals seem to stay away from it, it is thought that the sound of the pump running keeps them away. COOL!
So, out of reasons why not to, I am now a tower garden groupie. I have a tower and love it. It is really been an incredible experience!
So, let me show you what the first four weeks with our tower has been like......
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| Our tower arrived and it is a BIG box! |
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| The kids are excited and ready to put this together- yup the kids assembled a lot of it |
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| Add caption |
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| Can you see the excitement |
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| Even my father- in - law got in on building the tower |
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| Seedlings! I was super lucky that when I purchased my tower they were giving away free seedlings with purchase. Shipped right to my door! |
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| Day 1 |
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| Week 1 |
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| Week 2 |
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| Week 2.5 |
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| Week 3 |
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| Week 3.5 |
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| More week 3.5, notice that I now need to trellis the cucumber! |
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| Week 4 side B |
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| Week 4 side A |
Recently I became a distributor for Tower Gardens, only a few people up until this point knew, the reason for that, is this, before I could ever recommend something to someone else, I had to try it, test it, research it, and know it was good. I have always been this way.
As a teenager I worked at a pharmacy where I was a cosmetician, you know the make up counter. The chain that I worked for had an incentive program, sell certain things/ promotions and get a kick back. Here was the problem, I can not recommend something I think is junk, I don't like to be hustled and I would never "hustle" someone else for any reason!! The place I worked for happen to like charts, like who is selling XYZ etc. Can I tell you I was always the lowest seller! I was a great cosmetician but I just couldn't sell something to people I didn't believe in and so every week I got a "talking to" about how to increase my sales.
So my goal today is to share something that I believe is amazing! As a family we have gotten a lot of joy out of seeing it grow and the lettuces are delicious. Yes, we have eaten straight off the tower, and while I won't be getting rid of my "ground gardens" I will certainly be incorporating more, and more tower gardening into my backyard growing.
If you would like more information on how to get a tower of your own please visit my page at the link below where you can get more details. You can order directly through the site or contact me, and I will guide you through the process. I should note that Living towers will be offering free seedlings for your tower through the month of September.
Thanks for reading along and if you get a tower , let me know, I would love to see your results!!
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