Finding the best garden tower for your plants, vegetables, or organic food can be difficult. Not only because there are limited options available to choose but also due to most stores only carrying one or two different types in their locations.
Buying garden towers online opens up how many you have to choose from and the features they include. The most popular vertical garden is the Garden Tower 2. There are a handful of different bundles available for you to purchase as part of the Garden Tower 2, which we’re going to review for you today!
What is a Garden Tower?
A garden tower is a vertical garden that grows plants, flowers, vegetables, and other organic food sources that don’t need much soil to prosper. These are perfect for people who don’t have a lot of property for a traditional garden, don’t have time to tend to a large garden, or don’t have the experience or desire to grow large amounts of plants. Garden towers are popular with people who live in urban areas or in apartments without access to a yard for growing plants or food.
Garden Tower 2 was invented by The Garden Project. They created the product in response to the problem of food deserts. Garden Tower 2 is the result of refinements of the original model, providing a superior version for gardeners to purchase so they can use it in limited space to water and grow their plants.
What is a Food Desert?
A food desert is an area where it’s hard to get fresh food because of limited access to grocery stores or supermarkets. People who live in areas like this traditionally need to rely on convenience stores for their groceries.
The problem with these stores is that they don’t carry fresh fruit or vegetables for purchase. This means those whole communities are unable to get access to the organic and/or fresh food they need for proper diet and health. That’s where the garden tower comes in to help.
Why Would You Want a Garden Tower?
Like we stated above, the primary audience for a garden tower is people who don’t have access to fresh food on a regular basis. This doesn’t mean that it wouldn’t be useful for other communities as well. Those living in urban areas, apartment buildings, or people who don’t have the time or experience they need to grow a large garden would benefit from a garden tower. The ability to grow your own organic plants and vegetables with a little water is a great feeling that anyone can accomplish if they use one of the tower models available online.
How is Vertical Gardening Different from Traditional Gardening?
The most obvious difference between tower gardening and traditional gardening is that you’re working in a vertical space rather than a larger plot of land. This change impacts how you water the plants, how you interact with soil and worms, and the ways that you get air and nutrients to the plant’s roots.
The center of the tower holds both worms and compost, which means you’ll need to deposit compost materials into the cylinder of the tower to feed the worms. The design of the tower means nothing gets wasted in the production of your organic treats. From the water and compost material to the soil and worms, everything has its part to play in the growth of the plants and vegetables.
There is also a container beneath the tower that catches the water that drains from the garden tower. This water has valuable nutrients in it and can be reused in the garden to cycle back the benefits into the plants. This zero waste is one of the best benefits of the garden tower, outside of the ability to grow organic plants in a limited space.
Our Review of the Best 5 Garden Tower Models
While there are other garden towers on the market, we’re going to stick to reviewing the Garden Tower 2 products in today’s post. These are the most popular tower options available and we know a lot of our audience is interested in these bundles so they can pursue gardening if they have limited space.
Another reason we’ve gotten requests to review the Garden Tower 2 is that some of our readers are from areas where food grade chemicals are used to modify the natural flavour of their products. Food grade chemicals, while safe to consume, are not organic and one of the reasons that the Garden Tower is becoming more popular to use in different environments.
Garden Tower 2 has spots for 50 plants and is made from HDPE materials. The weight of this tower is 200 lbs with soil loaded into it so keep that in mind when choosing a space for the tower. Each level of the tower rotates, making it easy for you to access the plants you need to reach or change one level’s access to sunlight. The center tube holds soil, compost and worms and helps distribute the water to the roots of your plants to make them grow better.
The tower will hold up to 14 gallons of water, which is distributed from the top of the tower to the bottom. However, if you live in a particularly dry region, you may need to spend some time watering the individual plants as well to make sure each one has the proper amount of water needed to grow.
- Pros
- Allows for 50 plants in the tower
- Holds 14 gallons of water
- Great for use in limited space
- Made of food grade plastic
- Cons
- Very heavy when full of soil and plants
The deluxe bundle includes Garden Tower 2, a premium caster wheel kit, hose water meter, plant marking stakes, and seeds. You also get a starter kit that includes low-salt plant food, seed starting soil, seed gift certificate, and a seedling heat mat. The tower costs more than other bundles do but that’s because it comes with so many useful additions to help you start your garden.
- Pros
- Provides incredible strength and sturdiness
- Multi-purpose tool
- Limited lifetime warranty
- 100% American product
- Cons
- A heavier tool which requires more strength to use over sustained periods
- Not currently available in California or outside the United States
The biggest benefit of this tower is that makes it easier for you to move your garden around a little easier. Because the vertical garden weighs around 200 pounds, it can be impossible to move around if there aren’t wheels attached to the base. That’s where this bundle comes in, giving you the freedom to carefully navigate your garden into a new spot. The wheels also have lock brakes and a load rating of 220 pounds. The wheels are also protected by a lifetime warranty in case they break for some reason.
- Pros
- Lifetime warranty on the wheels
- Easy to move the tower
- Better bundle value
- Cons
- The tower is still really heavy to move around
The starter bundle comes with the seed-starting soil and plant food you’ll need to get growing straight away. It also comes with plant labels so you can easily tell what you’ve planted where in your garden. These labels are reusable so if you change what you’ve planted you can simply clean them off and write a new label on it to reflect the change. This bundle also includes a gift card for some seeds to get you started.
- Pros
- Very durable product
- Lightweight yet has exceptional strength
- Produced by a market-leading company formed in the 1920’s
- Limited lifetime warranty
- Cons
- More expensive than alternatives
- Fixed handle length
The made in America bundle includes a premium caster wheel kit and mini-tower plower, both designed to make it easier for you to work with your tower. The caster wheel lets you move around the 200-pound tower to a different position for better sunlight exposure or an area that you’ve decided simply works better for the tower. The mini-tower plower helps you aerate your soil and create a hole for seeds and plants.
- Pros
- Premium caster wheel kit included
- Mini tower plower included
- Cons
- Expensive compared to other bundles
Other Types of Vertical Gardens
While Garden Tower is the most popular vertical garden available, it isn’t your only option. Some other choices include Mr. Stacky planters, Emsco 3-tier planter, and Gronomics garden. You can purchase these online or in some retail stores depending on where you live.
The most popular garden products include the Mr. Stacky 12-inch by 5.5-inch Terracotta plastic vertical stackable planter, the Bloem hanging garden plastic planter system, the Emsco 13-inch 3-tier resin flower and herb vertical gardening planter in the sand, and the Gronomics 32-inch by 45-inch by 9-inch unassembled garden.
Best Plants and Vegetables to Grow in Vertical Gardens
Not all plants and vegetables grow well in vertical gardens because of the different growing conditions they’re expected to flourish in compared to traditional gardens. This means you need to focus on plants that prosper through vines or have shallow roots, otherwise, they may not do well in this type of garden because of the thinner amount of soil and water.
Outdoor Plants that Grow Well in Vertical Gardens
When you’re choosing the outdoor plants you want for your garden you need to keep in mind that you have to pick ones that have shallow roots or don’t take too long to mature. You can also pick plants that root in a pot then climb up trellis or railings. The best non-edible plants to grow in these types of gardens includes the following:
- Ferns
- Bromeliads
- Bird Nest Ferns
- Devil's Ivy
- Pothos
- Golden Pothos
- Golden Pothos
- Lipstick Plants
- Succulents
- Dracaenas
- Crotons
- Hostas
- Baby's Tears
If you want to go for edible plants for your garden, you have a few options to choose from. Just remember that the same rules apply when it comes to shallow roots or plants that grow on a vine. Some of the safest bets for these types of edible plants include:
- Herbs like basil, parsley, cilantro, chives, and dill
- Salad greens like lettuce, spinach, kale
- Bird Nest Ferns
- Radishes
- Vining cucumbers
- Pole beans
- Sweet potatoes
- Vining cherry tomatoes
- Malabar spinach
In addition to outdoor edible and non-edible plants, you can also showcase indoor plants such as orchids, ferns, and air plants. Foliage plants are also a great choice because they showcase their leaves particularly well in a vertical position instead of the traditional horizontal planter. Foliage plants that do well in drier conditions like bromeliads, succulents, and sedum all look amazing in this sort of tower. Foliage plants that prefer the shade like ferns, coleus, spider plants, caladiums, and certain types of vines are also a great choice.
Conclusion
As we’ve explained in this review of Garden Tower 2 and the different bundles available, there are a lot of benefits to investing in garden towers. Although it was primarily created to help people who live in food desert situations, these towers are also great for urban communities and people who live in apartment buildings. Being able to grow your own organic food throughout the year is a huge benefit for budget-conscious people and those who are interested in gardening.
If you have any questions about this review or more information about Garden Tower 2 or gardening products and tools in general, leave a comment below. Also, if you’ve used Garden Tower 2 or any of its bundles leave us a message as we’d love to hear from you and your experience with the tower.
In the meantime, make sure you check out our other product reviews and articles about lawn care, gardening, and landscaping. We provide the latest reviews and guides to make sure you always know where to invest your dollars so you get the most from your products and your lawn every time! If you have a suggestion about a product or topic you want us to cover, leave a comment below and we’ll see if we can create some content around your suggestion!
Call 519-279-6797 For A Free Quote!