I may not be excited about it getting cold outside but I am excited about having my tower inside for the winter. Curious is more like it. Last time I had an indoor garden, I used hydroponics and tried to grow tomatoes and peppers. None of my tomatoes formed any fruit and I think I had two peppers all winter. That being said, the pepper leaves were huge and the tomato vines reached the ceiling. Whatever, I was doing the green leafy parts of the plants loved it.
This year I have the tower garden. It uses Aeroponics. The roots are showered with a tonic solution 15 minutes every hour (or twice an hour depending on how warm you keep your house). This year I am forgoing the fruiting plants for leafy vegetables and herbs. I have twenty pods to fill so I am going with several varieties of leafy lettuce, spinach, and arugula. I was also told cauliflower and broccoli do well inside in the tower garden. This is my first attempt at tower gardening indoors. I can not wait to walk across the living room with my bowl and pick my salad. You can’t get fresher food than that!
The first step in moving the tower inside is finding a nice location. I used the dolly it sits on to try out potential placements. Although I am using indoor full-spectrum lighting, I chose a spot by the window so they could also be exposed to as much natural lighting as possible. Also note, this is a low traffic area with seating only used by resting pool players. I wouldn’t put the tower garden near my regular sofa or television because it will make noise when the pump is running. I’ll be experimenting with some ways to minimize the sound once I get all the pods and seeds in.
The next step is to set the tank on the dolly, insert the pump, and run the electric cord through the hole in the tank. Make sure you tie a loose knot in the cord. This prevents water from flowing down your cord and running into the electrical outlet, should you accidentally overfill the tank..
Then assemble the tower. Easy to follow instructions come with your tower garden.
Now you are ready to fill your tank. I ran an outside hose from the outdoor spigot threw the window. Another great benefit of my choice location. This was a nice fall day. My guess is that you will need to top off the tank several times over the winter. If you don’t have an outdoor spigot, don’t have a window location, or don’t want to open the window, head down to your local hardware store and pick up a hose adapter for your kitchen or bathroom sink’s faucet. I will be using one for my indoor garden after the first freeze.
Since I am waiting on new pod baskets for my garden, I am letting the water sit and distill for a few days before I do the PH testing. Since my water comes from a well, I know I have high PH. I wanted to test and see how waiting several days effects the PH, if at all.
The last step before my pod baskets arrive is to assemble the tomato cage. I know I said I wasn’t growing any tomatoes, but I am still using the tomato cage in my winter garden. The tomato cage is perfect for holding the lights. This year I decided to try out some of the strip lighting I found on Amazon. I’ll post more about them when they get here.
For now, the tower garden is all set up and patiently waiting for the pod baskets to arrive. Not only is this the most successful gardening I have ever done, but the tower garden adds healthy full spectrum light and green plants to your home during the winter. What a great way to harvest good health!