Last year we took a break from gardening to concentrate on improving our dairy farm infrastructure. However, upon receiving a GreenStalk vertical planter as a gift, we decided to make a small exception. So over this last summer and winter we tried out our compact vertical garden. During the summer we tried lettuce, celery, herbs like basil, parsley, thyme, rosemary, oregano, and mint. Also had a few flowers. We didn’t replant the lettuce for winter but managed to maintain most of the herbs and let the celery regrow after harvesting.
Pros:
It holds an amazing number of plants in a very small space. 6 plants per level and with the 5 level model it can hold 30plants in the tower.
It easily disassembles and reassembles with minimal effect on the plants.
It is well built and good quality construction
It is very stable.
The auto watering system was effective and very convenient.
We were able to grow some herbs both winter and summer.
Required little to no weeding.
Cons:
When moved indoors for the winter, we ended up losing most of the plants on the side away from the window. The planter needs to be rotated to give all the plants light or you will need to place a grow light nearby.
While the plants on the window side did continue growing in the wintertime it was very slow with the light from our small window. Adding a grow light nearby or placing near a larger window should speed up the growing process.
In conclusion: The garden tower was a fun addition to our normally seasonal garden. It provided us with some fresh herbs and spices year around and I look forward to improving our setup and expanding it in the future.
If you have limited space or don’t want to lose your whole garden when winter rolls around this could be a good option for you as well.
List of Supplies
GreenStalk Garden Tower: 5 Level 30 plant Garden Tower
GreenStalk Spinning Base: Spinning base with lockable wheels 300lb rating.
Grow Light: 30W LED Grow Lights with clip on base.
Heirloom Non-GMO Herbal Seed Kit: Anise, Bouquet Dill, Broadleaf Sage, Chives, Cilantro, Common Mint, Curled Chervil, Evergreen Bunching Nabuka Onion, Florence Fennel, Garlic Chives, Genovese Basil, German Thyme, Italian Giant Parsley, Rosemary, Sweet Basil.
Heirloom Non-GMO Vegetable Seeds: Carrots, Leek, Onions, Radish, Arugula, Chives, Collard, Lettuce, Peppercress, Sorrel, Spinach, Swiss Chard
30 Culinary Herbs & Edible Flower Seeds Pack: : Basil Italian, Basil Lemon, Basil Purple, Basil Thai, Bergamot, Borage, Calendula, California Poppy, Cape Forget-Me-Not, Catnip, Chervil, Chives, Cilantro, Dill, Echinacea, Fennel, Hyssop, Italian Parsley, Lavender, Lemon Balm, Marjoram, Mountain Mint, Peppermint, Oregano, Rosemary, Sage, Summer Savory, Tarragon, Thyme, Zinnia,
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