Vertical gardens are the next best innovation in future living. We explore this exciting concept with the award-winning product, Garden Tower 2® and how it may just be the new garden accessory we all need.
Growing sustainable and organic produce is now made possible in every household with a self-composting design. Everything you need to know about the Garden Tower Project.
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The Garden Tower® Project
Making its debut campaign on Kickstarter back in April 2012, the first Garden Tower® project was born. Designed to provide accessible organic farming to the world, people could now easily grow affordable food, sustainably.
The Original Garden Tower®
The Original Garden Tower® design was based on an elevated gardening system that allowed multiple plants to share the same watering and nutrient system. This space-saving and water-saving design in turn accommodates a full-scale garden in only 4 square feet of space.
The Garden Tower® 1.1
Unveiled to Kickstarter in April 2012, the new and improved Garden Tower® 1.1 was ready to be known to the world online. After a few months of sponsor backing on Kickstarter, in December 2012, sponsors received their first Garden Tower®.
Following on from its 2 predecessors, the advanced Garden Tower® 2 was born. Built with improvements on the original Garden Tower®, the new design includes: an upgraded system for vermicomposting, easy access 360 degrees rotation and a tower made using 100% recyclable food-grade contact plastic.
With the Garden Tower® 2, home-grown produce is now easier than ever and available to purchase directly from gardentowerproject.com
The Living Product Challenge
Whilst a closed-loop production system is a familiar term used in the manufacturing process industry, now imagine being able to run the same cyclic process in the comfort of your own home. And if you practice composting, you’re essentially already doing it!
If sustainability is your jam, then The Garden Tower® Project combined with The Living Garden Challenge, makes it all that much easier for the environmentally conscious individual to get out there and start living sustainably.
What is the Living Product Challenge?
Simply put, the Garden Tower® is essentially a living ecosystem that works in a straightforward and easy-to-understand process.
Step 1: take your compostables and place them in the Garden Tower®; step 2: collect your finished compost and finally step 3: enjoy your fresh organic produce!
Garden Tower Project is the first manufacturer to achieve Living Product Challenge PETAL CERTIFICATION. Thanks to the simple steps of Garden Tower®, it now has a product that upholds sustainability standards to be proud of.
So, what exactly is the Living Product Challenge? The Living Product Challenge is the world’s most advanced product sustainability standard. The framework encourages manufacturers to create products that are healthy, inspiring and give more than they take across their life cycles.
When a product is certified by the Living Product Challenge, as a consumer you know that your “Living Product” is making a positive impact on your life and the environment.
How did the Living Product Challenge shape Garden Tower®?
The Living Product Challenge is organised into seven key performance areas:
- Place: restoring a healthy coexistence with site and the natural environment.
- Water: creating products that operate within the water balance of the manufacturing site and are net positive throughout their life cycle.
- Energy: Manufacturing processes that rely on current solar income and are net positive throughout the product life cycle.
- Health & Happiness: Optimising the health of products and creating environments that promote psychological well-being.
- Materials: supporting a circular and regenerative economy by creating products that use healthy and safe inputs, and eliminating concepts of waste.
- Equity: supporting a just and sustainable world.
- Beauty: celebrating design that uplifts the human spirit.
To achieve Petal Certification, the Living Product must fulfil the minimum core components of each required performance area.
Naturally, this would shape the blueprint of Garden Tower® and ultimately its final design.
Design Elements that were guided by the Living Product Challenge Standards
- Garden Tower® is made from materials that are 97% free of petroleum resources.
- Identifying specific waste streams, like packaging, that were completely eliminated from the product line.
The Future of Garden Tower Project
Achieving Petal Certification from the Living Product Challenge has set the benchmark for future Garden Tower Project products.
But why is sustainably so important for them? Simply put, it is a smart move to offer consumers sustainable and healthier choices – by staying relevant. There is no doubt, that future consumer market trends indicate that there is a growing demand and necessity for more sustainable products.
As the consumer evolves, the reality will be that sustainability doesn’t just become a choice anymore but a necessary way of life – and businesses that aren’t willing to follow the lead in sustainability, just won’t be relevant anymore.
From Tower to Table
Forget about farm-to-table, with the Garden Tower® you can now make organic produce a reality in the comfort of your own home.
With organic produce being the healthier option, you too can harvest chemical-free fresh fruit and vegetables at a fraction of the cost.
Some common chemicals (agrichemicals) used in conventional agricultural practice include: fuels, solvents, insecticides, fungicides, fertilisers, plant growth regulators and veterinary chemicals.
Read my article: Is eating organic actually healthier for you? – to find out more about the effects of eating organically.
Choose the type of fresh produce you want to eat
From fresh basil to a giant cabbage head, the combinations of produce are totally up to you.
How much you want to grow in the same tower is only limited by your imagination. Which means no more worrying about allocating space for different types of plants, like in conventional vegetable gardening, when they can all be grown and harvested in the same space.
The rotating system can grow 50 plants in an allocated 6 cubic foot lot of vertical space. The actual space the tower takes up is only 4 square feet.
You can download a copy of a planting layout below to help you keep track of your plants:
2-in-1 Planter and Composter
Now you don’t have to choose between the two or make the space for both. The Garden Tower® is literally both a vertical garden planter and composter all in one. Each level comfortably houses 10 plants (50 plants in total) and kitchen waste scraps are emptied into the central tube for composting.
The clever vermacomposting tube design, allows plants to access essential nutrients recycled through the organic composting process easily. In addition, rich compost is naturally produced and is ready to be harvested in about two to 3 months. The compost can then be reused back into the Garden Tower® or in other areas of your garden soil.
The compost gate is fully perforated to maximise air entry into the compost from below. A gated barrier also slides out allowing the compost to drop into the drawer for easy removal.
Another valuable by-product of vermacomposting is nutrient tea or otherwise known as compost tea. It’s like a super boost juice for your plants! It is made when water passes through compost and collects all the nutrients that have been processed by the worms and any other bacteria present in compost.
The large 2 gallon (~7.6L) bottom drawer, captures all of the nutrient tea. This can then be reapplied back to the vertical garden planter or in your garden bed.
Sustainable by Design
The vertical planter design efficiently recovers more than ninety-percent of available nutrition that would otherwise be lost. The central composting tube facilitates the uptake of essential nutrients by the plant roots at each level for hydroponic-growth rates.
That means faster growth in less time to save time, water, electricity, nutrient loss and water loss without compromising on the freshness and quality of produce.
The Garden Tower® is made from food-grade materials using HDPE (non-toxic, BPA & PVC free plastic) components, FDA-approved dye and features the maximum amount of food-grade UV protection available in the industry.
This means fresh produce is grown in a healthy and safe manner ensuring that the Garden Tower® is strong and durable even in harsher climates.
Compost is produced through the central tube, just add non-meat compostable kitchen scraps and browns (e.g. shredded paper, dry leaves etc).
Introduce worms (purchased separately) to the compost mix to create a vermicompost environment. Red worms begin to eat kitchen scraps as soon as they start to decay. They stay near the fresh compost and are protected from dryness, excess moisture, heat and cold by the surrounding soil.
If night crawler worms are introduced, these worms can travel throughout the layers of rich compost and the potting soil helping to transport nutrients and create pathways for maximum soil and compost aeration.
Dark, rich finished compost can be removed from the drawer below between 60-90 days during the growing seasons.
As the vertical garden tower is watered, nutrients move from root zone to root zone throughout connected soil levels. Nutrient uptake is increased for faster-growing, more nutritious plants.
Thanks to the central position of the compost tube, plants are also able to directly access essential nutrients naturally from the compost.
Internal horizontal shelves prevent potting soil compaction and aid in the absorption of water back into the soil. This helps extend the life of most potting soils to several years.
How much soil can a Garden Tower® hold?
The Garden Tower™ 2 holds 5.5 cubic feet (155L) of potting soil for immense root support. The curved planting pocket design allows for easy planting, fast root removal, and no stem abrasion.
The patented GT2 vermicomposting tube features 265% more openings for greater access by plant roots and compost oxygenation.
Is the Garden Tower® easy to use?
Yes, it is built to be user-friendly! One of the biggest changes between the original Garden Tower™ and the Garden Tower™ 2 is the addition of the rotating feature.
The 360-degree rotation is made possible by a robust integrated bearing track which means optimized sun exposure and better plant access in tight spaces!
Wide, heavy, reinforced, anchorable feet attach the tower securely to flooring. The Premium Caster Kit (optional extra) allows the Garden Tower™ 2 to be frequently moved with ease.
A compost release gate allows for seasonal removal of finished compost and provides for aeration of the vermicompost from below.
The removable bottom drawer collects 2 gallons (7.6L) of nutrient-enriched water which can be applied again on the vertical garden bed.
What's inside the box?
The Garden Tower™ 2 weighs 36 lbs (16kg) and is 43″ (1m) tall.
Inside the box includes:
- 5 removable plant rings
- 6 compost tube ring sections
- Base with rotatable
lower planting ring - 1 compost tube cap
- 1 sliding compost gate
- 1 drawer
- 3 feet
What does a Garden Tower® cost and where can I get one?
The Garden Tower® is currently available to purchase online from The Garden Tower Project. The 50-plant Composting Vertical Garden Planter will set you back $360.00 USD with the optional Caster Kit and other accessories available for an additional cost.
Bundle packs are also available online to take the hassle out of choosing what you need. There are three bundle packs to choose from, compare them below:
Garden Tower™ 2 Starter Bundle
Everything you need to start growing- Garden Tower®2 50-plant composting container garden
- Dr. Earth Plant Food
- Plant Labels (50)
- $20 Baker Creek Seed Gift Certificate
- Discounted shipping rate
- List Item
Garden Tower 2™ Move & Grow Bundle
Get your garden moving- Garden Tower®2 50-plant composting container garden
- Discounted shipping rate
- Caster Wheel Kit
Garden Tower 2™ Deluxe Bundle
Save on the most popular items- Garden Tower®2 50-plant composting container garden
- Dr. Earth Plant Food
- Plant Labels (50)
- $20 Baker Creek Seed Gift Certificate
- Discounted shipping rate
- Caster Wheel Kit
- Greenhouse seed starting kit
- Expanding nutrient rich soil for seed starting
- Save-a-drop Hose Meter
- Premium Seedling Heat mat
Which Country does Garden Tower® ship to?
The Garden Tower® ships to the US and US outlying islands.
Why doesn't Garden Tower® ship to my country?
Inspired by the Garden Tower Project? Keep updated with their latest project and ideas by following them on their Instagram page! @gardentowerproject
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