# I finally have room for a  veggie garden!



## IrishLass (Sep 4, 2016)

Hopefully, this will be successful:







It's called the "Tower Garden". If any of y'all have been through a ride called 'The Land" at Disneyworld's Epcot Center in Florida which portrays different ways of growing food around the world, you will have seen a whole section of these, only on a much bigger scale. Mine that you see here is the backyard/home-version. We just set it up yesterday. It has 20 slots for growing veggies, herbs, and/or fruit, but I only have 15 slots filled at the moment (I'm waiting on some seeds).

I bought it through my sis who has been an avid gardener all her life. She just recently became a distributor of them after having tried them out successfully over the summer here in our hot, dry climate. She said it uses _so much less_ water than her traditional garden, and takes so much less time and effort (no weeding)......which sounds right up my alley!  This works out perfectly for us, too, since our backyard has no room for a traditional, horizontal veggie garden, so we're going vertical!

So far, I have a couple of different kinds of kale, a couple of different kinds of chard, cucumber, green onions, a couple of different kinds of mint, stevia, a couple of different kinds of basil, wildfire lettuce, cilantro, rosemary, and thyme. The remaining slots are reserved for tomatoes, celery and strawberries. All certified organic/non-GMO.

You can pretty much grow anything in it except for root vegetables, and trees of course, oh- and also no grapes or corn.

We have 2 growing seasons where I live and the wee beginnings of the second one are upon us.

Anyway, I'm so excited about this space-age looking thing that I just wanted to share.


IrishLass


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## doriettefarm (Sep 4, 2016)

Very cool IL!  It reminds me of a modern version of the old clay strawberry pots.  I also have major pool envy . . . wish that was in my back yard!


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## dibbles (Sep 4, 2016)

That looks pretty nifty! Have fun growing your own goodies.


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## Susie (Sep 4, 2016)

Those are awesome at growing food, especially salad stuff and herbs.


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## maya (Sep 4, 2016)

Nice!


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## snappyllama (Sep 4, 2016)

That looks like an excellent idea for folks short on space. You'll have to post updates when you get your first harvest.

Maybe I should look into that... my new backyard has pretty limited sunny area. I'm also planning on raising chickens next year so need a way to keep my Henriettas out of the beds. Your futuristic plant tower might be just the solution...

Also, thanks for reminding me of Epcot. That attraction was my favorite part when I was a kid (precursor of my adult dorkiness I guess...).


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## Susie (Sep 5, 2016)

snappyllama said:


> Also, thanks for reminding me of Epcot. That attraction was my favorite part when I was a kid (precursor of my adult dorkiness I guess...).



Mine, too.  Especially the way they grow the salad greens right there using hydroponics and those towers.


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## chela1261 (Sep 5, 2016)

That is so cool. So you put different veggies etc in each slot? We have a garden also but since we share the backyard with 5 other tenants is small and a lot of the plants are in huge buckets but they work well. Love going outside to pick my fresh herbs


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## shunt2011 (Sep 5, 2016)

That looks really awesome. Please let us know how it works for you.  I have no luck growing much in our yard and that might be the answer.  Especially for tomatoes and zucchini. Your yard looks like it's beautiful too.


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## Ruthie (Sep 5, 2016)

Oh my, I.L., that is SO COOL!!!  I have to admit Aeroponics is something I do not fully grasp.  But it is supposed to be a very successful growing method. Do keep us posted on how it develops.  And more pics, please, as the plants develop.


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## Susie (Sep 5, 2016)

shunt2011 said:


> That looks really awesome. Please let us know how it works for you.  I have no luck growing much in our yard and that might be the answer.  Especially for tomatoes and zucchini. Your yard looks like it's beautiful too.



For tomatoes, those upside down buckets are wonderful.  No staking or tying up.  Just hang that bucket up and water every day.  If you don't want to go buy something special, you can drill a hole in a 3-5 gallon plastic bucket and plant away.

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00C0E0YUU/?tag=skimlinks_replacement-20


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## IrishLass (Sep 9, 2016)

Sorry I haven't checked back in until now. On Tuesday I spent all day tracking how the path of the sun was affecting the sun/shade patterns on the plants (every 15 minutes), in order to see if I needed to transfer any of them to better positions in the tower. Turns out my wildfire lettuce was getting a wee bit heat-stressed, poor thing, so I put it in one of the shadier slots and now it's a happy camper and is growing quite beautifully.

In between all of that tracking of the sun on Tuesday, I was also able to fashion a thermal barrier to wrap around the water reservoir to keep the temp of the water from getting too high in our hot weather. Two days before on Sunday, the water temp in the reservoir had reached 97F/36C in spite of me continually placing and re-placing packs of blue ice in it all afternoon. And the next day on Monday my hubby and I were away from home pretty much all day, and when I checked the temp when we got home in the early evening/just after the hottest part of the day, it was a whopping 101F/38C! Considering that the optimal water temp range to aim for resides anywhere between 65F/18C and 85F/29C, it became blatantly obvious in an instant that something needed to be done or our plant roots were likely to get cooked!

So we went to Lowe's and bought some insulation barrier material. It's the kind that looks like bubble-wrap on steroids encased in some kind of silvery foil-like material. With the trusty help of Pi I was able to cut out the proper lengths and make a double-thick barrier out of it, and for extra measure I sandwiched a layer of regular bubble wrap in between the two layers of insulation and taped it all together at the seams with duct tape before wrapping it around the reservoir.

Results? It fits like a glove around the reservoir and works awesome! With the barrier on there, the absolute hottest the water temp got to by late afternoon/early evening that day (Tuesday) was 90F/32C, _without the use of ice at all_, in spite of the outside temps being the same as on Monday when the water temp reached 101F/38C. I call that success!

Yesterday (Thursday), the outside temps were a little cooler here (98F/36F) and the hottest the water temp reached at the hottest part of the day was 88F/31C - again, without the use of any ice. In spite of going slightly over the optimal range for about an hour or so once late afternoon/early evening arrives, all the plants are doing great and thriving/growing wonderfully.

Also yesterday (Thursday) I experienced my first tower invasion. In the words of Theodin, King of Rohan of LoTR, "And so it begins". lol....

I woke up in the morning to discover a bevy of ants herding aphids up to my cucumber plant. They didn't bother any of my other plants- just the cucumber plant. I looked under its leaves and saw that there were several aphids there. So, I physically removed the aphids with Scotch Tape (works great), sprayed isopropyl alcohol on the ants that seemed to be setting up their 'base camp' on the reservoir lid beneath where the cucumber plant is located (to stun them before smooshing them), then I dusted the lid of the reservoir and around the base of the tower with food-grade diatomaceous earth.

So far today (Friday), I've only seen one lone ant. It was wandering about aimlessly on my reservoir lid (until I smooshed it). There were no others to be seen anywhere. Yay!

So far, I'm really loving this aeroponic tower concept. Here's a cool video that shows how it works:

 

IrishLass


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## Kamahido (Sep 9, 2016)

Quite impressive! I built an aquaponics system in my basement a few years ago to grow watercress. We have a very short growing season here. Just like hydroponics, just without the expensive nutrient solutions.


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## The Efficacious Gentleman (Sep 10, 2016)

Don't forget that spraying a light soap solution is great for getting rid of all sorts of bugs on your plants. Glad you defended well. Can imagine you stood there in the line of ants "you shall not pass!"


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## earlene (Sep 10, 2016)

*IrishLass*, you are even all sciency with your gardening!  I'd love to see a photo of your set-up with the heat barrier in place.


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## IrishLass (Sep 13, 2016)

earlene said:


> *IrishLass*, you are even all sciency with your gardening! I'd love to see a photo of your set-up with the heat barrier in place.


 
As you wish:








The above pic was taken a few days ago. Today, most of my plants are about twice the size as what you see here, believe it or not. For example, the kale that you see in slot 5B has now grown over the top of the tower. It's so amazing- they are growing like weeds!  I'll see about putting up a current pic later on today. Those yellow things attached to the cage are sticky traps for catching aphids, whiteflies, gnats and things like that.

I have 2 different kinds of mint growing in the tower (chocolate mint and spearmint) and as I was out there this morning, a breeze blew by and wafted the scent of mint at me. It was glorious!


IrishLass


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## IrishLass (Sep 16, 2016)

Here are some comparison pics between what the east side of my tower looks like this morning, compared to what it looked like exactly one week ago today:

One week ago:






and this morning:





-At the top row in slots 5A and 5B we have Swiss Kale;
-In the second row down from the top, the purplish/green plant to the far left is Purple Basil;
-Dead center in the same row (in 4B) in the first pic is rosemary, but I moved it to the west side of the tower to get more sun. The plant you see there in its place in the second pic is Starbor Kale;
-To the far right in the same row is my Chocolate Mint;
-Third row down from the top on the left is my Thyme;
-Same row to the right is my Wildfire Lettuce;
-The next row down (4th from the top) to the far left is my Cucumber;
-Same row in the center is my Spearmint.

The rest of the slots are waiting for my tomato, celery and strawberry seedlings. So far, just the tomato seedlings have sprouted, but I need to wait until they have 3" of growth on them before I place them in the tower.




IrishLass


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## shunt2011 (Sep 16, 2016)

Wow, that's amazing.  Hope things continue to thrive.


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## navigator9 (Sep 16, 2016)

Holy cow, that's quite some set up. I can't believe how fast everything is growing!!!


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## IrishLass (Sep 16, 2016)

I know, right? I can hardly believe it myself. Every morning when I get up, I go outside and take pics to add them to my log so that I can keep track of the amazing growth that seems to happen just about every time I blink. lol


IrishLass


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## Ruthie (Sep 17, 2016)

Hey, it's time to take some of that kale and make you a smoothie!!  JS!  lol


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## TeresaT (Sep 17, 2016)

First of all, mmmmmmmmmmmmmm KALE!!!!    OK, I feel better now.  

IL, that is one amazing set up!!  I've seen tower planting before (and toyed with the idea of it) including one that has vermicomposting in the center.  However, I have never seen this thing.  When I first saw it, I wondered if it had the vermicomposting center, then I read more posts and watched the video.  Holy guacamole!  That is some amazing growth you've got going on there.  You will have fresh veggies and greens coming out of your ears with that thing.  Earlene is right; I love the fact that you are all techie and sciency with your gardening as with your soaping.  Although it makes perfect sense to label the individual slots so you know what plant is where, you totally went above and beyond with measuring the course of the sun to give your plants the best light for their needs.  The growth rate is phenomenal, I've never seen anything like that.  I'm looking forward to the photos of the whole process.  It looks like you can build a plastic greenhouse around it for when it gets cold in your area and supplement the heat with an outdoor safe heater or heating pad to continue growing all year round.  You might look into the electric blankets for buckets to see if anything fits your need and temperature range.  

Enjoy your bounty.  I'll be gardening vicariously through you.


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## IrishLass (Sep 17, 2016)

Ruthie said:


> Hey, it's time to take some of that kale and make you a smoothie!! JS! lol


 
You betcha!  That's one of the reasons why I've wanted my own veggie garden for so long. I'm forever buying kale and/or Swiss chard or other types of greens, as well as fruit and other kinds of veggies like carrots, beets, broccoli, cabbage, etc.. to toss in my smoothies. I'll even toss basil and cilantro in as well.... and fresh ginger. Yes- I am known as the queen of weird smoothies in my household because I toss in whatever veggies or herbs or fruit I happen to have on hand at the moment...except for garlic, onions and peppers, that is.  My weirdness does have its limits.  

After observing the wonderful progress the plants in our tower have been making, my hubby has recently taken upon himself the task of building a flood and drain-type hydroponic system in which to grow root veggies such as carrots, onions and potatoes (things for which the tower is not suited). That's what he's doing right now as I write this post, actually. I can't tell you how long I've dreamed of having a garden where I could grow such things. This is so awesome to me. 



			
				TheresaT said:
			
		

> The growth rate is phenomenal, I've never seen anything like that.


 
I know, right? When I compared this morning's pics to yesterday's pics, they all seemed to have grown an inch over night! 

I really don't do much for the plants except to make sure the reservoir is topped off each morning, take the pH twice a week and adjust if necessary, add the prescribed amount of nutrients every other day, and spray the aphids off my cucumber leaves with a stream of water. Thankfully, the ants don't come near as long as I maintain the dusting of diatomaceous earth around the tower,  and the yellow sticky traps are working great at keeping gnats and other flying insects away. I just have to remember to tie my hair back when I'm working near the traps because if I don't, my hair gets stuck to them. lol


IrishLass


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## Ruthie (Sep 18, 2016)

IrishLass said:


> You betcha!  That's one of the reasons why I've wanted my own veggie garden for so long. I'm forever buying kale and/or Swiss chard or other types of greens, as well as fruit and other kinds of veggies like carrots, beets, broccoli, cabbage, etc.. to toss in my smoothies. I'll even toss basil and cilantro in as well.... and fresh ginger. Yes- I am known as the queen of weird smoothies in my household because I toss in whatever veggies or herbs or fruit I happen to have on hand at the moment...except for garlic, onions and peppers, that is.  My weirdness does have its limits.
> 
> IrishLass



Ooooh!  And don't forget avocados!  They are the best in smoothies!  I eat them straight, though.  Just take out that pit and eat them out of the skin.  Do you have room for an avocado tree?


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## Susie (Sep 18, 2016)

Avocado trees can be grown in pots until they are large.  And they are dead easy to start.  Just take the pit out, poke 4 round toothpicks into it in a "north, south, east, west" configuration around the center, put it into a glass or jar of water, then change the water twice a week.  Once it has a root and a stem, transplant into a pot at least 6 inches, but no more than 8, as you DO want to transplant it yearly to give the roots more room to grow, and get fresh soil around the outside.

Oh, and I am dreaming of a fill and drain aquaponics/hydroponics set up using an IBC!  How is Mr. IrishLass making his?


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## earlene (Sep 18, 2016)

IrishLass said:


> You betcha!  That's one of the reasons why I've wanted my own veggie garden for so long. I'm forever buying kale and/or Swiss chard or other types of greens, as well as fruit and other kinds of veggies like carrots, beets, broccoli, cabbage, etc.. to toss in my smoothies. I'll even toss basil and cilantro in as well.... and fresh ginger. Yes- I am known as the queen of weird smoothies in my household because I toss in whatever veggies or herbs or fruit I happen to have on hand at the moment...except for garlic, onions and peppers, that is.  My weirdness does have its limits.



Oh, but there is a delicious drink with watermelon and cayenne pepper that helps abate hunger (temporarily, not really for very long) that I just love.  If you like spicy, it's great.  But watermelons need to be in season. :think:


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## TeresaT (Sep 18, 2016)

One of my favorite juices (I don't do smoothies) is kale, cucumber, red peppers, carrots, and tomatoes.   If I have any grapes or apples, I toss some in there with it.  Red peppers are incredibly high in vitamin C.  I usually buy the bag of colorful baby peppers and toss two or three into the juicer, depending on how much of the other stuff I have.   Add a dash of pepper sauce and I'm all over it.  Yum!

ETA:  IL, you can grow potatoes in a bale of straw.  My neighbor did it a few years ago and was pretty successful.  Either get planting potatoes or let your spuds grow shoots.  Stick them in the bale, water.  Then reap the harvest.  (http://strawbalegardens.com/blog/2013/02/youll-never-grow-potatoes-any-other-way-again/)


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## IrishLass (Sep 22, 2016)

Today is Day 20 and my tower experienced it's very first windy rainstorm just about 10 minutes ago. The clouds that have been threatening us for about 2 to 3 fays finally let go and dumped some of the biggest, fattest raindrops I've seen in a while. Thankfully, I had just enough time to run outside and cover over the tower with a protective plant cloth before the brunt of it hit:










			
				Ruthie said:
			
		

> Ooooh! And don't forget avocados! They are the best in smoothies! I eat them straight, though. Just take out that pit and eat them out of the skin. Do you have room for an avocado tree?


 
I wish I had room for an avocado tree because I _*love*_ avocados! I eat them straight or make ice cream out of them or make guacamole, etc... It's all good! Yum! Between our pool and our 2 orange trees, there's just not enough room for another tree.



			
				Susie said:
			
		

> Oh, and I am dreaming of a fill and drain aquaponics/hydroponics set up using an IBC! How is Mr. IrishLass making his?


 
Nope- nothing as sophisticated as an aquaponic aspect to what the Mr. is making- it's just a fill and drain hydroponic system using a bell siphon....... and two large Coleman coolers he bought on sale (we're going the low-budget route).  He's pretty much done making it- he just needs to test it out first, which he'll be doing this weekend. I'll see about taking some pics and posting them. Hopefully it'll be successful because my carrot seeds spouted last week and I'd like to get them in there as soon as possible!




			
				earlene said:
			
		

> Oh, but there is a delicious drink with watermelon and cayenne pepper that helps abate hunger (temporarily, not really for very long) that I just love. If you like spicy, it's great. But watermelons need to be in season.


 
Oooo- that sounds really good! One of my favorite refreshing drinks to make is watermelon agua fresca, but I never thought to spike it with cayenne. I'll have to try that!




			
				Theresa said:
			
		

> One of my favorite juices (I don't do smoothies) is kale, cucumber, red peppers, carrots, and tomatoes. If I have any grapes or apples, I toss some in there with it. Red peppers are incredibly high in vitamin C. I usually buy the bag of colorful baby peppers and toss two or three into the juicer, depending on how much of the other stuff I have. Add a dash of pepper sauce and I'm all over it. Yum!
> .....ETA: IL, you can grow potatoes in a bale of straw. My neighbor did it a few years ago and was pretty successful. Either get planting potatoes or let your spuds grow shoots. Stick them in the bale, water. Then reap the harvest. (http://strawbalegardens.com/blog/201...her-way-again/)


 
Oh my gosh- you gals are making me thirsty! That sounds really good! Thanks for the potato link! I'll have a look at it later on tonight.

The harvesting has begun! I've been eating off my tower for the past 4 days now and it doesn't look like I've picked anything off it (it keeps growing back seemingly overnight). I've been pinching off leaves of the kale, chard, basil, mint, lettuce and cilantro every day since Sunday and putting them in my smoothies, and you'd never know it.

You know- it's been a revelation to me how amazingly flavorful fresh-picked veggies and herbs are. The flavor of everything I've tried so far totally blasts the best store-bought stuff right out of the water. My son made some guacamole today with some of the cilantro and the spring onions from the tower and he couldn't believe how pronounced the flavors were and how little he needed to use in order to get the level of flavor he wanted.

Man- we couldn't be more happy with this thing. I would have to say it's one of the best purchases we've ever made!


IrishLass


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## IrishLass (Oct 3, 2016)

It's Day 31 today, and here is what things look like.....mind you, we harvest from our 'veggie tree' every day for smoothies and other things, but it looks like we never harvest anything at all! It's kinda like how things are when eating a bowl of spaghetti- no matter how much you eat, it looks like you've barely even touched your plate.  Besides dubbing it our 'veggie tree', I also sometimes call it our 'giving tree'.







IrishLass


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## shunt2011 (Oct 3, 2016)

Wow, that's amazing for sure.  Looks wonderful!


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## IrishLass (Oct 12, 2016)

Garden update (day 40). I planted/inserted two 3" tomato seedlings in the Tower two weeks ago (Brandywine OTV, and an heirloom tomato called Green Grape) and they are now over a foot long! And as of this morning, the Brandywine OTV has blossoming buds on it.

My cuke plant has several cucumbers growing on it, some of which are now 4" long! And the leaves seem to be growing as big as my head! They're beginning to look like something out of Jurassic Park or something! 

My mints and basils are forever growing like weeds. I cut a bunch of sprigs off my mints and made a lovely mint simple syrup out of them the other day, and I'll soon be doing the same to my basils (maybe today if I get around to it).

Hubby got the flood and drain system up and running this past weekend, and our carrot seedlings that we started weeks ago are quite happy in it (I'm going to start some more seedlings to fill the other half of the cooler, hopefully sometime today):






The bottom cooler is the reservoir, which has 8 gallons of RO water in it, plus the Tower Tonic 'food' solution. There's a pump in it that pumps the water up to the top cooler through the rear black hose on the bottom cooler's right side (which is threaded up through the white PVC on the top cooler's right side) to fill/flood the top cooler up to the roots of the carrots before slowly draining back down through white the pipe on the left side to the bottom cooler.

The black hose that you can see on the rear left of the bottom cooler T's off from the main black filling hose and is a 'fail safe' that my hubby added in case the water pumped up too quickly.

The white pipe thing that you see in the middle of the top cooler was supposed to be a 'Bell Siphon' which regulates the water level and drainage flow. Hubby could not get it to work right, so in frustration, he abandoned that plan and instead transformed it into a 'gravel guard' for now to keep the growing medium from getting sucked down the drain tube.

The pump in the bottom cooler runs on a 15 minute cycle 24/7, just like my Tower (it's actually attached to my Tower's timer so that they run at the same time).

Hubby cut the lid of the bottom cooler's cover into 3rds, so that we can uncover it to add water/check pH, etc... without disturbing the piping (I open the cooler by pulling up on the middle third).

The top cooler is filled with pearlite and also a hydroponic growing medium called Hydroton, which are clay balls. The folks down at the hydroponic store recommended a mixture of both for growing carrots. I'll keep you all updated on its progress.


IrishLass


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## IrishLass (Oct 17, 2016)

We had a bit of a problem with the flood and drain over the weekend in the form of an algae attack. Yeah- can you tell we are newbies at this!  The pearlite was wicking up the nutrient solution so high up the cooler that the top of the grow bed was getting damp, which exposed the nutrient solution to the sun, which then turned about 1/2" to 1" of the entire top of the bed a lovely shade of green. Although I love the color green, this was not a good green to see. The reservoir started smelling like a dirty fish tank and the water was getting murky....and little flying insects started multiplying around the top cooler above the bed.

We learned 6 lessons this weekend (in regards to our flood & drain system):

1) Sunlight + nutrient solution= almost instant algae.

2) A little bit of algae is fine, but a lot of algae can be a very problematic thing to hydroponic systems and the plants growing in them if left un-checked. 

3) Dry/Wet Shop Vacuums are awesome at sucking up algea-coved grow media out off the top of flood & drain grow beds.

4) Pearlite has pretty good wicking/ absorption properties and does not make a good substrate to lay on top of drain & flood grow beds.

5) Hydroton clay balls are an _awesome_ substrate to lay on top of hydroponic flood & drain grow beds. Lay them on 2" to 3" above the top level of where flood-water reaches in order to keep things dry on top, and to block out the sunlight. 

6) A little bit of 34% hydrogen peroxide goes a long way in helping to kill off algae and bring reservoir water back into balance without hurting carrots.

As for my Tower- it's still doing awesome, although I did have to trim back the roots of both my mints and also my purple basil- they were getting a little invasive. My Green Grape tomato plant now has flower buds on it, and my cukes are almost 5" long! Oh- and the aphids still seem to love my cuke leaves. I hose the buggers off every morning, but I'm thinking of making a garlic and habanero pepper spray and see how that fixes their wagons. No ants, though, which is good.


IrishLass


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## IrishLass (Oct 23, 2016)

Today is Day 51 and I'm so excited because I harvested my very first cucumbers off the Tower! :






There are more of them growing on the vine, but these 3 beauties looked quite ready. I cut open one of them for hubby, son and I to conduct a taste test and we were all agreed- it's definitely a cucumber!  And a very lovely one at that. Although you can't tell from the pic, they each measured at least 5", and weighed between 10.45oz/296g, and 10.55oz/300g (each).

I thought I'd also include a pic of our typical haul that we harvest off the Tower _daily _(except for the cucumber, that is). Although you can't see them, there are also sprigs of mint, cilantro and thyme in there, but they somehow got buried underneath everything else. This is all going into our smoothies today:







The carrots in the flood & drain cooler set-up are doing great. No more algae attacks. Yay! Their tops are growing quite tall. I wish I had a way of seeing how big they are growing underneath, but we'll just have to wait until harvest to see.

I made a garlic/hot pepper/soap concentrate to spray on my cucumber plant to repel the aphids that are carrying on an ongoing, one-sided love affair with my cuke leaves. I diluted it and sprayed some last night after the sun had gone down on an inconspicuous cuke leaf which had a few aphids on it.

I sprayed only one leaf instead of the whole plant so I could test things out and make sure it wouldn't adversely affect the one before deciding to spray it on the rest of the leaves, and so far, so good. This morning there were no aphids on the leaf, and the leaf looked quite happy, healthy and green. I'm going to wait one more day, though, to see if the leaf is still doing well before using it on the rest of the plant. I decided to be so cautious because I've read horror stories of some concentrations/dilutions of homemade concoctions being too strong and destroying all the leaves as well as the bugs.

Here are the ingredients I used in my spray concentrate:

-2 whole heads of garlic. I separated the cloves from the knobby stem (which I threw out), but left the peels intact. The unpeeled cloves weighed in at 144g total.
-1 jalepeno pepper (weighed 25g)*
-1 habanero pepper (weighed 7g)*
-2 cups distilled water (weighed 471g)
-1 teaspoon of my diluted 65% OO GLS soap (unscented, and unembellished of course)

*The recipe I used called for 4 to 6 jalapenos, but all I had on hand was 1 jalapeno and 6 habaneros......and since habaneros are something like 40 times hotter than a jalepeno according to the Scoville Heat Chart for peppers, I figured my 1 jalepeno and 1 of my habaneros would be plenty good enough.

I tossed the whole garlic cloves, peppers and water into my Vitamix and blended on high until smooth (took about 15 to 30 seconds), then I poured it into a 16 oz santitized jar, covered, and let steep in the fridge for 36 hours before straining.

At straining time, I strained it twice: once through a fine mesh stainless steel strainer to get out most of the sludge quickly and without too much fuss, then a final straining through 3 layers of muslin which got all the rest of the finer sludge out quite easily.

By the way, I should mention that when I blended, and also when I strained, I wore one of those loop facial masks, my goggles, and gloves - because of the pepper juices/fumes, which were pretty strong.

My strained concentrate measured out just shy of 2 cups volume-wise, so I topped it off with just enough distilled water to equal 2 cups, and then I stirred the 1 tsp of my handmade GLS soap into it and poured into a pint-sized sanitized jar, covered and placed into my fridge.

To dilute, I used 1 part concentrate to 2 parts distilled water (by volume) and only diluted enough to fill up a small 4oz spray bottle. I'll let you know what the test leaf looks like tomorrow.


IrishLass


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## IrishLass (Oct 24, 2016)

Day FiftyTwo since I started our Tower, and lookie here what I found growing this morning!:






Our very first Brandywine OTV tomato! It's only about as large as a pea at the moment, but I just can't help being very excited about it! Although we started the tower 52 days ago, the tomato plant itself is only 36 days old today.

Garlic spray update- no plant damage from the spray. Yay!


IrishLass


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## IrishLass (Dec 26, 2016)

A little tower update:

I lost count of exactly what day this is in Tower time, but here are our first Brandywine pickings (bigger than my hubby's fist) that I picked off my tower today, along with some Green Grape tomatoes (as big as plum tomatoes), some stalks of celery, some mint, some thyme and cilantro.

Also included in the pic are some of our carrots grown in our flood and drain system that hubby built out of 2 coolers. Two are red, one is white and one is orange. As you can see in the pic, we should not have planted so many carrot seeds so close together. Several of them grew together to form a giant mass of carrot!  They taste absolutely delicious, though!

After I took the above pic, I set my tomatoes on my counter near some bananas to help them fully ripen. I'll let you know how they taste when the time comes.








IrishLass


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## IrishLass (Jan 6, 2017)

New Years Tower Update:

I tore down my tower over New Years weekend, cleaned it out and got it all spic and span in preparation to add the new extension to it that I got for Christmas (I can now grow 28 plants instead of 20!).

I also completely removed a few plants off the tower because I was a naughty lass and let them grow way too ginormous for the good of the tower. I then reinterred the more reasonably-sized plants back into the tower.

It looks kind of sparse right now, and My Green Grape tomato vine looks kinda droopy and sad because I trimmed its invasive roots back some before placing it back into the tower, but it should perk back up. If not, that's okay because I have 2 new (different variety) tomato seedlings growing in my seedling tray, one of which will eventually take its place.

Here's what things look like today:






At the very top I have 2 heirloom strawberry plants of the Alpine variety (one red and one yellow). It's hard to see from the pic, but the one furthest left has blossoms on it. I grew them from seeds that I planted in September.

On the 2nd rung down, you can see a new stevia seedling on the left, and a viola seedling with a yellow blossom on it.

Below that, the plants that are visible are my celery, cilantro, chocolate mint, a new Brandywine OTV vine on the left that I took from a cutting off my previous vine, a Diva cucumber seedling on the bottom center, and my none-too-happy-at-the-moment Green Grape tomato vine (that thing is prolifically fruitful, by the way!).

On the other side I have thyme, rosemary, a Granny Blank mint seedling and a purple basil seedling.

I'll soon be filling in the empty slots with collard greens, spinach, romaine lettuce Nufar basil, lemon cucumber, a melon vine, and a couple of short season tomato vines (they're all just baby seedlings right now).

The white wire thingy that you see on the very top of the tower is actually 2 wire hangers that I fashioned and attached to the lid in order to keep my insect barrier netting (not shown) from laying directly on my strawberry plants on top. I normally keep the netting on all the time (started using it 24/7 in November), but I took if off for the pic so y'all could see my plants better.

I really like using the netting. It lets the sun in, but keeps the bugs out, thereby eliminating the need for any insecticides. My biggest problem was the moths that would lay eggs on my kale and chard, which produced an epidemic of leaf-chewing caterpillars that treated my tower as their personal salad bar. I tried to keep the population down by hand-picking them off, but it was turning into a losing battle. I was either going to have to resort to spraying down my leaves with BT or else surrender my kale and chard to them, but then I found *these* which solved my dilemma. It just slips right over my tower and I can fasten it closed it with the drawstring on the bottom.

I also have the thermal blanket sold by the JuicePlus company that I drape over the tower on nights that get down to near freezing temps. It's not often that temps get that low here, but it's happened twice this season so far and the blanket has kept all my plants cozy and happy.


IrishLass


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## earlene (Jan 6, 2017)

I can't believe how white and pristine it still is.  And your yard is so bright with the blue sky and all.  My back yard has snow and looks dreary compared to yours!


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## traderbren (Jan 6, 2017)

Wow, Irish Lass! I'm just seeing this thread after a long absence. How awesome, and I'm super impressed with how much you got from your garden!

(Also, jealous of that blue sky.)


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## BeesKnees (Jan 6, 2017)

Wow, that looks great!!  Oh, the possibilities of a new growing season!!  

The tower is so white!  Are those the numbers you originally wrote?  Sharpie remained despite rain and weather?


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## IrishLass (Jan 6, 2017)

earlene said:


> I can't believe how white and pristine it still is. And your yard is so bright with the blue sky and all. My back yard has snow and looks dreary compared to yours!


 
I can't imagine snow ever looking dreary...at least not until it gets mucked up with dirt and car exhaust, that is. lol I used to live where snow storms were the order of most winter days, but in the area of the country where I live now, snow is as rare as hen's teeth. Instead, the majority of our days throughout the year are filled with sunny blue skies. In fact, they are so commonplace that cloudy/rainy spells are almost cause for celebration (they kinda break up the monotony). 

I must confess that my tower is so pristine-looking in the pic because I had just cleaned it :mrgreen:, but I'm really impressed with how easy it is to keep the tower so gleaming white. Just a wipe-down with damp cloth is all it takes to keep it looking spiffy. Hopefully, that won't change as it gets older.



			
				BeesKnees said:
			
		

> Are those the numbers you originally wrote?


 
For the most part, yes, they are. There were two that I had to go over again in certain spots due to some wicked rain and dust storms we had on a few occasions, but all the rest of the numbers have remained intact.

Here is a pic I took today with my anti-insect netting draped over it:







IrishLass


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## IrishLass (Feb 8, 2017)

A February 2017 garden update:

First, here is one of the last carrots we pulled out of our makeshift cooler 'flood & drain' system. It's actually 3 carrots that grew entwined around each other. I love how the one on the left has its 'arms' wrapped around the other, seemingly holding on for dear life, lol:








And here's what my strawberries look like today. They are growing in the very top part of the Tower (Reuglin Alpine strawberries):







IrishLass


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## Millie (Feb 8, 2017)

Adorable carrots!


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## fuzz-juzz (Feb 9, 2017)

Great idea and lovely little garden. 
It's amazing what you can grow in such a small space.
And by the looks of it, you're doing great gardening job because plants are loving it. Unhappy plants  = no fruit or veg. 

I've handed over garden to my husband due to lack of spare time. Plants love his work lol. In the past 3-4 months we had about 10kg of potatoes, kilos of tomatoes, cucumbers, there's dill, parsley, spring onion, lettuce, capsicums and cucumbers are still happening so we'll have lots of them as well. We had zucchini the size of a torpedo haha they were at least 1.5kg. And all that in maybe 5 square meters of soil. It's not big, we can't sustain ourselves through the year, but during these few months I only shop for vegies we can't grow.
We have worm farm and compost bin, all the scraps are turned into plant food again. 
Nothing better and more exciting than growing your own food. Not to mention eating them, much more flavour than in those from the shops.


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## IrishLass (Apr 22, 2017)

An update on my garden. This is what it looks like presently:







It's quite a jungle, no doubt about it, but everything is doing very well at the moment. It's been sunny and in the high 80's to mid 90's during the day and gets down to the low 60's at night. It'll be interesting to see how things fare when the temps soar into the triple digits, though, which isn't too far off on the horizon.

I need to go in and do some pruning/trimming, though, because the mints are going crazy and trying to take over the place. The tomatoes are, too. 

I keep an insect-barrier netting over it to keep the pests & birds away (which you can see folded back & clipped on the top), although aphids will get in via ants herding them up if I'm not careful to dust the ground below the reservoir with diatomaceous earth (which does a wonderful job of keeping the ants away). The last bout of aphids that I had (due to herder ants) was a little over a month ago when I got lax for a few weeks with the DE, but they were completely devoured by ladybugs, which I bought at my local gardening store and placed inside the netting.

This is what I have growing in it presently:

-Alpine strawberries (which are obscured by the netting on the top). I can hardly believe how prolific they are. I pick handfuls of them every day.

-Collard greens

-Romaine lettuce

-Cilantro

-Celery

-3 different kinds of tomatoes (green grape, Fireworks, and Buckabee)

-2 different kind of cucumbers (lemon and Diva)

-1 small melon (papaya melon)

-Purple basil

-Nufar Basil

-Chocolate Mint

-Spearmint

-Thyme

-Stevia

-Poblano Pepper

We also have more carrots growing in our cooler set-up.

I really, really love my garden! It's so nice to just go out there and pick stuff off to eat. I had a small bowl of green grape tomatoes this afternoon with a little sprinkling of kosher salt, and they were soooo goooood!


IrishLass


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## lenarenee (Apr 22, 2017)

IL, can you give us any tips on how to grow romaine and other lettuce from transplants? We buy the plants and put 2 in container about the size of a large shoebox and they do well but start bolting instead of filling out.  (why the weird containers? These are grown as portable/edible entertainment for our guinea pigs to forage on. We have millions of snails here, won't use chemicals for them as these are for food, and they can be easily carried to sunnier and safer locations.)


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## SaltedFig (Apr 23, 2017)

Looking good!

Just looking at those basil reminds me of pesto so much I can almost smell it :mrgreen:

Lenarenee, I hope you don't mind me helping, but lettuce will bolt under stress (it's the plants reaction, so it can set it's seeds out before it dies), so controlling the stresses during transplanting is the key to success.
1/ *Soak* the seedlings to fully hydrate them before transplanting (submerge the punnets/pots of seedling in water until the air bubbles stop)
2/ *Transplant* on a cool day and/or in the shade (heat and full sun triggers seed set behaviour, even in ones grown directly in the ground)
3/ *Water* the transplants in - it seems like a lot of water, but this step is very important to do after you transplant. You will need to use enough water for this first watering that you don't get anymore air bubbles coming to the surface of the soil.
4/ Start the boxes off in the *shade*, and move gradually to a sunnier spot (this depends on your climate - the hotter your climate the more shade you want your lettuces to have)
5/ Keep the moisture up (*ordinary watering*) - if you see the lettuce wilt, it can recover (they are good at preserving moisture by drawing it back into their roots and then pumping it up into their leaves when the temperature drops or moisture is added), but it's a stress for them and will trigger bolting at any time.


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## Millie (Apr 23, 2017)

I discovered a trick for controlling aphids entirely by chance - grow some dill! I added it to my flower garden (with a few veggies and herbs thrown in) as a decorative edible plant. It was covered in strange looking bugs that weren't anywhere else in the garden. They turned out to be lady bug larvae. A minute (exaggeration) after aphids flooded my garden the lady bugs appeared and ate um up. Dill reseeds every year but is easy to control. It is also a very pretty plant.


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## navigator9 (Apr 24, 2017)

Oh IL, you are such a shameless showoff! lol You can't imagine how "green" with envy I am at your garden. Here in the northeast, we have such a short growing season, it's pitiful. Speaking of pitiful...here's my "garden." Well, one of my starter boxes, on the window sill, waiting for it to be warm enough for them to be planted outdoors. Now don't you feel lucky to have your plants as far along as they are? Ahh, your picture makes me smile, and think of when my plants will be more than itty bitty seedlings.  Thanks for the inspiration!


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## toxikon (Apr 24, 2017)

Wow that set-up is so cool!

I have a massive backyard and I definitely need to dedicate a summer to get it cleaned up and make some garden beds. Maybe that will be this year's summer project...


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## libertyjustice (May 15, 2017)

That's interesting! I'm not sure about the way it looks but I think if you dont have much space it is a good alternative.


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## Seawolfe (May 15, 2017)

Ok now I just gotta show off my first harvest - they went into a pickle jar this weekend.


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## WeaversPort (May 15, 2017)

I'm completely envious and in love with your garden!!! 

Those are beautiful!


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## navigator9 (May 15, 2017)

Seawolfe, with the dill in there with your cukes, I'm guessing you're making pickles? You can't imagine how jealous I am. :mrgreen: My seedlings are much bigger than they were in the pic above, but not in the ground yet. We kept having frost warnings. They have been hardening off though, and I'm putting them in tomorrow, come hell or high water!!!


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## IrishLass (May 15, 2017)

libertyjustice said:


> That's interesting! I'm not sure about the way it looks but I think if you dont have much space it is a good alternative.


 
I don't know if you are familiar with the old '60's futuristic cartoon called 'The Jetson's', but every time I look at my tower, that's what I'm reminded of- it looks like it would feel quite at home there with George and Jane Jetson.  

In spite of it's rather odd, space-age appearance, it's a really well thought-out design in terms of plant growth/maintenance. I confess that I'm in complete love with the thing, not only because it helps out with my limited space issue, but even more importantly because it allows a person such as myself who wasn't born with a 'green thumb' to be able to grow things as though I were an old pro at it. My previous attempts at veggie gardening "in-ground" were total failures. I think I only ever got a tomato or 2 for all my efforts. I also like not having to weed, as well as the fact that that I can just toss a net over it to keep out the chewing pests and birds. The net provides protection from high winds, too, which we've had more than a few incidences of over the past few weeks.




			
				Seawolfe said:
			
		

> Ok now I just gotta show off my first harvest - they went into a pickle jar this weekend.


 
Those look great! 

I just picked a couple of lemon cukes off the tower the other day. I've never had lemon cukes before and didn't know what to expect taste-wise, but they tasted just as yummy as a regular green cucumber. Their compactness is just perfect for the tower, so I think I'll be keeping them as a mainstay tower crop. 

My tomatoes and strawberries are still quite prolific, and I'll be picking my first poblano pepper sometime this week- it's almost there (I'm so excited!).


IrishLass


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## jewels621 (May 15, 2017)

I can even comprehend year round gardening. This is the first time in about 15 years that I've even been able to plant in May. Our official last frost date is May 15th, and this is the first time I've ever planted on that date. Got the whole garden in today. Hubs will be glad to come home tonight and not have the dining room be a makeshift greenhouse anymore! He probably won't be happy, though, to find out that it means I have more soap curing space!


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## WeaversPort (May 16, 2017)

navigator9 said:


> Seawolfe, with the dill in there with your cukes, I'm guessing you're making pickles? You can't imagine how jealous I am. :mrgreen: My seedlings are much bigger than they were in the pic above, but not in the ground yet. We kept having frost warnings. They have been hardening off though, and I'm putting them in tomorrow, come hell or high water!!!



A friend of mine uses old fashioned Christmas lights in her plant beds for frost warnings. She says that they generate just enough heat to ward off the frost, but not so much it burns the plant. It might be something to consider if you get them in the ground and the weather continues to be ornery.


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## navigator9 (May 16, 2017)

WeaversPort said:


> A friend of mine uses old fashioned Christmas lights in her plant beds for frost warnings. She says that they generate just enough heat to ward off the frost, but not so much it burns the plant. It might be something to consider if you get them in the ground and the weather continues to be ornery.



Brilliant! Thank you for that.


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## Steve85569 (May 16, 2017)

Usually we wait for Mother's day to plant 'maters but this year I was impatient and got mine out early. I need to build cages for this year's planting.
I started a mulching project early when I was planting blueberry rootings and Jan is jealous of my patch. Heres are doing okay but the ones in the mulch mix are really looking good.
Strawberries are turning white so it won't be long now before fresh red ones are on the table.

 I'll try and get some pictures - I know it isn't happening unless I do.

I am blessed with a large yard but the draw back is needing 8 foot tall fences so the deer don't eat what they want.


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## WeaversPort (May 18, 2017)

navigator9 said:


> Brilliant! Thank you for that.



You're welcome! This gives you a chance to get LED bulbs if you're using the old fashioned ones in the garden  

I'd still probably take frost precautions, especially for new plantings, but hopefully it can help long-term!


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## IrishLass (Aug 23, 2017)

Just thought I'd post an update on my Tower Garden. I harvested everything off of it and completely dismantled it, cleaned it and stored it away in June before we left for vacation, and when we came back I decided to just continue to leave it out of commission until our intense 115F-120F summer temps came down to a more reasonable level.

It's still in the triple digits here, but on the low end (105F). That's about how hot it was last year when I first ever started gardening with it, and since all went well back then in spite of the heat, I decided it was time to get it going again, especially seeing as how the worst of the heat is over and the forecasted temps look to be keeping out of the crazy zone.

This is what it looks like today (I set it up over the weekend):








As you've probably noticed, not every hole is filled yet. I'm still waiting for the roots on my seedlings that you can see there in the little netted tray on the Tower cover to get a little more developed.

So far, this is what I have 'implanted' (all Non-GMO, and most heirloom):

1) Buckabee's New 50-day tomato
2) Gold Dust tomato
3) Brandy Sweet Plum tomato
4) Romaine lettuce (Parris Island Cos)
5) Poblano/Ancho Pepper
6) Nufar Basil
7) Amethyst New Improved Basil
8 ) Collard Greens (Georgia Southern)
9) Jackson Supreme pickling cucumber
10) Calendula
11) Bok Choy
12) Stevia
13) Chocolate Mint
14) Wildfire Lettuce
15) Marigolds

And these are the seedlings I am waiting on to develop a stronger root system:

16) Alpine Strawberry (Reugen)
17) Alpine Strawberry (White Soul)
18 ) Alpine Strawberry (Yellow Wonder)
19) Alpine Strawberry (Stragioni)
20) Cilantro (slow bolting)
21) Chives
22) Lime Balm
23) Ventura Celery

Although I have slots for 28 plants in the Tower, I'm leaving some empty to help me keep things manageable with all the fruiting plants I decided to grow.

How do you like the PVC topper on my cage? My hubby built it for me for those emergency times that I need to throw my insect/bird netting or my protective heat/frost cloth over the tower. It will keep the netting or the cloth from weighing down the uppermost plants on top.

Those white cloths that you see hanging on the Tower are doused in a strong dilution of my homemade mosquito repellent with catnip and lemon eucalyptus, which has a fairly potent smell. I saw a few mosquitoes buzzing around the Tower yesterday and so I thought- opportunity corner! Let's give it a try and see what happens. So far, so good- I haven't seen any mosquitoes buzzing around it today. We get those rude tiger mosquitoes that aren't polite enough to wait for dusk. They come out to feast even if it's high noon. :twisted:


IrishLass


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## Kittish (Aug 23, 2017)

Oh my gosh that looks so awesome! I bet you could set something like up indoors, with plant lights around it and keep stuff growing year round. I've got six blood orange trees in pots, 3 or 4 years old now, that have been growing under plant lights for right at a year, and the little trees are in love with their lights.


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## IrishLass (Aug 24, 2017)

Kittish said:


> Oh my gosh that looks so awesome! I bet you could set something like up indoors, with plant lights around it and keep stuff growing year round. I've got six blood orange trees in pots, 3 or 4 years old now, that have been growing under plant lights for right at a year, and the little trees are in love with their lights.


 
You bet right!  The company that makes the Tower Garden sells optional grow-light kits for those who want to use it for inside growing. My sister just set one up inside her house last week. She planted all kinds of greens and herbs in it. 

Unfortunately, if using the grow lights on it, you can't plant anything in it that will eventually grow big enough to come into contact with the lights, such as tomatoes or other vining plants. Thankfully, though, we live in an area of the country where you can grow lots of things outside year-round. My tomatoes and cukes actually did quite well outside in the Tower all the way from September to June when I dismantled it before leaving on vacation. 

I _love_ blood oranges. How big are your trees? I bet your house smells absolutely wonderful when they are in bloom. We have 2 orange trees in our back yard that pretty much perfume the whole neighborhood when in bloom. I _love_ it!


IrishLass


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## Kittish (Aug 24, 2017)

My orange trees aren't yet old enough to bloom or produce fruit. Blood oranges from seed take 8-10 years to mature enough, and mine are only 3 or 4 years old at this point. They're about 3 feet tall currently, and my plan is to keep them dwarfed in the containers they're in since planting them in the ground here isn't really a viable option. Much too hot and dry outside here during summer for them, plus we get freezing weather in winter which citrus do not like at all.


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## MullersLaneFarm (Jan 22, 2018)

This is AWESOME!!!


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