The Garden Tower® 2 vertical planting system is great for everyone!

New and beginning gardeners with an appreciation for locally produced, nutritious, and extraordinarily fresh veggies, greens, herbs, and flowers will love this system. 

Anyone with an urban lifestyle dealing with limited space or soil access will benefit from the Garden Tower® system as well as the GT2 only needs a 4’ square area.

Gardeners who are looking to save time and energy will love the Garden Tower® 2 as there is significantly less weeding to do. With less soil surface exposed, watering is easier and much more efficient.

This is a great system for those who have limited mobility as all tiers can be reached from a seated position next to the GT2.

The Garden Tower® 2 vertical planting system has been placed in hundreds of institutions and organizations from community gardens and women’s shelters to elementary schools, housing programs, and health and rehabilitation facilities.

We accept PO’s and offer a substantial discount for all educational organizations. To learn more, contact schools@gardentower.com

The entire Garden Tower® 2 system is made from 100% recyclable, food-grade plastic. Its simple, sturdy construction ensures many years of trouble-free use, even in freezing environments. The plastic used to produce the composting vertical Garden Tower® system is food-grade High Density Polyethylene. We selected HDPE because it is free of BPA and other plasticizers and impurities that can become bioavailable over time.

In time, we plan to explore bio-based plastics to further reduce our carbon footprint. No plastics in the vertical Garden Tower® system contain BPA or phthalates. The tower is engineered to provide at least 7 years of resistance to UV radiation before the integrity of the tower’s shell is significantly reduced. In many scenarios, we expect the life of a Garden Tower® system to be significantly longer!

Although we understand it is tempting to do so, you should never put casters directly in the feet, as this will void your warranty. Putting casters directly in the feet causes too much weight to be placed on a single point and will cause the foot to pull away from the base. This can cause the base to break and fall over. Doing this voids your warranty. Please use the Garden Tower 2 Caster Kit if you want to mobilize your GT2.

The compost column is a 6-inch diameter perforated cylinder running down the center of the Garden Tower® 2 system. The holes running down the entire length allow the composting worms to travel between the compost column and the soil column. The worms feed on the kitchen scraps and leave rich worm castings behind. As you water the top of the Tower, the water collects vital nutrients as it passes through compost-worm castings and collects and drains into the drawer at the bottom of the unit. Garden Tower® Project recommends the use of red wiggler composting worms in the compost tube. However, the addition of other types of composting worms will increase nutrient transport and cycling in the tower. Night crawlers, for example, will travel throughout the soil and compost creating pathways for air and water while moving nutrients through the system.

Worms are an essential part of the Garden Tower® system’s design. Worms help break down the kitchen scraps quickly, allowing nutrients to be returned to the vertical Garden Tower® system. If you are putting greens and browns in the column, you need to add red wigglers.

If, however, you prefer to operate the Garden Tower® system without worms and compost, it will still grow food effectively, provided organic plant food is added seasonally. Because of the recycling nature of the system when putting the water from the drawer back onto the top of the Tower, much less nutrient supplementation (organic soil amendment/fertilizer) is generally required.

“Worm tea” is simply water leachate that has percolated through the soil column and the Garden Tower® system’s worm castings and compost. This leachate is perfectly pH balanced and also contains many minerals, nutrients, and beneficial microbes essential for healthy soil. Along with worm castings, it acts as a soil conditioner and aids in the creation of colloidal humus. Poured on foliage, it is also an odorless natural repellent for mites, white flies, aphids, and other pests. Learn about nutrient levels in “nutrient tea” produced by an active Garden Tower® system in this nutrient analysis.

Whenever you find “tea” or fertilizer in your container, pour it back on the soil at the top of the vertical Garden Tower® system. You should not be watering the Garden Tower® system beyond “field capacity” — the point at which it is fully hydrated and water runs out the system — more than twice per week, or the soil and compost aeration will be limited and plant roots may remain too moist.

At least 1 cup of red wigglers (at least two ounces or 500 individuals) of should be added 1 week after you have several inches of browns (clean, dried grass and leaves and shredded paper or cardboard) and kitchen scraps in the compost column. Maintain a ratio of 3 – 4 parts mixed browns for every part of high quality greens (no citrus, fats or grains). Composting worms eat organic substances that are in a state of decomposing. The browns are needed as bedding for the worms and it minimizes the moisture level as worms prefer a drier environment.

A single Garden Tower® system can easily support a full pound of red wigglers, but it is not necessary to start out with so many worms! You can even buy them as “vermipods” (worm eggs). We suggest either red wigglers, red wigglers and nightcrawlers, or best yet, a composting worm mix containing several popular varieties of aggressive composting worms.

See our Vermicomposting Guide to get started.

You can purchase “red wiggler” worms at some nurseries, local vermi-composters and online. You can also check Craigslist and ask around your community for some, as indoor composting with red worms is very popular! Nightcrawlers will also aid the system by working the full soil column and creating pathways to the compost. Common earthworms are not recommended, as they will not flourish in the Garden Tower® system’s environment. Each Garden Tower® system comes with a 15% off coupon for one of our favorite worm farms, Wormnerd.com, which provides high-quality products at a reasonable price.

We do not recommend getting worms from a bait shop as these worms are not kept to survive for that long. We’ve had numerous reports of the bait worms dying soon after being introduced to the system.

From the high rim of the Grand Canyon in Arizona to Apple Valley California we have hundreds of happy Garden Tower® system supporters in the hottest states. The only reports we’ve had of worms getting too hot were in conditions that killed high-heat vegetables as well — specifically in Nevada at sustained highs of 116-122°F in 2013.

If the plants can survive the weather, it has been our experience that the evaporative cooling and evapotranspiration (cooling water loss through the leaves) of the plants releases enough energy so that the soil stays within tolerance to protect the worms and compost core. The thermal mass of the system prevents quick temperature changes at the core which protects the worms from extreme temperatures.

There are some additional steps you can take to protect your worms and plants. If temperatures exceed 100˚  for more than 2 – 3 days, we suggest shade for several hours during the hottest part of the day. A pop-up canopy provides great relief. Also, a sealed frozen bottle of water placed in the top of the compost column can provide added relief in extreme conditions. To learn more, please join our Garden Tower® vertical system Facebook user support page.

To get your column started, put 3 - 4 handfuls of mixed browns (clean, dried grasses/leaves, shredded paper/cardboard) in the column and then add 1 handful of high-quality kitchen scraps (no citrus, fats or grains). Continue layering by adding 3 - 4 more handfuls of browns and then 1 handful of greens until the column is 2/3s of the way full. Finish the layering with browns as they will help keep pests out. You can also put a nylon stocking over the top of the compost column as an extra measure of protection.

Certain things will be difficult for the worms to eat and should be avoided. These include avocado pits, corn cobs, etc. The smaller the scraps that you use, the faster the worms will make vermicompost. DO NOT PUT ANY MEAT, DAIRY OR CITRUS PRODUCTS INTO THE COMPOST TUBE. Also avoid onions, garlic and ginger as these can repel the worms.

Feed worms by volume. For one handful of worms, feed one handful of greens and 3-4 handfuls of browns, every three days or so or even up to a week, depending on how active the worms are. When more scraps are added than the amount of worms you have can process through in a reasonable amount of time (2-3 days), the decomposing greens become compact and a different process takes over. The system becomes anaerobic and gets a septic stink and becomes attractive to pests.

See our Vermicomposting Guide for more details.

After a month and a half of good growth, you will want to empty a couple of drawers of finished castings out of the compost column. Some people wait until the end of the season to do this. 

To remove worm castings, pull out the compost gate after emptying any liquid from the drawer. Then, open the drawer half way and reach in to loosen the castings. These will then fall into the drawer for easy collection. You can add the castings directly back into the Garden Tower® post. Since you will generate more castings than you can use to replenish the Garden Tower® post, you can use them in potted plants, re-enrich other gardens or give them to friends and neighbors. The most processed compost should be near the bottom.

There are many options for caring for your Garden Tower®’s ecosystem over the winter, depending on your climate and desired level of involvement. Red wigglers can tolerate near freezing temperatures, and the tower’s 8 inches of soil helps insulate their compost tube. You can remove the compost from the tube, where most of the worms will be, and transfer it to a well-drained hole in the ground below the frost line covered with straw, mulch, or woody debris, and add some kitchen scraps.

If you live in an area with milder winters, like the Midwest, you can cover the tower with a transparent trash bag to help insulate the tower, or move the tower closer to a building, which holds heat.

If you want to grow over winter and have ample lighting indoors, transferring the tower indoors would be great, just don’t water it for a week before you move it and it will be much lighter.

You will need about 6 – 7 cubic feet of potting soil. Like all container gardens, the Garden Tower® requires potting soil as a growing media. Plain garden soil or topsoil will not work because it will quickly compact in a pot or container, constraining the root system and depriving it of the necessary oxygen that roots need to survive. Peat or coir based soilless potting mixes that contain no soil are popular, but also the most expensive. What is required is that you use some form of light, loose potting soil and not plain garden dirt. Organic mixes will cost substantially more than typical quality mixes and are not essential for a healthy system.

We recommend you ask your nursery for prices on their “professional growers mix.” This type of potting soil is light and lofty and low in fertilizer content and economical. Mix in your favorite natural or organic plant food at the rate suggested on the packaging to fortify the potting mix with minerals and nutrients as you add potting soil to the Garden Tower® post.

To save money, you can make your own potting soil. Many recipes can be found online. The easiest method is to mix loamy garden soil, peat moss, vermiculite, and compost or a good quality natural plant food.

The soil fills the inside of the Garden Tower® 2 system between the inside edge and the center compost column. If you are not using the compost column, it can also be filled with potting soil.

Use the “fill as you build” method to assemble your Garden Tower® 2. See this video - Garden Tower Initial Setup).

You will most likely not need to change the soil for many years. Adding some compost as a soil amendment to the pockets and top of the Garden Tower® system periodically is recommended. In many instances, the condition of the soil can improve with time. However, excessive drying during the off-season should be avoided to prevent soil structure damage and keep compaction to a minimum. Lighter soils will have less compaction over time and thus lower maintenance. 

Plant roots and compost will contribute organic structure to the soil and worm activity will help maintain aeration and a steady rate of soil renewal. Avoiding woody-rooted perennial species (such as mints), or removing woody root masses between growing seasons is suggested soil maintenance for the Garden Tower® system.

The fine roots simply contribute organics to the soil and microbes, macro-invertebrates, and even worms will recycle them. The large roots come out with the plants and get composted. This does not happen often in the tower but in the compost pile. The plants that will create some issues are those with woody root systems, almost all of which are perennial.

For a first-time gardener, we don’t recommend perennials in the Garden Tower® system because some of them can create a lot of root mass which can be a challenge to deal with. However, an experienced gardener can use perennials they know they want to come back each year and plan accordingly. The only weedy perennials customers had that really become a problem are the woody mints.

It’s important to note that the breakdown of roots often uses a lot of nutrients, so nutrient limitations are more likely to cause growth issues year to year than the actual root accumulation. Some nutrient teas can be made with inexpensive organic plant food mixes to supplement the tower should the composting not be sufficient in itself. This will help heavy feeders like tomatoes that pull a ton of phosphorus out of the soil.

VEGETABLES
Amaranth (vegetable type), Arugula, Beans (lima, bush, pole, shell, fava), Broccoli, Brussels Sprouts, Cabbage, Chinese Cabbage, Cauliflower, Chard, Chicory, Collards, Cucumbers, Dandelion, Eggplant, Endive, Escarole, Gourds, Kale, Leeks, Lettuce, Melons, Mesclun, Mustard Greens, Dwarf Okra, Peas, Peppers, Radicchio, Sorrel, Spinach, Squash, Strawberries, Tomatoes
Note: vines such as squash and melons grow nicely from the bottom holes, trailing onto an in Tower trellis or a railing, chair, stool or piece of garden art)

HERBS
Angelica, Anise Hyssop, Basil, Calendula, Catmint, Catnip, Chamomile, Chervil, Chives, Cilantro (Coriander), Dandelion,Dill, Echinacea (Coneflower), Feverfew, Flax, Garlic Chives, Goldenseal Hyssop, Lavender, Fennel, Lemon Balm, Marjoram, Milk Thistle, Mint, Nettle, Oregano, Parsley, Passion Flower, Pleurisy Root, Rosemary, Sage, Salad Burnet, Saltwort, Savory, Shiso, Stevia, Thyme, Valerian, Wormwood

FLOWERS
Edible Flowers: Calendula, Carthamus, Dianthus, Marigolds, Nasturtiums, Pansies, Salvia, Violas

Ornamental Flowers: Ageratum, Amaranth, Ammi, Aster, Bells of Ireland, Bupleurum, Morning Glory, Nigella, Petunia, Phlox, Polygonum, Poppy, Ptilotus, Rudbeckia, Safflower, Salpiglossis, Sanvitalia, Scabiosa, Snapdragon, Stock, Strawflower, Sweet Peas, Verbena, Yarrow, Zinnia

Plants that like well-drained soil do best on top. Nutrient intensive and plants that tolerate damp conditions do well on the bottom.

On top: peppers, carrots, beets, leeks, onions, garlic, eggplant, turnips, tomatoes, amaranth, and more. Most other plants will grow from the side holes.

Most other plants will grow from the side holes.

Vines such as summer squash and compact melons grow nicely from the bottom holes, trailing onto the ground or trellised away to a railing, chair, stool or other piece of garden art.

Balance bushy or tall plants with compact plants to create a mosaic garden for best yield. For instance, three cabbages or broccoli cannot grow next to each other, but they can grow very nicely surrounded by lettuce or other compact veggies. 

Also pay attention to the rate at which various plants mature compared to others. For example, planting a cabbage which takes about 10 weeks to mature will allow for leafy green production (4 weeks) in adjacent openings until the broad-leafed cabbage overtakes the lettuce (light competition). By that time the lettuce will be near the end of their productive life. After the cabbage produces a yield you can start all over with the seeds you started for summer! You may also experiment with planting designs by planting large plants on a diagonal in the Garden Tower® post.

See this Drag and Drop Planter/Salad Tower Plan to help design your Tower.

Yes. There are certain plants that prefer to be direct sown, for example: carrots, beets, parsnips (root vegetables), lettuces, greens and peas. Most other vegetables are suitable to transplant.

In some respects, it's better to start seeds in flats, so that you transfer only the strongest, healthiest plants to the Garden Tower 2™. The benefit of starting indoors in flats or seedling trays is that you can start plants earlier in the season before the weather is warm enough to plant. This gives the plants more time to mature and fully develop flowers and fruit. The further north you are the more important and useful this becomes.

It depends on the variety of plant. Generally, seedlings that are 3 to 6 inches are big enough to transplant. Plants can also be started by seed in the Garden Tower® system. Use a gentle mist to water the pockets until plants are big enough.

Watering needs vary depending on the absorbency of the potting soil, the time of year, the weather and the size of the plants. Like watering your houseplants or garden, you’ll get a feel for it. The drain at the bottom eliminates the possibility of over-watering. If the plants look droopy or dry, you need to water them.

Check the pockets by pressing your finger into the soil about one inch. If it's dry, then water the pockets. If you’ve got seedlings coming up, use a spray bottle to water them directly. Once the plants are sturdier, you can use a gentle spray attachment on the hose as needed.

If the top rows of the Tower are drying out too quickly, then water more frequently for a shorter period of time. Conversely, if the bottom rows of the Tower are drying out too quickly, water for a longer period at a time less frequently. 

Watering needs to be done very slowly so that water has time to filter down through all of the layers. We recommend this be done with a ring-shaped sprinkler head on the top of the Tower, taking time to let the water penetrate the soil until it drips into the drawer. The best time to water is before 10 am or after 5 pm. Soil composition affects the rate of absorption. The coarser the composition (ex. contains pcs. of wood), the slower you need to water.

All the water (worm tea) collected from the drawer should be poured back in when you water your Garden Tower® system. However, you should not water more frequently than necessary or you can disrupt the soil and compost ecology. If you are emptying the drawer more than once or twice per week, we suggest allowing more time between watering.

Each soil has its own water holding capacity. Soils with more compost and garden type soils compact more and may not drain well. If your soil seems like it is staying too damp and/or not draining well, then in the next season, you may want to mix in some perlite to the soil to lighten it and facilitate drainage. Conversely if you live in an arid environment and your soil is drying out too quickly and not staying moist enough, then you would add either sphagnum (peat) moss or coconut coir to improve water retention.

You may also want to consider getting some of the Soil Moisture Indicators to help determine how well the soil is holding moisture. Place them in the 2nd and 5th Grow Rings.

At the end of a season, you will need to pull the plants out with the attached soil over a tray or 5 gallon bucket. Knock the soil loose from the roots and discard or compost the root/stems if they are not too woody. Most vegetables are annuals and are generally not woody.

Or you can wait until spring to remove all of last year's growth. Then starting at the bottom, use the Mini-Tower Plower or a dandelion puller to loosen the soil in each cup. Loosen soil above the cup to bring it down, filling in the area.

Do this for all of the cups, working your way up, ring by ring. You can then add new potting soil with your compost mix to the top of the tower to compensate for all that has shifted downward.

Water the Tower well before planting, checking the pockets to make sure the water is being absorbed. If the soil is not accepting the water, you can fill a bucket with water and add a teaspoon of dish soap to it. The soap will help break the surface tension on the soil so that it can rehydrate.

Your Tower is now ready to plant!

After multiple plantings/seasons of use, it may, depending on the circumstances, be necessary to pull out all the soil and refresh it with minerals and nutrients, perhaps some more vermiculite to lighten in up, etc. However, we have towers that have been used for 10 full years and have not refreshed the soil to that extent in any of them. It’s not maintenance-free, but if everything is working well, it should be very easy to keep healthy compared to conventional gardens and even typical container systems mostly devoid of soil life.