With the price of vegetables always on the increase, many people are turning to their own gardens.
Yet, for people who live in small homes, apartments or don’t have access to a garden area, their choices are limited.
Now, an innovation can resolve this with a vertical gardening system. It is possible to grow upward with tower gardens in a small footprint, rather than a large area on the floor.
Table could not be displayed.These reviews look at the best garden towers, so you can get started growing your own veggies in your small area.
Why a Garden Tower is Important?
When homeowners are looking how to grow a garden, there are many who find they just don’t have the available space. This leads them to look at all the different ways how to grow vegetables.
The reason for this is the costs when grocery shopping, as well as the chemicals used in growing fruits and vegetables.
Contents
People want to eat healthily, and if they don’t have space for a full garden, they turn to raised beds and container gardening.
As good as these are, you find you are limited of things to plant in a garden of this nature. The tower garden concept moved in a different direction with an aeroponics tower or hydroponic system.
These grow without soil and can be done indoors; these are, in fact, a great way to produce some vegetables.
However, these require constant use of grow lights and gallons of water to be stored in tanks filled with nutrients. All this needs to be in a sterile environment.
The tower garden concept is a mix of both; it uses the designs of an indoor tower garden, yet does away with the soilless growing medium, and uses regular soil.
A garden tower project enables gardeners of all types to choose easy things to grow in a garden, and grow these in the tightest of areas.
Using vertical space is the future because land that is suitable for things you can grow is limited.
Modern homes are smaller as developers cram more homes side by side. A vertical gardening tower should be a necessity on every homeowners list.
They can then have easy access to their own vegetable gardening patch, no matter where they live.
Best Garden Towers Reviews
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1. Garden Tower 2
The Garden Tower 2 delivers a unique design. This means it is unlike any other vertical tower garden you can purchase.
It grows 50 plants in two square feet of space, and to make sure they all have sufficient exposure to the sun, you can rotate the top of the planter.
In this vertical garden sits a perforated compost tube where you can throw all the food scraps from the kitchen.
Once the tower is filled with potting soil, all you need to do is add some composting worms and your seedlings or seeds.
When you water, nutrients run from the soil into a drawer at the bottom, this, liquid can be poured back into the tower to give your plants a boost.
Pros
- Grows lots of plants in small area
- Great concept for using kitchen scraps
- UV protected materials
- Doesn’t wastewater
- Rotates for sun exposure
Cons
- Compost tube may need extra fastening
- Expensive
- Heavy
Technical Specifications
- Materials: 100% Food Grade HDPE plastic
- Footprint: 2ft square
- Height: Adjustable
- Weight: 34 lbs.
- Warranty: 5-year manufacturer’s warranty
With a guide price of just over $370, it is an expensive option. But, when you compare what you could spend on a hydroponic gardening tower system with lighting and water pumps.
It is an investment that produces lots of fresh food and compost tea you can re-use for fertilizer.
2. LARGE Vertical Gardening Stackable Planters by Mr. Stacky – Grow More Using Limited Space And Minimum Effort – Plant. Stack. Enjoy
This vertical garden tower comprises of 5 stackable sections, which sit inside a plastic saucer to catch water. Universities and commercial gardeners to maximize space when growing often use this design.
The stackable tower can grow 20 plants, yet during testing, we found it more suited to smaller plants or herbs because it was smaller than anticipated.
The materials are durable, yet the colors may not be to everyone’s liking and does darken once you add the soil.
Pros
- Lightweight
- Height can be increased with support
- Affordable
- Suitable for many plant types
Cons
- Water drains too quickly
- Soil works its way into saucer
- Plastic changes color once soil added
Technical Specifications
- Materials: 100% Food Grade Polypropylene
- Footprint: 1ft square
- Height: Adjustable up to 38 inches
- Weight: 5 lbs.
- Warranty: N/A
- Soil Volume: 64 quarts
The LARGE Vertical Gardening Stackable Planters by Mr. Stacky perform well and should last a long time.
The height can be increased by adding a support pole. This will need to be secured because the upright planter is narrow, so can easily topple.
Some vertical gardening systems are suitable for indoor use, and with a guide price of a little over $55, this isn’t one of them because of insufficient water capture.
For garden use, it can be a cheap way to add more growing area.
3. 4-Ft Raised Garden Bed – Vertical Garden Freestanding Elevated Planters 5 Container Boxes – Good for Patio Balcony Indoor Outdoor – Cascading Water Drainage to Grow Vegetables Herbs Flowers
While many tower project designs are somewhat circular to maximize space, the 4-ft raised bed takes a horizontal approach.
This makes it ideal for sitting with the back against a wall. This makes for easy garden plants access.
It is more suited for small plants, herbs, and vegetables that grow well together in each pot.
While the design is simple, the drainage let the system down and was seen as one of the main complaints from users.
It offers cascading watering, but all the drainage holes are on one end so the far ends of the plastic tubs don’t receive water. There is, unfortunately, no way to turn these around.
Pros
- Makes gardening easy for people with back or hip issues
- Good for using spaces in front of south-facing walls
- Highly durable food-safe plastic bins
- Sturdy once erected
- Delivers 10 ft. of growing in 6ft of space
Cons
- Drainage system not sufficient
- Only suitable for plants which like moist soil
- Legs can rust
Technical Specifications
- Materials: Food Grade Polypropylene, steel frame
- Frame size: 29 x 26 x 49
- Bin size: 23.4 x 7.9 x 6.3
- Weight: 19.8 lbs.
- Warranty: N/A
- Soil Volume: 70 liters total
The raised garden bed planter takes the tower definition in another direction. It offers horizontal growing space yet in a vertical fashion.
By definition it is a little off yet with a guide price of around $140, it does allow growers to grow vegetables where they may not have chance previously.
4. Amazing Creation Stackable Planter Vertical Garden for Growing Strawberries, Herbs, Flowers, Vegetables and Succulents| Indoor/Outdoor 5 Tier Gardening Tower| Hanging Planter
The 5 tier vertical planter from Amazing Creation has a distinct locking mechanism for each layer. These interlock across rather than around the edge. This allows gardeners to grow 15 plants in total.
Each of the layers comes with drainage holes so water can drain to the bottom pod. From there it catches in the plastic saucer.
Although it can be sued indoors, it can be hard to gauge the water so there may be overspill.
The grow tower pots are made from rigid polypropylene and are resistant against fading or cracking.
Pros
- Large planting pots
- Can be used as a hanging planter – chain included
- Pots lock together
- Lightweight
- Can be used indoors or outdoors
Cons
- Drainage holes on the small side
- Needs turning to face the sun
- Supplied hook can pull open
- Not suitable for plants over 5 inches tall
Technical Specifications
- Materials: Food Grade Polypropylene
- Size: W 12.5 x H 24 inches
- Weight: 4.06 lbs.
- Warranty: Money back guarantee
- Soil Volume: N/A
With a guide price of just under $20, the Stackable Planter Vertical Garden is an affordable option for gardeners who need to grow their own small vegetables.
In testing, we found the hook unsuitable, but change this to something sturdy, and you can maximize space even more.
It is one of the more aesthetic towers, flowers can grow in. For veggies, you are better sticking to herbs or lettuce, because it is on the small side for larger plants.
5. 5-Tier Strawberry and Herb Garden Planter – Stackable Gardening Pots with 10 Inch Saucer
The 5-tier Strawberry and herb garden planter is a great way for any keen gardener to make some extra
space available.
We found it well made, but at 12 inches wide, you may need to support it, as the height is double the width.
It easy to assemble and doesn’t require any tools. Each pot sits on top of the previous. As other vertical garden tower makes, this has a bottom saucer to catch water. For indoor use, this can cause problems if there is overwatering.
Outdoors, it can be a great option to add another 20 plants on your garden vegetables list you can grow.
Pros
- Very affordable
- Lightweight
- Can be used indoors or outdoors
- Grows lots of plants in small space
Cons
- Too much watering can spill over the saucer
- Only suitable for small plants
- Soil splashes from the top if heavy rain
Technical Specifications
- Materials: Food Grade Polypropylene
- Size: W 12 x H 28 inches (10-inch saucer)
- Weight: 5.0 lbs.
- Warranty: N/A
- Soil Volume: 28 quarts
The strawberry tower comes with a guide price of around $35, which makes it a great option to add space in one or two tight areas.
One downside is if you are growing against the side of a house or balcony, you will need to rotate the grower manually to catch the sun.
Garden Tower Buying Guide
While a garden tower project is still quite new, there are some things you need to know when it comes to purchasing one.
Materials
There are many colors available, yet it is the construction you need to be concerned with. A vertical garden tower will permanently be exposed to damp soil. Because of this, they need to resist water, as well as harsh sun when used outside.
UV resistance is advisable, as it will prevent the food-grade plastic cracking and the color fading.
Size
Because you will be growing in small areas, the vertical planter will need to fit into these areas and offer access to all your plants as well as exposure to the sun.
For some, this can limit them of where they can be placed and how well you can grow vegetables.
Plants to Grow
When you have a small garden of this type, you do need to know what grows in a tower garden. Not all plants or vegies are suitable. Aside from this, not every type of plant can be grown next to other varieties.
Some plants will have contention for nutrients in a confined space, so the larger the vertical growing system, the better.
You also need to know what grows quickly to reap the benefits, if your veggies are slow growers, you will have investment tied up waiting for a harvest.
Watering
When watering, you need to make sure the water reaches every area of the planter. You also need to be sure that either the water doesn’t blocked in the drainage system, or it runs through too fast.
Planters that are in a vertical form are better when they are filled with soil rather than pots which drain into others.
This allows water to drain all the way through the potting soil in the same was as a raised bed.
Garden tower DIY watering will be required for most options, but having a planter, which won’t become waterlogged, is advantageous.
The best garden hoses to use for this will need to be durable and not liable to kink.
Final Verdict
Right from the start of these vertical tower reviews, it was clear there was going to be one winner.
While some of them are fantastic ways for growers who have limited space, there was nothing, which could compare to the Garden Tower 2.
This does have some niggles, and it is expensive, but it is well worth it. No other gardening system uses kitchen waste as part of the fertilizer production process with compost worms.
Nothing goes to waste, and even when water runs out of the bottom, you open the concealed drawer to pour this back into the top.
No nutrients are wasted, and plants do benefit from every feature this tower gardening device delivers.
For any person who has 4-square feet of space spare, then this vegetable gardening system can deliver years of healthy vegetables just as you need them.
