Can you relate to wanting to have a garden but not having much time (or space) to devote to a garden? That was my dilemma last year.
Although I have plenty of land to have a vegetable garden, I had a lot on my plate as far as responsibilities and didn't have much time to devote to gardening.
But I wanted to grow my own food. Just the basics. You know... fresh tomatoes, zucchini, cucumbers, strawberries lettuce and other goodies. There's nothing like eating real food out of your own back yard!
In years past, I dug up a large area, fenced it off from critters (yes, Kiwi too), got fresh soil, prepared the beds, planted starts and seeds, weeded, watered, weeded more... you know the drill. I loved it but it was time consuming.
I needed an easier way to garden that didn't require so much of my time.
After a little web research I found an awesome USA based company dedicated to helping people in small spaces, with limited resources grow their own food! (Check them out at thegardentowerproject.com).
It was a BIG RISK to invest in this garden tower without knowing if it was going to solve my problem. I decided to give it a try because I really like the mission of the company and also the fact that the garden tower isn't just a garden.
The center of the tower is a compost! All you have to do is add some composting worms along with some bedding (cardboard or newspaper) and throw your kitchen scraps in there and voila! The worms do their magic while weaving in and out through the soil providing extra nutrition to all the growing plants. It's genius!
I set it up over the course of several days. First just the parts, then I got the soil and then the vegetable starts. I planted over 50 plants!
It happened naturally. Every morning and every evening after work I looked forward to checking on my garden tower. One morning I stepped out onto the patio and just said, "Hi Doris!". I didn't even think about it. Spooky! But it just felt right so we've never looked back. Even my mom and Peter call her Doris!
I love watering Doris each evening. It only takes a few minutes especially because the hose is right next to her and there's a 'drawer' at the bottom of the tower that collects nutrient-rich water. The garden tower company does offer a self-watering attachment, which I think would be great for people who travel and can't water regularly.
But I love my 'Doris time" and enjoy watering her in the evenings and sometimes first thing in the morning, depending on the weather.
It's funny because the whole purpose in getting the garden tower was because I didn't have TIME for a garden. Now... I feel like there's plenty of relaxed time.
Thanks to Doris we ate salad just about every night with dinner last year. I'd usually collect a few leaves each of red leaf lettuce, romaine lettuce and butter lettuce, grab some fresh basil, a cucumber and a bunch of cherry tomatoes and strawberries. Then add a can of chick peas and top with raw pumpkin seeds and our favorite salad dressing. YUM!
Do you have a favorite salad combo? I'd love to hear it! I'm prepping Doris for this year's garden and I'm looking for new things to plant. I forgot to mention... I don't have a green thumb (thank goodness Doris is very forgiving) so any gardening tips are also appreciated!
If you would like to learn more, go to The Garden Tower Project.*
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