This DIY Garden Tower will inspire you to create your own small container gardening project…or maybe just buy a nice, new one!
MY UNIQUE DIY TOWER GARDEN
While considering myself a gardening expert is a bit of a stretch of the imagination, I’ve always dabbled in it a bit and it is something I really enjoy.
After I had our daughter I put gardening off to the side and haven’t even attempted to get back into it again…until now. However, I have decided that THIS IS THE YEAR to start again!
As I get back into gardening I wanted to share with you one of the ways I do it and a unique method I find absolutely incredible.
It’s called a Garden Tower.
However, let’s be clear. This is not a Tower Garden. Those are made by a well know company and are hydroponic and run on electricity.
The GARDEN TOWER, on the other hand, runs on WORMS and SUNSHINE!
DIY GARDEN TOWER VIDEO
WHAT IS A GARDEN TOWER?
In short, a garden tower is a small container garden that will grow almost an entire gardens worth of produce in only 4 square feet.
I think it’s a really great setup, that is easy, practical, and allows you to easily grow your own fruits and veggies.
For instance, not only does the garden tower grow a lot of produce in a small space, it also works well in desert regions, when there is limited water resources- I’ll explain why later on.
In this post I am going to give you an overview of how the system works, and also show you how we made our own homemade variation.
To clarify, this isn’t going to be an in depth, step-by-step technical tutorial. It’s going to be more of a general explanation from someone who mostly cheered her husband on from the sidelines as he worked and sweated!
DON’T DO WHAT WE DID!
Having easy gardening options allows us to eat more organic food while staying on a budget. I love having our small garden containers!
If I’m being honest, I don’t really recommend making your own (unless you just have a surplus of empty wine bottles and a blow torch you’re itching to use!).
In fact, if I had it to do over again, I’d probably just save up and buy one. But hey, ya do what you can with what ya got!
I first came across a garden tower back when we first got married. When I stumbled saw the one make by Garden Tower Project, I thought the idea was BRILLIANT. Although I really, REALLY wanted one, but at the time we didn’t really have the budget to be able to invest in something like that. It wasn’t even that expensive, but we decided to try and make our own instead.
Hence, the DIY Garden Tower was born!
DIY GARDEN TOWER DESIGN
So here it is, our very own homemade, DIY garden tower. As you can see, we don’t have anything planted in it yet and we’re just getting it setup again.
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Here’s an overview of how the garden tower system works:
1. In the barrel, there’s a 4 inch PVC pipe going down the middle that you fill with compost from your kitchen.
2. We used a drill to put holes in the PVC…this is for the worms to crawl in and out. The tube is then with compost, and some red wriggler worms. As the worms eat the compost, breaking it down, and then crawl out the holes into the dirt and fertilize it. They crawl in and out, eating compost and creating ever more fertile soil.
3. Then, at the bottom, underneath, there is 4 inch hole cut in the barrel with a screen screwed over it. You put a pan underneath it and it catches all of the water that runs through. This is called worm tea.
4. You then take the worm tea and dump it back on top to water the garden. Over time, it creates this really brilliant system of increasingly nutrient rich soil so that your plants flourish.
GARDEN TOWER SUMMARY
In summary: This is basically a closed loop system. Anytime you water the plants or it rains, the excess water will come out the bottom and you collect it and dump it back over again. Because you recycle the water, it’s an effective way to garden in desert regions or areas with limited water resources. Over time the nutrients build up, creating a super nutrient packed fertilizer. The plants grow really fast and really well, soon providing you with enough produce for a family in just one container.
HOW TO MAKE A GARDEN TOWER
So, before we get into this, I want to add a disclaimer. This ended up being QUITE the project, taking a bit of time (and a lot of wine bottles!), and I don’t really recommend going this route if your able to order a “real one” from the Garden Tower Project. But, if you’re handy with a blow torch and short on funds, then by all means, jump in and make your very own DIY Garden Tower!
The first thing we did was find some barrels that they hadn’t had any toxic products in them beforehand.
DIY GARDEN TOWER INSTRUCTIONS
After finding our barrel(s), the next steps to finishing our container garden went something like this:
- We laid out where we wanted the “plant pockets” to be, and marked them by drawing a line with a sharpie.
- Then we drilled two holes about 6 to 8 inches apart, one on each end of the sharpie line. We then used a jig saw to cut a slit from one hole to the other.
- Taking a wine bottle, (Sailor Jerry bottles work well, too;-) or something similar, we wedged it down in the slip to create an opening.
- After wiggling the bottle firmly into the “pocket” we used a blowtorch to heat up the plastic.
- We would heat up the plastic until it would bend out just enough, wiggling the bottle around a bit to create a pocket, and then leave it there until the plastic was cooled and it would hold it’s shape.
DON’T FORGET THE WINE!
This was by far the hardest part of the project. We had to drink a looooooot of wine! (Actually we got a bunch of wine bottles from the recycling center and left over from our wedding receiption).
On the bottom of the barrel, we cut a 4 inch diameter hole. After making the pockets in the barrel, we took a 4 inch PVC pipe and drilled holes in it. We set the PVC over the hole down the center of the barrel and attached it with wires.
We then screwed a metal screen on the base of the barrel, over the 4 inch opening.
Then, finally we attached the legs by drilling pieces of wood to the bottom, creating a stand.
Once all of that was finished, we filled it with soil, and planted what we wanted in each of those little pockets and on top, added our worms, and voila!
We have a few of these in our backyard, which saves a lot of space for the kids to still be able to run around without having a large garden in the middle of it. I absolutely LOVE them and plan to buy the ones made by Garden Tower Project at some point, which are of course better quality and a little bit prettier, with more bells and whistles.
WHERE TO BUY A TOWER GARDEN
The original Garden Towers are made by The Garden Tower Project. Here is a direct link to the Garden Tower 2, which is their revamped and updated model.
Additionally, the Garden Tower Project website also has a lot of educational information on how to plant the garden, and you can also get some great info about bio-farming in small spaces and with limited resources.
I’d love to hear feedback from anyone who is using these or begins using them! Comment below if you have more questions or need clarification on making your own Garden Tower!
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