This week we harvested two beautiful, dark, unblemished zucchini's and made some zucchini bread that was not around long enough for a picture to be taken. But, I did manage to get one of the zucchinis before we shredded it.
The Romaine and the Spinach are still being harvested daily as I want/need them. I put them into my shakes now too. They do not change the taste at all, but add even more nutrients in there. Why not?
Our neighbor is a more experienced gardener than us and suggested these two books:
They are packed with useful information about what can/ should/ and should not be planted next to each other. They give great tips on harvesting and care for the gardens and almost everything is applicable to the tower and soil. We would recommend these two very much!
This weeks growing has yielded our first cucumbers and tomatoes are starting!!! I have a feeling we are going to have a BUNCH of them. Guess who is learning how to can this summer?
Sneaky cucumbers are growing under all the vegetation!
Yay! Tomatoes!!
More Zucchini!! We'll take em! (side note: the soil garden is sprouting it's first zucchini of the season now too)
(If you are interested in a Tower Garden, you can visit this link, or contact me on this site or through Facebook and I would be happy to get you set up with one of your own! If you are interested in the shakes mentioned above you can visit this link and contact me as well!
2 comments:
I happened upon this blog and I do not mean to offend, but I feel I must point out the obvious. This tower 'garden' is the biggest piece waste of resources and money that I have seen in a long time! Talk about the definition of non-sustainable! Not only is this glorified piece of pvc make of plastic, which is made from petroleum products, but it has to be continually 'fed' nutrients?? AND we all know that after a few years of exposure to the sun's uv rays, plastic becomes brittle and breaks apart.... leaving yet one more thing to go into the landfile! Start your own compost pile, use the free energy from the sun and spend a few bucks on seeds! Food needs to be grown the natural way! If you are truly concerned about feeding your family wholesome, organic food but do not have the space or knowledge to do it, join a CSA! They are everywhere and most are certified organic. You will be provided with a wonderful experience, become a part of a farm community and might actually learn how food was intended to be grown!
Thank you for your concerns and you have some valid points. We are an organic household here and, if you have been following the blog, you can see that we also have two organic soil bed gardens and all of our landscaping is also organically taken care of.
I also had concerns about the manufacturing of more plastic for this when I was considering it. But, I know that Tower Garden is made from food-safe plastic that is UV stabilized for years of outdoor use. The UV stabilized plastic resins used in the Tower Garden by Juice Plus+ are compliant with U.S. Food and Drug Administration guidelines for food contact and with European guidelines for Restriction of Certain Hazardous Substances.
The mineral solution that is being put into the tower is developed by leading world experts in plant and human nutrition, The Tower Mineral Blend is an all-natural, earth based mineral solution specifically designed to promote the rapid growth of all types of food and flowering crops. Tower Mineral Blend provides a pH-balanced blend of natural plant nutrients that stimulate plant roots, flowers, fruits, and leaves. We keep our pH between 6.5 and 7 (neutral).
Just like food these days, it is difficult to grow "naturally" anymore because anything "natural" is being eradicated with soil additives, genetically modified seeds, runoff and air transported chemicals and fertilizers. Even the rain is tainted! There are no guarantees, which is unfortunate.
You can not argue that the world population is getting far too large for agriculture to keep supplying the land for. Vertical gardening is a solution. The environmental impact of agriculture today is horrifying. With Tower Gardens The carbon footprint of Tower Garden food is greatly reduced by virtually eliminating shipping and storage of foods. It is modular technology that can be utilized anywhere in the world.
Tower Garden plants use as little as 10% of the nutrients and water that are commonly used in conventional and organic farming. This is possible because the Tower uses a closed-system technology to recycle 100% of its nutrients and water.
The vertical design uses as little as 10% of the land normally required to grow produce.
The need for organic and conventional pesticides is reduced—thanks to the pH balanced ionic minerals and plant nutrients found in Tower Tonic that produce strong, healthy plants that can better protect themselves from plant pests and disease. We have only used neem oil to help our plants be protected.
With the Tower Garden you are getting vine ripened fruits as well. Even with a CSA your food is a couple of days old.
I love CSA's, I love farmer's markets and going out to farms and getting my own harvests, but vertical gardening is a great solution to a world that needs to stop swallowing its land surface with farms, using gas guzzling farm equipment and trucks for transport. It is a great solution for water conservation and pesticide use.
It is a great solution for the city dwellers that can get fresh fruits and veggies organically grown at home. It is a great way to have year round fruits and veggies when things are not in season in the store (even if you buy organic they had to travel hundreds or thousands of miles to get to the store, which is a bunch of fuel emissions, oil etc.).
The world has strayed far from what it was "intended to be" and we, as a part of the current culture, need to explore and find solutions to our issues that retain whole food nutrition and conserve our world.
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