Ep 196. Vertical Tower Gardens for Real Life Homesteaders

Hey friend, how is it going? I am so excited to be talking to you today about vertical tower gardens because they're actually one of the things that's bringing me the most joy this spring.

I just got to reset mine all for spring. I'm very excited about it. And I want to talk to you about them because I think they're kind of for everybody.

In my head, originally, they're kind of like only for apartment gardeners or small space gardeners. And while that's an excellent use for them.

I kind of think they can be for you too, no matter where you live. So let's just get into it.

You're listening to the Homestead Challenge podcast where no pressure homesteading fits into your real life.

I'm Brittany, kind of crunchy mama and city homesteader helping you grow, make, and prepare without the burnout because I have been there.

But I've also discovered a way to integrate homesteading into my modern, busy life in a way that feels balanced, fulfilling, and joyful.

Whether you're working with a backyard, a farm, or even just a balcony, pour yourself a cup of coffee or homegrown herbal tea and settle in. It's time to dig in and grow.

First of all, I want to say I'm going to be talking about any kind of vertical tower garden today, but I do have green stocks.

I am not being sponsored by green stock. I don't have one of the codes for you. I don't have any of the good stuff.

I just love them. And that's why I'm talking about them today. If I can find some kind of referral code, I might put that in the show notes.

But you just wanted to get that out of the way that this complete episode is not sponsored. And I'm going to be talking about other versions of them as well.

So if you ever have looked at your yard, though, and thought like, wow, I don't have space for this or I want to grow this, but I know that it spreads.

I really think that this episode is going to be helpful for you. And it's just a really fun way to garden that I think is helpful in a lot of different situations.

What is a vertical tower garden? Usually they're the stackable growing towers, green stock is definitely the most popular, but there are versions you can get at my nards at the Dollar Tree.

I would grow different things in those, though, and I will talk about that a little bit later.

But you can certainly grow vertically different ways. I'm not going to be talking about vertical growing like trellising today. I'm only going to be talking about tower gardens.

So because they grow up, you definitely have a lot more space to grow if you do have a small space.

The watering system, you just water the top and it trickles down to all the different towers, which is very helpful. And yeah, it's just wonderful.

So I personally love them because they take up so much so little of space. I can kind of tuck them into different areas. I also like them because I put them by the entrance to my backyard.

And they kind of create a little bit of privacy for me, actually, which is kind of a bonus instead of having a tall fence, I people enter with a garden on one side, which I think is really pretty and useful for me.

So that way everybody from the street isn't kind of just creep it in looking in the backyard. I know not everybody lives in a city like I do, but if you do that can be helpful for that.

It's fun and it's kind of just aesthetic like you might like the look of them. You might not I do.

I don't like I'm not like a super like one for the bright colors, but I do have colored ones. I have green to blue and this year I am having a red one.

So excited about that. It's not bright red. It's like brick colored.

But you can always get very neutral to or very right, whatever your vibe is. But for my garden, I don't always do things in like the most efficient way for growing where towers are that for sure.

But I like the look of different heights of things going through different areas. My goal is eventually to have it be very cottagey.

It's not there yet. I'm only on year three in this space. Hopefully this year my brain yells take off more than ever, but I still have lots of work to do.

But I like that this kind of just adds one more dimension to that vibe that I'm going for.

So what are tower gardens not great for if you're looking for like major bulk potatoes or onions or anything that you wanted to be planting in massive rows. This just really isn't it.

But it is great for obviously small space gardeners.

People who are new to gardening and want to experiment with new plants busy people who just want like one section to be able to water and keep it simple just water from the top.

If you're looking for just some food and not like complete self-sufficiency.

Or what I'm going to talk about the end here is if you want like an apothecary set up an herbal tea garden things like that, but you don't necessarily want all of those herbs taking up your entire yard.

This can be really good for that as well because I love my herbs that I use for medicines and cheese, but a lot of them are in the mint family.

Even if you don't really suspect they are and they can spread and a lot of the flowers even spread so keeping them contained this way is a really excellent way for you to get to grow really unique herbs that you don't necessarily want in the rest of your garden.

Plus too I'm not going to lie to you some of the herbs that I grow for herbal medicine just aren't the prettiest, but it looks pretty if you put it in a tower.

But you might not want it like it might just look like a bunch of weeds if you have it in your garden depending right.

So that's kind of the way to go.

So if you're looking at a green stock versus one of the cheaper tower gardens.

Like I said, I've seen the Dollar Tree sells the individual tears.

I don't know if they're a dollar or something anymore because it feels like nothing at the dollar store is even close to a dollar anymore.

It's not even fun to go there anymore.

I used to like bring my kids and be like, you can each pick out two things.

But now they like each pick out two seven dollar things that I'm like, oh, no, we're not doing that.

So anyway, I believe the manards has one for seven dollars, the whole system.

You can really find these anywhere.

I think that my mom got one on team who that's not a place that I'm going to recommend, but I'm just saying they're everywhere right.

But those ones are definitely smaller by far than a green stock.

So let's talk about green stocks first.

Pros has the built in watering system where it trickles down no problem.

They're super durable. I have had two of mine for the three years now.

And there's been no fading, no cracking.

I leave them out in the snow over the winter. No problems there.

I know three years isn't a super long time, but I know.

I mean, all the green stock garden groups on Facebook and people have had theirs for 10 years now and they're doing great.

So very durable.

Even water distribution.

And they're very stable. They're not likely to tip unless you have a big wind storm.

I don't like putting mine though in like a completely open area.

I do feel like that's just asking for it.

But mine are kind of against my ugly chain link fence.

And so even if they did blow a little bit, they would not completely tip over.

But I haven't even had them come close.

Con one, I guess it's made out of plastic, which all of the tower gardens are going to be.

I don't know how you could do it without making it out of plastic.

So if you don't grow in plastic, then this episode is not for you.

And they have a higher upfront cost for sure.

I think typically they're about $150.

The best sale of the year is Mother's Day.

I believe the sale starts at the end of April though if you're listening during that time of year.

And this year in 2026, I believe that they said the regular towers are going to be $99.

Which believe me, I understand that's a lot.

I have gained mine over time.

I now have, like I said, four.

And that's probably all ever have.

I don't want to say ever.

Like I could buy another one, but I'm not going to go ham.

Like some people I've seen have like, there's literally somebody that has like 50 of them.

I'm not even exaggerating.

It's really fun to see in the groups.

That's not for me.

I prefer to grow different things and different ways like raised beds, like in the ground, in pots, and in these tower gardens.

If you are looking at the budget towers, they're very affordable and great for experimenting.

The watering system isn't quite as good.

They can dry out a little bit more quickly.

They're definitely less sturdy.

And they're smaller.

So I would just grow different plants in those towers.

If they're smaller ones, I think you could do herbs.

No problem.

Some of your medicinal herbs do get a little too big for that.

But any culinary herbs and then some flowers.

Absolutely 100%.

If you're looking for a small kitchen garden to put like right by your door.

That could be a great thing to use.

You probably do not need a full on green stock for that.

If you're trying to save some money.

Mind you, the green stocks definitely are hardier.

But my mom has, or she had herbs in hers all last year.

My dad is the one that takes care of it.

And it's super small.

That was also better for people who can't lift the towers.

So the green stock towers actually are really heavy.

And when you're refreshing them, it's best to take them all down, take it apart, and refresh the soil that way.

You could do it though without restacking it.

Which if you are not able to lift that much or somebody who's older.

You can definitely do it well.

It's still stacked, but it's just not not as easy.

And they do get super heavy.

So I was actually sick with a fever while we were redoing ours.

And I could not stack them at that time.

Normally, I don't have a problem with it.

But I was, I think I had strep.

I was really weak.

That was last week.

That's why I missed an episode.

Of course, we had another illness hit our household.

I was like, it's never going to stop.

And now my dog's barking because that's just life these days.

But you don't necessarily need an expensive version.

If you want to experiment with herbs in one of the cheap ones and absolutely go for it.

I might even think about getting one of the cheap ones for my front patio porch because it's a lot smaller.

And I don't have a lot of space there, but I might want to grow more herbs because I can't contain myself.

This is especially great for like, I really like all the different varieties of mint and sage.

There's like pineapple mint, pineapple sage.

I think there's like mojito mint, peppermint, spirament.

I have chocolate mint.

So you could have a whole mint tower.

And the cheaper one would be absolutely perfect for that.

Also, I have different lemon bombs.

I just planted for the first time lemon bomb and arena.

So it's supposed to have that like orange hint to it.

Super excited about that.

So you could have a whole lemon bomb tower.

So those cheaper ones I think would be super good for that.

And that's a great thing to do.

You know, you have a huge garden.

If you already have full raised beds or a full on farm.

You really might not want mint everywhere or lemon bomb everywhere.

So these towers are still great for that.

So I want to tell you exactly what I'm planting in my green stocks this year because I thought that would be interesting.

This is very similar to what I have done the past few years.

It is changing a little bit because in the past I have never actually planned exactly what I'm growing in anything.

But this year, I'm trying to keep it planned.

We'll see if it works.

So I have, like I said, two blue, one green.

And those three are together in an area that's a little bit shaded by like a tiny tree shrub.

It's not completely shaded.

I would say it's maybe part sun.

And then my red one is going to go on my patio that is more of a full sun situation.

So I'll go through my shadier ones first and then I'll go through my full sun one.

I have space in my garden for growing tomatoes and peppers.

And really a lot of just the other big things.

So I don't necessarily need them in here, but that doesn't mean you can't grow them in there.

There's trellis thing where you can grow full on indeterminate tomato plants in a green stock, which is super cool if you're looking to save space.

I don't need to do that this year though.

I might be doing some of the smaller peppers though. So let's get into it.

Green stock number one.

I'm going to do beets, lettuce, parsley, cilantro, and marigolds, because I put marigolds or any other kind of flower.

Really everywhere.

I took them in everything and I just had excellent luck in doing that.

My next one's going to be cabbage chives, still more lettuce time.

Definitely some flowers.

I've already planted some.

I'll probably get.

Flowers in there now that I started from seed, I'll probably also get some just petunias for color and things.

And then a couple potato plants.

And then my last shadier one's going to have some carrots, more flowers, six potatoes.

I want to try cauliflower.

I haven't found it anywhere.

I haven't found the seeds.

I mean, I didn't order them online, but then I looked in the store because I didn't kind of beyond my ordering window now and I.

I haven't found it.

Can you buy cauliflower plants?

What am I missing?

I don't know.

And then this one actually has six strawberries that I transplanted from my end ground strawberry patch.

I just want to see how they do in there.

My first year green stock gardening, I plants an entire tower with strawberries.

They died all completely over winter.

So if you do live in a cold climate and you do strawberries in a vertical tower,

you should probably cover it with plastic over the winter, which is what I should have done. And I did not.

In ground stuff definitely stays better over winter.

I like to plant almost all annuals in my green stocks.

So I don't have to worry about covering them.

But if you do perennials and you live in an area that is as cold as northeast Ohio or colder.

Just know that you might be looking into getting a frost cover just to put on it over winter, which is totally fine.

But then you might have to water it over winter, which is a little weird.

But something that just to know to think about.

So for this year, I'm going to see how these strawberries do.

And I'll probably just let them go.

We'll see because my strawberry patch is exploding.

I just grabbed a bunch of runners and threw them in the top.

And then I'm also going to do some bush beans in the last one.

It's great to tuck bush beans in just about everywhere.

That's what I like to do.

And then for my more sunny patio one, I'm going to do some rosemary, some ornamental peppers or the smaller pepper plants.

Even chili peppers, they might grow bigger, but the green stocks can handle it.

I was going to do sweet potatoes.

But I don't know.

I love the way sweet potato vines look. They're very pretty.

I thought it would look really pretty against the red.

And like serve on my patio as both food and looks.

But I'm not sold.

I think I'm going to try some zucchini in it.

Zucchini is definitely a big plant for these.

But again, they can handle it.

I do have the trellis thing that you can get with it.

Not that zucchini climbs, but the trellis thing just kind of like holds the bigger plants up.

And then of course, some more flowers.

It's on my patio.

I want it to look really pretty.

That's what I'm growing a mine.

But you can absolutely grow an entire tea garden if you wanted to.

I actually did Camel meal for the first time in mind this year.

You could grow some bigger flowers like calendula, but those might be getting a little taller.

All the lemon balm, all the Tulsi.

You could do a layer of mint.

You could do time.

I'm already doing rosemary, of course.

All of those things are excellent to do in your vertical tower.

I also love the towers because they are right outside my back door.

So they kind of do serve as part of my kitchen garden.

So if I'm just making a cup of tea and I want to run out, I can grab some things from them.

Or I also have a lot of pots of herbs right next to them.

But if you were doing it without pots, then you could do it that way.

A lot of my culinary herbs are then in them.

It just makes it really easy in case I'm in my jambas.

And I don't want to go expose myself to the neighborhood in the backyard.

I do have backyard neighbors that can see me from all angles.

And that's just city life.

And that's fine by me.

But having them right by the door is very helpful for that.

So one of my biggest tips for doing these vertical gardens.

Of course, would be to use good soil.

Definitely factor your soil into your price, though.

If you are getting one for the first time and you're already buying the tower.

Please know that you're probably going to need about three bags of soil.

Or so or compost or whatever you're doing for them.

I'll probably use almost three bags of soil and I'll top it with my favorite mushroom compost that I buy.

That's what I've done a year after year.

I just topped off my older ones.

I did not empty them.

Every couple years, I think it's a good idea to empty it out.

You could just use that soil in your in-ground or raised beds and then refresh.

Because after a while, even if you're amending any time you're in a container,

it's always just good to replenish the soil that way.

They do dry out faster than if you had an in-ground garden.

So please know that you might be watering them extra.

They do have a watering system.

I don't have it.

My, oh, my, do I need to figure out irrigation this year?

Because I have already just been watering seeds that I planted outside and it's taking me an enormous amount of time to water.

So I really think that I need to figure out an irrigation system this year.

But that's a side note.

Of course, putting it somewhere that you're going to see daily means you can just harvest it all the time.

I grow so much lettuce and ours and I make my husband salads for lunch out of that.

And that has been really helpful.

So these are great because you really don't need a big garden to start growing food.

So if you are at the beginning of your homesteading journey and maybe your garden building is going slower than you would like it to because I've been there.

I'm still there.

Maybe you are waiting to move to a place because you're in a rental.

Maybe you do have a huge garden, but you just want something close by your door vertical tower gardening.

I truly believe is the way to go kind of for everybody.

It's not a requirement, but like kind of, right?

So again, I'm not affiliated at all, but Mother's Day is the best sale of the year.

I'm very good at knowing all the sales for all the companies because I have a problem.

And so I have examined their sales throughout the entire year and Mother's Day really is the cheapest you're going to get one.

So if you are going to my one at this time now or I think next week is going to be the way to go.

I'm trying to talk myself out of buying another one because I don't really have anywhere else to put one nor do I need anymore.

But it is so, so fun. They are so pretty. I want to know in our Facebook group, do you have a vertical garden?

Please post pictures of it because I love to see them.

I want to know what you're planting in yours.

I love the look of my cabbages in mine. It looks so pretty and so fun.

But I've seen crazy ones that are just full of cherry tomatoes.

I mean, you could do you could feed your entire family on tomatoes from one grain stock for a year.

I guarantee it. It would look crazy, but it would be really cool.

So let me know. Have you tried it? What would you plant in yours? What do you want one for?

And does anybody have a medicinal herb green stock or garden tower?

If you do, please let us know because I want to see one that's just dedicated to that.

Because maybe now that's why I need to buy another one.

If you're listening to this husband as you edit this podcast, I don't know.

Just think about it. Well, think about it.

All right, friends, I think it's so fun to talk about all of the different ways that we can garden.

There's so many different ways. And that's why I like to experiment with them all.

I don't put all my eggs in one basket. I know that every year the garden grows.

It changes.

Some years may raise beds might do better. Some years might end ground might do better.

And some years my tower gardens might do better.

It's just kind of fun to have all the different things to kind of fall back on as well as just experimenting.

Because for me, while our garden is important to the things that we grow for what we can eat, it's also just really fun.

And it brings me joy.

And my tower gardens certainly are the things bringing me joy right now because they're kind of what I can control.

I feel like right now everything else is full of weeds, whereas the green stocks are nice and weed free.

It also they do keep things off the ground. So with all of the rain.

If you have lettuce growing right now, there's so much like dirt backsplash on them.

If it's in ground, whereas if it's in the towers, it's not getting all that dirt or the bugs.

This still can get bugs. Don't get me wrong. I've had it. But it's much less and much less of that kind of muddy issue.

If you've ever had that before. So friends, I hope you found this interesting.

I want to know how you were gardening this year. Come on over and tell us and I will talk with you soon.

Thanks so much for joining me for another episode of the Homestead Challenge.

I hope you're feeling inspired to take the next step on your homesteading journey.

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Remember every small step is progress. Keep growing and I'll see you next time.

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