Community Corner
Green and Growing in Only 5 Square Feet
This unique "tower garden" maximizes space for gardening. A Wildwood couple leverages an innovative way to grow nutritious vegetables.
residents Bill and Ute Leonard found a new way to make gardening easier. “We’ve been selling and using Juice Plus for years, and now they’ve come out with a new gardening concept called the Tower Garden,” said Ute Leonard.
“Like a lot of people, we don’t have a good place for a garden. This unit can sit right outside on the patio, and it has a very small footprint. It would easily fit on a small apartment balcony, too. It only needs 6 hours of sun, and it can grow dozens of varieties of herbs, flowers, fruits and vegetables. It’s an aeroponic growing system, so there’s no need for weeding or watering.”
Riding a renewed wave of interest for vegetable gardening, the new gardens are popping up all over the United States. Lit by special "grow lights," there are even 25 of the plant tower units in O’Hare International Airport. “These gardens produce some of the food for airport restaurants,” said Leonard.
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The concept behind the garden tower is devilishly simple. Seedlings are planted in a tower with that has 20 holes for planting. The American-made units are 5 feet tall and 2-foot extensions are available. The roots hang down inside and the pump periodically mists the plants with nutrition-rich water. “It doesn’t take long to set the tower up and get the garden going,” said Leonard. “Once the plants start growing in the special medium, the tower is camouflaged and it is really beautiful. If you want to grow tomatoes or other plants that need a cage, those are available too.”
“Plants grow faster than they would in a traditional garden, and this system is ecologically sound, using less than 10 percent of the water and land in a typical garden. It even has a heater so that you can grow food all year round,” Leonard said.
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“We are committed to a healthy lifestyle and we have been for years. We buy our food fresh locally whenever possible. The is a great choice for this. Now we’ll have even more reasons to choose fresh produce for the dinner table. Bill is really looking forward to fresh strawberries grown with no chemicals or preservatives.”