Plant Your Own Vegetables From The Comfort Of A Chair With The Earth Tower Vertical Garden
Vegetables
Growing Vegetables – Indoors or Out!
Vegetable gardening immediately calls forth visions of shovels, hoes and hours of work under the hot sun. And to think that you can plant your own from the comfort of a chair, manipulating nothing more than a teaspoon!
Of course, we don’t plan on a crop of corn or an asparagus bed, but given six to eight hours of light daily, a splendid vegetable garden is yours for the planting. The leafy and root vegetables which are most practical here have a relatively low light requirement and can be grown indoors or out with the greatest of ease!
Rapid growth is the key to tender, tasty vegetables. They need plenty of water and don’t forget to add the diluted plant nutrient! Occasionally you may notice that the top rows are drying out somewhat faster than the bottom ones. Using a regular watering can, just water these rows individually whenever they need it.
What vegetables can you grow in the Earth Tower? A colorful variety of leaf lettuces, kale, spinach, radishes, green onions, and mustard greens for the freshest salad ever. Your garden can also produce root vegetables like beets and carrots. How’s that for an indoor farm?
Happily for you, many smaller (even “midget) vegetables have been developed in recent years. These earlier maturing plants are perfect for your garden and available from most seed companies.
Here is a list of vegetables that grow really well in the Earth Tower:
BEETS:
A cool season crop outdoors, you can plant beets indoors at any time. Space seeds about 3” apart, along center of row. They are very slow to germinate, so be patient. A double delicious crop, the leaves as well as the roots make good eating. The small varieties, maturing in 55-60 days, include Detroit Dark Red, Early Wonder, Ruby Queen and Cylinda (a long cylindrical shape).
CARROTS:
Sow seed closely and thin one to two inches apart when they start to come up. The tiny carrots that you thin out are delicious cooked. The varieties we recommend are 3-4” long and mature in 62-68 days. Try Tiny Sweet, Short ‘n’ Sweet, Midget and Little Finger.
LETTUCE:
Leaf lettuce is one of the greatest rewards of vertical gardening, both indoors and out. You can make successive plantings all year long, except in midsummer. Never again worry about what the supermarket has to offer!
Keep picking off the outside leaves and your lettuce will continue growing. Plant seed 2-3 inches apart, thinning out every other one when they reach about two inches in height (toss these thinnings into your dinner salad). There is a wide assortment of lettuces to choose from. We suggest you grow several. Try Tom Thumb, Green Ice, Summer Bibb (very heat resistant – may be able to grow midsummer), the distinctively shaped Oak Leaf, and the deep red, frilled Ruby.
MUSTARD GREENS:
The tender young leaves of this plant add a pungent and unusual tang to salads. This crop needs a cool environment, kept below 70°F. It makes an excellent fall crop. Sow 2 inches apart and thin out every other plant. Leaves mature in 35-45 days. Choose the smooth-leafed Florida Broadleaf, fringed Southern Giant Curled, the earliest (35 days) Tendergreen, or frilly tight-curled Green Wave.
KALE:
Kale prefers cooler weather and becomes crunchier and sweeter when it’s cold. It will, however, adapt to warmer conditions, just keep kale partially shaded during the warmest days of summer. Plant seeds 1/2 inch deep and approximately 3 inches apart. Thin plants to 6-8 inches apart when they get 4-5 inches high. Consider these shorter varieties: Dwarf Blue Curled, Dwarf Blue Scotch, Dwarf Green Curled, Dwarf Siberian.
RADISHES:
One of the easiest of all plants to grow! Tastes best when picked regularly and young. Grows quickly from seed. Tender and delicious for your salads! Try the white icicle variety as well as the more popular red globe type.
SCALLIONS:
These are simply immature onions and are prized for their tangy green top growth as well as for their white underground bulbs. You can plant them as seeds, seedlings or sets (tiny onions) ... the latter being the most convenient to handle and giving the earliest results. Just keep plugging in new onion sets as you harvest your delicious green onion crop! Keep ‘em coming all year long. Plant early in spring, late in summer, and in midwinter, as long as winder indoor temperatures are kept below 70°F. The scallions will be ready in 35-40 days. Southport Yellow Globe and Ebenezer are recommended varieties.
SPINACH:
True spinach is too large a plat for the Earth Tower, but New Zealand spinach is a fine substitute. A smaller-leaved, heat-loving specimen, its tender young leaves can be harvested over and over again. You’ll notice its flavor is milder than regular spinach, and it can be used as a salad green as well as a cooked vegetable. Plant every ten days in early spring and early fall, spacing seeds about two inches apart and thinning out every other plant (Note: New Zealand spinach plants may grow too large for your Earth Tower unless you keep the leaves harvested).
TOMATOS & CUCUMBERS:
There are certain types of tomatoes and cucumbers available that will flourish in the Earth Tower without growing too large for it.
For TOMATOS: try Bitsy, Toy Boy, Tiny Tim, Sugar Lump, Pixie Hybrid.
For CUCUMBERS: try Bush Whoppers, Tiny Dill, Patio Pik or Spacemaster.
There are many other similar varieties of tomatoes and cucumbers suitable for your Earth Tower Garden. Consult fine seed companies online or request their print catalogs.
If you like, you can interplant herbs and edible flowers with your vegetables ...
pick your salad and seasonings at the same time.
WORKING WITH LARGE ROOT SYSTEMS
The slats on the Earth Tower are easily removed for planting, transplanting or harvesting larger plants. Just remove the slat blocking the growing area in question. If a small amount of soil should fall out, it can be replaced in seconds. A spread newspaper or tarp will make this easier and faster.
