A Tower Garden is a vertical gardening system. Although often thought of as hydroponic, a Tower Garden is actually aeroponic because the roots hang in the air. It’s often referred to as a Grow Tower, Garden Tower, and several other names.
The Tower Garden is a vertical system that takes up about 4 square feet of floor space. There’s a tub on the bottom where water and a nutrient are placed. Sections are built above the tub where the plants are grown. Since a Tower Garden fits easily into the corner of a school classroom, it’s often used in education.
The roots hang in the air which means it’s aeroponic gardening. Hydroponic gardening is horizontal and the roots are always in the water. Aquaponic is also horizontal with the roots always in the water, but fish are grown in the water.
Running on a timer, a pump in the base moves water up through the center of the Tower Garden sections. Once the water reaches the top, it spreads out and runs down the inside of the Tower Garden like a waterfall. This water and nutrient mixture washes the roots. The pump timer runs a few minutes every hour.
LED lights are on a timer, usually set to run 12 hours on, 12 hours off. These lights are required for indoor gardening to work well.
Plants are grown in rockwool, which is rock and sand that’s spun together. A wide variety of plants can be grown on a Tower Garden.
Related Tower Garden articles
How to Germinate Seeds in Rockwool
What Seeds are Best to use in a Tower Garden
Read more Tower Garden support articles.