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It's rampant! Wild! A glorious living wonder!

Today, I found my first squash blossom, a buttery yellow bloom shooting off from a just-planted seedling.

My Tower Garden is in its glory! The squash blossom was just the start.

Chives have spurted a good inch overnight. The razor edge fancy lettuce is keeping apace. And there are tomatoes. Lots of tomatoes! Little cherry tomatoes like gems. The bigger beefsteaks nestled among cucumber leaves. I love how the Tower Garden can become a tangled mess, and that is to say I have the choice of pruning and snipping or allowing the growth to run its natural course. I pick plan B.

The cucumbers, the first bloomers, are snarled and slightly battered from the rain and Tropical Storm Beryl, and their leaves are a map of snail trails. But they continue to bloom! I am amazed.

I am in love with my Tower Garden.

Now, as harvest time nears, I must begin seeding for the next cycle. This is all so exciting.


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The Tower Garden - chives, lettuces, tomatoes, squash, cucumbers.
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Pretty little cherry tomato.
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This little beauty was hiding behind a wide cucumber leaf.
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Overlay of lettuce and tomato leaves.
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Tough times but the cukes are survivors!
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The hardy Cukes keep on blooming!
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A Land Snail, moments before relocation.
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My Beefsteak Tomato Buddies
 
The Sun is missing from this Sunday.  It's Day 11 of uninterrupted rain and clouds.

Every morning, I visit my Tower Garden and every morning, I discover new growth! Even with the absence of direct sunlight, things are happening. The tomatoes are especially active, and this brings me to a quandary.

To Prune or Not...?

With dirt farming, the standard procedure is to snip the suckers that branch off from the main tomato plant stems to encourage robust growth. I am not sure if this standard carries over to hydroponic farming. But I'm finding bud development on the suckers! I've come to the conclusion that there is plenty enough circulating nutrients to feed the suckers. So I'm snipping conservatively. My focus is to prevent rampant growth that might interfere with productivity. I'm also clipping where I see heavy overlap to prevent any rotting leaves.

Quandary solved.


 
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Tropical Storm Beryl hammered through NE Florida last night with wind gusts up to 70mph and sustained winds of 55mph along with heavy rain.

I was worried but I'm happy to report that my Tower Garden made it through the storm!

It's bedraggled and water-logged but as soon as the sun comes through, it should perk up.

The tomatoes are most affected, mostly because I had not added additional cages for support. The two-week old seedlings look good - and of course, this is a view through the rain!

I'm assuming the 20-gallon reservoir is what kept the Tower standing as it is in an open area and unprotected.


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The neighbor was not so fortunate!

I heard a heavy bang! last night as the storm was in full swing, looked outside with a flashlight but saw nothing.

This morning, I see the cause of the Big Bang - a large limb from an ancient oak that couldn't withstand the wind.

It's hard to tell from the photo that this tree limb stretches a good 12-15 feet in length. You can see that it dwarfs the shed. That big bundle of vine is likely what weakened the tree.

 
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BABY CUCUMBER. Looks a little like Prickly Pear.

THERE'S SOMETHING NEW EVERY DAY!

Today my friend spotted a baby cuke. After searching under the wide leaves, we found six more with a bunch of buds ready to become baby cukes by morning!
 
HERE'S A VIEW OF MY TOWER GARDEN THIS MORNING.
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The Tower Garden fits in a small square of my patio, and contains a variety of growing vegetables including two varieties of tomato, three varieties of lettuce, basil, kale and cucumbers.

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Beautiful Bibb lettuce.

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Red and green lettuce in foreground.

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I love how the cukes and tomatoes share space.

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[LEFT] An empty slot waiting for a new seedling. Basil to the left.

[RIGHT] Close-up of the water filtration system.

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I love watching the cucumbers develop!

WANT TO KNOW MORE ABOUT HYDROPONIC GARDENING?
CLICK HERE.

 
Tim Blank talks about what inspired him to create the Tower Garden, including his experience at the Epcot Center's The Land.
 
Here's a great video by a very articulate fellow named John Mooney, who is the chef/owner of Bell, Book & Candle restaurant in NY's West End. Mooney has designed a hydroponic garden system for his restaurant, using the Tower Garden

Click here if you're interested in learning more about Tower Gardens and growing vegies, fruits, herbs and flowers hydroponically.
 
I've just read an exciting newly published essay called The Vertical Farm by Dickson Despommier, which extols the value of vertical farming on a worldwide scale.

Despommier, who is with Colombia University, talks about the multitude of global and local benefits that result from vertical farming. These include sustainable community farming, restoring damaged ecosystems, cost efficiency, land conservation, lowering health risks to infectious agents and a significant reduction in the use of fossil fuels.

Says Despommier: "Growing food close to home will lower significantly the amount of fossil fuels needed to deliver them to the consumer, and will eliminate forever the need for fossil fuels during the act of farming (i.e., plowing, applying fertilizer, seeding, weeding, harvesting)."


This essay reinforces my belief that my Tower Garden, which follows the vertical farm system, is the way to go!


 
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This morning, I plucked a few fresh basil leaves from my Tower Garden and presented them to Stormy and Dunkin.

Immediate Love!

This is also a perfect way to strengthen my bond with jittery Dunkin!

Meanwhile, Stormy, who ate three leaves, smells like sweet basil.

 
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Yes, we love our greens!
Surprised the bunnies this morning as they were nestled together in their "hiding place" with fresh cuttings from the Tower Garden. They woke, ate and then went back to their nestling and nap.