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Vertical Farming Technology Comes to the Backyard Garden or Urban Patio

Vertical Farming Technology Comes to the Backyard Garden or Urban Patio

Vertical Farming Technology Comes to the Backyard Garden or Urban Patio

The Garden Stick came about as a means to efficiently grow strawberries for a large u-pick farm, the Fuller’s Farmers Market in Davie, Florida, which is located just outside Ft. Lauderdale.

This 66″ tall Vertical Farming, with space for 14 plants, and taking up only 2 square feet, worked so well in their growing operation, the decision was made to sell it to the general public as well as other commercial growers. Nor is it limited to strawberry production, a wide variety of vegetables, fruits, herbs and ornamentals can be grown with it, a list of some among these is available further on into this article.

To give you a look at the Garden Stick in actual use, I’ve embedded a video from the itinerant John Kohler, a noted raw foodist and gardener from Northern California, came across the farm on one of his road trips, and as he so often does, he just had to stop in at Fuller’s, take a look and record a video of what he found:

As seems to be the case so often, John became a raw foodist due to various health problems, including a life-threatening bout of spinal meningitis. He so strongly believes in growing his own food, he converted his entire back and front yards to gardening areas, primarily raised beds, and he made it his mission in life to help others grow their own food and to spread the word about the benefits of eating a raw food diet.

Whether you share his ideas on what constitutes the best human diet or not, he has made a prodigious number of videos on various aspects of gardening and has become a great resource for the home gardener.

Installation and Dimensional Specifics for an Actual Garden Stick Planter

Below, another video shows you how to set up a Garden Stick planter unit, and lists some of the options and specs for the various models it comes in – just hit the read more button below to see the rest of this article.

The Garden Stick comes in three distinct sizes, Patio, consisting of one 4″ PVC section 33″ long,
Large, consisting of two 33″ long 4″ PVC sections, and Jumbo, consisting of two 33″ long 6″ PVC sections. All 3 come in a variety of colours, including a green recycled PVC option.

The Jumbo stick (6″ diameter tube) supports plants with larger root systems, such as tomatoes, while the 4″ diameter tube versions are intended for plants with less of a root structure such as lettuce, strawberries and most herbs.

The watering cap is listed as separate purchases, and there are two versions. The first option consists of a cap, watering tube, and pressure regulator and it connects to a standard outdoor faucet. The second option is a cap with a connector to hold a 2-litre soda bottle (user-supplied). It is intended for the placement of a unit inaccessible to a faucet. Of course, the third option would be to leave the tube open at the top and hand water.

Advantages:

Disadvantages

Tower Assembly Procedure

  1. Remove all parts from the shipping box.
  2. Set the tub section onto a level surface.
  3. Place the first ring into the bottom of the tub
  4. Place the bottom section of the growing tube through the hole in the ring at the bottom of the tub.
  5. Add washed rock, sand, broken-up brick, or cinder block chunks into the tub to add weight for stability. Fill to within 2″ of the tub’s top.
  6. Place the second ring over the tube and slide it down to the top of the fill material.
  7. Fill the tube with potting soil mixture to the bottom of the first planting hole.
  8. Place the first plant in the lowest hole. (may need to feed from inside if the seedling root ball is too big to feed through the planting hole)
  9. Add additional soil mix-up to the next hole. Insert next plant.
  10. Repeat until the tube is filled.
  11. Skip to the next step if installing the Patio version. Fit the second PVC tube’s flared end over the first tube, and match up the arrows to assure the correct alignment of the planting holes.
  12. Repeat the planting procedure until the tube is filled.
  13. Fit the cap piece over the top of the tube and connect it to the hose (option 1) or connect the water-filled 2-liter bottle (option 2).

Listing of Plants Successfully Grown in the Garden Stick

If you purchase plants in 4″ pots, you may not be able to fit the root ball through the holes in this vertical tower’s tubes. You can usually fit the branches and leaves through the hole, however, but you would do this from the inside of the tube.

Backyard Garden or Urban Patio Tips

So there you have it, a garden in a two-square-foot space. If you have any questions or comments please make them below, or give us a Facebook like if you appreciated this article.

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