What is Tower Garden?
If you’ve heard of Tower Garden but aren’t quite sure what it is, you’re not alone. Tower Garden is a vertical, soil-free growing system designed to make it easier to grow fresh vegetables, herbs, greens, fruiting crops, and flowers at home.
It can be used outdoors on a patio, deck, lanai, or other sunny space, or indoors with appropriate grow lights. Because the plants grow vertically instead of spreading across a traditional garden bed, Tower Garden is especially useful when space is limited.
What Is a Tower Garden?
A Tower Garden is a vertical aeroponic growing system. Instead of growing in soil, plants sit in small growing ports while their roots hang inside the tower.
A pump moves water mixed with mineral nutrients from the reservoir at the base of the system to the top of the tower. The nutrient solution then flows back down through the inside of the tower, delivering water and nutrients to the roots before returning to the reservoir to be reused.
Because the system continuously recirculates the water, you don’t have to water each individual plant by hand.
How Does Tower Garden Work?
The basic process is surprisingly simple:
- Water and Tower Garden Mineral Blend nutrients are added to the reservoir.
- A small pump moves the nutrient solution to the top of the tower.
- The solution flows down through the inside of the tower and across the plant roots.
- The water returns to the reservoir and is reused.
- A timer automatically controls the pump cycle.
The roots receive the water, nutrients, and oxygen they need without being planted in soil.
Our First Tower Garden
My husband and I started using Tower Garden in 2010, and gardening definitely did not come naturally to us.
We were both skydiving instructors at the time, and before Tower Garden our attempt at traditional gardening had been a complete failure. We bought soil, lumber, ground cover, and everything else we thought we needed, only to end up with an overgrown mess that eventually met a weed whacker.
Then my mother-in-law introduced us to Tower Garden.
For the first time, we were actually able to grow food successfully. That experience eventually became a much bigger part of our lives than we ever expected. Today, we grow thousands of plants and seedlings and help Tower Garden growers across the country get started and troubleshoot their systems.
What Can You Grow in a Tower Garden?
Tower Garden works especially well for leafy greens, herbs, and many fruiting crops.
Popular choices include:
- Lettuce
- Kale
- Swiss chard
- Arugula
- Basil
- Cilantro
- Parsley
- Mint
- Tomatoes
- Peppers
- Cucumbers
- Eggplant
- Strawberries
- Beans
- Edible flowers
Crop placement matters, especially when mixing large fruiting plants with smaller greens and herbs. In general, larger plants should be placed lower on the tower while smaller plants are placed toward the top.
Root vegetables such as carrots, potatoes, and beets are usually better suited to growing in soil because the edible portion of the plant develops underground.
Tower Garden FLEX vs. Tower Garden HOME
There are two main Tower Garden systems for home growers: the Tower Garden FLEX and the Tower Garden HOME.
Tower Garden FLEX
The Tower Garden FLEX is a versatile system that works especially well outdoors, although it can also be used indoors with grow lights. The standard FLEX includes 20 regular growing ports and can be expanded with additional growing sections.
Tower Garden HOME
The Tower Garden HOME is designed with indoor growing in mind and includes built-in wheels. It has 16 regular growing ports plus 16 smaller baby-green growing ports, allowing you to grow both full-size plants and smaller greens in the same system.
Both systems use the same basic recirculating growing method, so the better choice usually depends on where you plan to grow and what you want to plant.
Can You Use a Tower Garden Indoors?
Yes. Tower Garden can be used indoors, but plants still need sufficient light.
When growing indoors, you’ll typically need grow lights positioned close enough to provide adequate light to the plants. Most crops do well with approximately 14–16 hours of light each day followed by a period of complete darkness.
If you’re planning an indoor setup, our Tower Garden Light Guide explains lighting requirements in more detail.
Can You Use a Tower Garden Outdoors?
Absolutely. Tower Garden works very well outdoors when it receives enough sunlight and temperatures are appropriate for the crops you’re growing.
Outdoor growers should consider:
- How many hours of direct sunlight the tower receives
- Seasonal heat and cold
- Wind exposure
- Access to water and electricity
- The mature size of the crops being planted
In very hot climates, nutrient strength, reservoir temperature, and afternoon sun may need additional attention during the summer.
Do You Need Soil?
No. Tower Garden is designed to grow without soil.
Seeds are commonly started in rockwool cubes. Once the seedlings are large enough, the entire cube is placed into the Tower Garden growing port, where the roots continue growing inside the tower.
You can start your own plants from seed or use Tower Garden ready seedlings to skip much of the germination process.
What Nutrients Does Tower Garden Use?
Because the plants are not growing in soil, their nutrients must be added to the water.
Tower Garden Mineral Blend comes in two parts, commonly referred to as Mineral Blend A and B. Both are added to the reservoir according to the size of the reservoir and the stage of plant growth.
Newly planted seedlings generally start with a weaker nutrient solution before moving to regular-strength nutrients as they become established.
For detailed mixing instructions, nutrient strength, seasonal adjustments, and troubleshooting, visit our Tower Garden Nutrients Guide.
What Kind of Water Should You Use?
Water quality can make a major difference in how well your Tower Garden performs.
Chlorine, chloramine, softened water, extreme pH levels, and very hard water can all create problems in some situations.
The goal is to provide clean water with the correct nutrient concentration and keep the pH in the appropriate range for nutrient uptake.
Our Tower Garden Water Guide explains water sources, pH, chlorine, chloramine, and other common water-related issues.
How Much Maintenance Does a Tower Garden Need?
Tower Garden is relatively low maintenance, but it isn’t completely hands-off.
Regular tasks include:
- Checking the reservoir water level
- Adding nutrients when needed
- Checking and adjusting pH
- Pruning plants
- Checking for pests or disease
- Cleaning the pump and reservoir periodically
- Cleaning the full system between growing cycles when needed
Our Tower Garden Cleaning & Maintenance Guide walks through daily, monthly, and periodic maintenance.
Is Tower Garden Good for Beginners?
Yes. In fact, that’s one of the reasons we became such big fans of it.
You don’t need previous gardening experience, but there is still a small learning curve. Understanding light, water, nutrients, plant placement, and seasonal conditions makes the experience much easier.
The system handles much of the watering automatically, which removes one of the most common challenges new gardeners face.
What Comes With a Tower Garden?
The exact components vary depending on the model, but Tower Garden systems include the core equipment needed to begin growing, such as the tower, reservoir, pump, timer, seed-starting supplies, and initial plant nutrients. :contentReference[oaicite:0]{index=0}
You’ll still need an appropriate growing location, electricity for the pump, water, and either seeds or seedlings.
Is Tower Garden the Same as Hydroponics?
Tower Garden is often grouped under the broader term hydroponics because plants are grown without soil using water and dissolved nutrients.
More specifically, Tower Garden is described as an aeroponic growing system because the roots are suspended inside the tower rather than being planted in a container filled with soil.
Is a Tower Garden Worth It?
That depends on what you want from your garden.
If you want to grow food vertically, avoid digging and weeding, reduce the amount of space your garden occupies, and have more control over water and nutrients, Tower Garden can be a very convenient way to grow.
For us, it was the system that finally made growing food feel manageable. What started with one Tower Garden in 2010 eventually turned into years of growing, teaching, troubleshooting, and helping other people learn how to use their systems successfully.
Getting Started With Tower Garden
If you’re considering a Tower Garden or already have one, you don’t have to figure everything out at once.
Start with our Tower Garden Getting Started Guide, then use the more detailed guides below as you need them:
