Windom High School Tower Gardens: Windom, Florida

March 11, 2021

At Windom High School, the lesson doesn’t end when the lettuce is ready—it heads to the cafeteria! 🥬

Students in the school’s Greenhouse Management class put plant science into practice by growing fresh produce in Tower Gardens. From planting seedlings to harvesting greens, they take part in the work behind the food.

At the time of our original project feature, the school’s indoor growing program had expanded to 30 Tower Gardens, bringing soil-free food production into the learning environment.

Indoor Tower Gardens used by Windom High School students to grow fresh produce — Windom High School’s indoor growing project connects classroom learning with fresh food.

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🌱 Why Tower Gardens? 🔬 Student Learning 🥗 Classroom to Cafeteria 🤝 Growth & Support 🏫 Your School Project 📚 Continue Learning

Why Bring Tower Gardens into School?

A school growing project needs to fit the space and give students something useful to learn. Tower Gardens bring the plants upward, making it possible to grow without spreading everything across a traditional soil bed.

At Windom, indoor lighting helped bring growing into the school environment. Students could follow the crops as they developed and take part in their care.

Growing without soil doesn’t mean growing without science. Water, nutrients, light and plant health all become part of the lesson—and the results are right there to see.

Learning by Doing, One Tower at a Time

In the original project account, each student was responsible for one or two towers, taking part in planting, daily care and harvesting.

That responsibility turned classroom topics into practical questions:

Plant growth: How does a seedling develop into a crop ready to harvest?
Water and nutrients: What do plants need, and how do their roots receive it?
pH: Why does the nutrient solution’s pH matter for nutrient availability?
Crop care: What changes should students watch for as plants grow?

It’s one thing to read about plant nutrition. It’s another to care for a tower of lettuce and see how the plants respond over time!

Windom High School student tending plants in a Tower Garden — Students take an active role in caring for the crops.

From Classroom Crops to Cafeteria Lunches

The student-grown produce was supplied to the school cafeteria, giving the project a destination for its harvest.

Imagine sitting down to lunch knowing you helped grow the greens on the plate. That connection gave students a reason to take pride in their work and share what they were doing with classmates.

The original feature reported an average harvest of approximately 40 pounds of fresh greens per week. That figure describes this school’s reported results at the time, rather than an expected yield for every 30-tower setup.

Why Leaf Lettuce Became the Favorite

Although the school experimented with different crops, leaf lettuce became the main focus. Its growth rate and usefulness in the cafeteria made it a practical choice for the program.

That’s a helpful lesson for any school farm: choose crops that work for both the classroom and the people using the harvest. A beautiful crop is even more rewarding when the kitchen has a plan for it!

From 10 Towers to 30—with Community Support

The project began with 10 Tower Gardens using cage-style light fixtures. It later expanded to 30 towers, with newer LED-lit setups described as making access for harvesting and cleaning easier.

According to the original account, grants and donations from local businesses helped make the program possible. That support gave students an opportunity to learn through growing while contributing fresh produce to school meals.

Room for New Lessons

At the time of the feature, the school wasn’t planning to add more towers, but it was considering dedicating a tower to herbs for the culinary class.

Fresh basil, thyme or rosemary could connect plant care with another set of practical skills in the kitchen. Sometimes developing a project means finding new uses for the equipment you already have.

Could Your School Grow Something Similar?

A school Tower Farm can bring together plant science, practical responsibility and food education. Start by deciding what you want students to learn and how the harvest will be used.

Choose a purpose. Will the project support science lessons, culinary classes, cafeteria meals or a combination?
Review your space. Consider lighting, water, electricity and access for students and staff.
Assign responsibility. Plan who will care for the plants during lessons, weekends and school breaks.
Talk with the kitchen. If you want to supply the cafeteria, discuss crop choices, quantities and harvest handling before planting.
Plan funding. Include the equipment and ongoing costs, such as seedlings, nutrients and electricity.

Living Towers can help with the system planning. If you have an available space, we can help determine how many towers will fit. If you know how much of a particular crop you want to grow, we can help estimate the tower count needed. We can also explore a starting setup around your budget.

Use our Tower Farm Planning Guide to work through the steps, or explore our Tower Farm systems.

Ready to bring growing into your school? Contact Living Towers and tell us what you have in mind. Let’s get those lessons growing! 🌱