Garden Tower 2 Review: Is It Good For A Small Indoor Garden?

Easy to grow a lot of organic veggies and salad greens in small places. Self-contained design handles composting. Just put in kitchen scraps and worms will do the rest. You can grow flowers among edible plants. Ideal for patios and condos and great for any age.

My Garden Tower 2 review covers this Starter Bundle from Garden Tower Project. The Garden Tower 2 lets you organically grow 50 plants in only 4 square feet for at least 12 years.

Recently named the “World’s Most Advanced Container Garden”, it boasts a design that conserves water and maximizes soil nutrition. So, I couldn’t help myself from getting one and testing it out to see if it lives up to its name.

This rotating tower has six stackable levels and a composting core. As I later found out, the features of the garden tower make it very low maintenance.

Indeed, the Garden Tower product line is the only self-contained growing gardening system with these latter features, which is great for a vegetable garden in a small space because it contains the compost’s smell. You can also easily grow herbs, including mint, garlic (and also garlic cloves!), cilantro,​​​​ as well as veggies such as Brussels sprouts and even potatoes! I’ve actually used it to grow all of these ever since I got it, and I can happily say that they came out incredible and required minimal maintenance.

When I’ve had sore muscles from gardening, I often wished I would have had this ergonomic gardening system. So, it goes without saying that I’m really happy I bought this a couple of years ago.

The strong ball bearing near its base makes the tower easy to rotate with one hand. This also allows you to use it in a tight space and control how much sunlight each plant receives. 

Note: You can also get it on wheels with the Move and Grow Bundle, although it’s more expensive and doesn’t come with starter plants.

If you’re willing to spend a lot more money, you can get the Garden Tower 2 Deluxe Bundle, which comes with wheels and starter supplies.

What Is The Garden Tower 2 Made Of?

The 36-pound Garden Tower 2 is made of durable and food-grade HDPE, which is free of toxic ingredients like BPA and PVC. This plastic is recyclable, UV-resistant, and made in the U.S.A. Even the dye is FDA-approved, so you can enjoy your veggies worry-free. After using it for quite some time, I can safely say that its polyethylene build is very durable, as it’s still as good as new!

What Are The Dimensions Of the Garden Tower 2?

The Garden Tower 2 stands 43 inches in height and is 25 inches wide. It’s perfect for my smaller garden. I’ve also tested it on even smaller balconies, and it still didn’t take up too much space.

What Else Comes In The Garden Tower 2 Starter Bundle?

GTP’s Starter Bundle also comes with:

• Organic, all-purpose fertilizer by Dr. Earth
• 50 reusable plant markers
• 2 soil moisture indicators
• A seed-starting greenhouse with 72 cells
• Expanding soil pellets for seed-starting
• A $20 gift certificate for Bakers Creek Heirloom Seeds (for more gift ideas, check out my gift roundup for gardeners who have everything)
• Discounted shipping

If you plan to use it indoors for your garden, I suggest checking out this LED grow light kit, as it helped me grow my indoor garden.

PROS

• Composting core turns kitchen scraps into fertilizer
• Insulated design conserves moisture and extends growing season
• Turns easily
• Plastic is durable and non-toxic
• The bundle comes with everything you need to get started

CONS

• Bundle is more expensive than just buying the tower
• Plants have to be small enough to fit in the tower’s pockets
• Bad option for vining plants

The Story Behind Garden Tower Project

Garden Tower Project dreams of a world in which people everywhere grow their own organic food. I personally found this motto inspiring, which prompted me to try out their tower garden.

Based in Indiana, the small company began after founder Colin Cudmore learned about America’s numerous “food deserts” — areas where people lack access to fresh food. In fact, there are more than 6,500 food deserts in the US, according to Bayer, a world-renowned pharmaceutical and biotechnology company.

Starting in 2010, he and his business partner Joel Grant designed three generations of composting, water-efficient Garden Towers. 

The original Garden Tower and Garden Tower 1.1 were so successful that supporters raised $431,000 to make the Garden Tower 2 a dream come true.

There are now almost 20,000 Garden Tower owners and counting.

Before Buying A Garden Tower, Consider These Things

Garden towers allow people to grow delicious, organic fruit and vegetables with hardly any space. To enjoy these benefits, however, it’s important to choose your tower carefully. Here are some factors that I look out for when I’m searching for new tower gardens, like the Garden Tower 2:

Materials

When using any container garden to grow food, the first thing I always look for is what it’s made of. Watch out for towers containing toxic chemicals!

Longevity

Since it’s a way to spend less on produce, many would consider a tower garden an investment. Having tested many of these, I think that a more expensive product may be a better deal than a cheaper one if it’s designed to last longer.

Do You Need A Gardening Tower Or Something Else?

I believe that a gardening tower is ideal for growing lots of plants in a small area.

However, tower gardening isn’t the best vertical garden option for everybody. Here are some other types of vertical gardening products:

Hanging Wall Planters

The one issue I’ve noticed with tower gardens is that they can be a bit big for very small spaces. So, a hanging wall planter  from Amazon might be your only option if all you have is a window or an extremely tiny balcony. However, you can also use a hanging wall planter to achieve a living wall look or block an unsightly view.

Trellis Gardens

For growing vining crops, you may like a product such as this trellis garden on wheels  from Amazon.

A bucket-and-trellis setup is ideal for an indoor vertical garden, especially for an indoor herb garden, since the soil stays close to the floor. There are many good reasons to have an indoor garden, which I’ve written about here. If you’d like to make your own but don’t know where to start, I suggest checking out some of other ideas presented in this blog!

For Growing Lots Of Organic Food, Go With The Garden Tower 2

To describe the Garden Tower 2 in three words, Garden Tower Project chose “grow organically anywhere”. And, as I found out using it for the past couple of years, that’s exactly what it excels at:

Any Sized Space, Anywhere

To understand the amazing space efficiency of the Garden Tower 2, compare it to the square foot gardening method. With the square foot method, some plants need a full square foot of space. You can read more about this on the official blog of Good Housekeeping, an iconic women’s interest magazine that’s been around since the 1880s!

To grow 50 such plants, you’d need 50 square feet! But with the Garden Tower 2, I managed to achieve the same yield with only 4 square feet of space. Just keep in mind that you still need some other supplies for indoor gardening.

It’s Core Strength — Compost

No matter how much I’ve tried, I haven’t  found any other gardening tower that works like the Garden Tower product series. A composting core runs through the center of the tower, covered in perforations so roots can access the nutrients.

It works with kitchen scraps alone, but look at what happens when you add worms:

As if the compost tube wasn’t enough, worms turn it into high-quality manure. As they travel through the surrounding soil, they keep it in perfect growing shape by distributing manure and beneficial microbes and making air pockets. You can learn more about how worm composting works in this report by Cornell University.

Nutrients, Nutrients Everywhere!

Worms are only one of three ways the Garden Tower 2 keeps its soil rich throughout. I suggest watering the tower from the top, as it helps nutrients travel downwards and a 2-gallon drawer at the bottom collects that water and its nutrients to use all over again!

Here’s the top:

And here’s the bottom drawer:

Watch a video about how it all works:

Here Are Some Testimonials

After scouring the internet for reviews from different websites, I found a nice bunch that all look positive.

Here’s one from Burpee.com:

Notice that both of these users have back problems, which I can relate to, but use the tower with ease!

Here’s another positive Garden Tower review:

Similar Alternatives To The Garden Tower 2

My only complaint about the Garden Tower 2 from the Garden Tower Project is that it isn’t cheap. There are some more affordable alternatives, although none of them have an internal composter like the Garden Tower’s.

5-Tier Vertical Planter From GreenStalk

This product is good for someone who wants to grow a lot of plants in a small space but can’t afford the tower from GTP.

Like the Garden Tower 2, this plastic planter has a cylindrical shape covered in planting pockets. Each tier can hold about a cubic foot of soil. If you do the math, that’s actually close to the Garden Tower 2’s 6-cubic-foot capacity.

After testing it out, I have to admit that it’s not as good at conserving moisture as GTP’s tower. But it does have an internal slow-drip watering system. Even though it’s cheap and simple, this planter’s reviews are overwhelmingly positive.

Garden Tower 2	5-Tier Vertical Planter
Turns	Does not turn
Makes its own compost	Add your own compost
Made of food-grade, weather-resistant plastic	Made of weather-resistant plastic
Conserves moisture	Has an internal slow-drip watering system
Has 50 planting pockets	Has 30 planting pockets

If you’re curious to learn more about this planter, head over to Amazon . 

Bostick Flower Tower

If all you want is a tower of flowers, I suggest going for this cheap plastic planting tower by Bostick. It has a watering tube through its center that distributes water (and fertilizer) evenly throughout the soil.

This planter’s capacity is MUCH smaller than the Garden Tower 2’s — it can only hold about a half a cubic foot of soil. Having tested it out, I think that it’s good for growing herbs, but definitely not larger vegetables.

Garden Tower 2	Bostick Flower Tower
Turns	Doesn’t turn
Makes its own compost	Watering tube distributes manually added compost
Made of food-grade, weather-resistant plastic	Made of weather-resistant plastic
Conserves moisture	Watering tube distributes water efficiently
Grows vegetables as big as tomato plants	Can only grow flowers or other small plants

Want to learn more about the Bostick Flower Tower? Check it out at wayfair.com.

Watex Metal Mobile Green Wall

Though this product isn’t exactly a tower, I included it because it’s on wheels. It isn’t nearly as ergonomic as the Garden Tower 2, but it’s at least easy to move without being lifted. This makes it suitable for people with physical limitations.

With a total capacity of 0.75 cubic feet, this product’s growing power can’t compare to the Garden Tower 2’s. However, it has nine small upper containers for herbs and two large lower containers. I managed to grow cabbage-sized veggies in the latter while I kept some fresh herbs on top.

Garden Tower 2	Watex Metal Mobile Green Wall
Turns on a ball bearing	Turns on wheels
Makes its own compost	Add your own compost
Made of food-grade, weather-resistant plastic	Made of weather-resistant plastic
Conserves moisture	Has integrated watering system
Grows vegetables as big as tomato plants	Best for herbs and leafy green veggies

If you are interested in this tower garden system, visit Amazon .

FAQs

Is Garden Tower worth the money?

Garden Tower is worth the money due to its long life cycle, low operating costs, and low water consumption. It yields enough to pay for itself in up to a year (depending on what you plant). After that, you get to use it for free for many years to come.

How much does it cost to water Garden Tower 2?

It doesn’t cost much to water Garden Tower 2 since its unique design recycles water and does not expose a lot of soil to the sun. Kristi Armes from Garden Tower Project explains there is no exact watering formula – it depends on what plants you’re growing and your hardiness zone.

How many worms do you need for Garden Tower 2?

You need at least a cup (about two ounces) of worms for Garden Tower 2. According to the manufacturer, you should add worms one week after adding a couple of inches of your kitchen scraps into the “compost tube.”

What can I grow in Garden Tower 2?

There is a number of edible and non-edible plants you can grow in Garden Tower 2. According to experts from The International Living Future Institute, nearly all varieties of garden veggies, herbs, and flowers can be grown in Garden Tower 2, including beans, tomatoes, leafy greens, peppers, and more.

What are the negative effects of vertical garden?

There are almost no negative effects of vertical garden. According to Will Calcote from the University of Arkansas System Division of Agriculture, vertical gardens are an affordable and highly-beneficial alternative to conventional gardens, as long as you secure adequate watering and a water-soluble fertilizer for your plants.

I Hope You Enjoyed My Garden Tower 2 Review!

I hope you found what you were looking for in my review of the Garden Tower 2 from the Garden Tower Project and my comparison of similar products. I still use it to this day to grow some of my favorite herbs, as it takes up minimal space.

Any tower garden system makes efficient use of a small space, but this one from Garden Tower Project is by far the best at growing organic food. Not only can it grow 50 plants in 4 square feet — it has a composting core, you can turn it with one hand, and its plastic is food-grade.

Interested in the Garden Tower 2?Click here to learn more about it and the products that come in GTP’s Starter Bundle.

This post contains affiliate links and I will get a small commission if you buy through my affiliate link.

Last update on 2023-09-23 at 08:25 / Affiliate links / Images from Amazon Product Advertising API