You have a number of questions to consider when planning your Tower Garden. Among these is, "What plants will you grow?" To help answer that question, here’s a list of 28 fruits, vegetables and herbs to grow for the ultimate chef’s garden.
Why 28? Because that’s how many plants you can grow with the Tower Garden extension kit. (If you don’t have the extension kit, don’t worry. Just pick your favorite 20 plants from the list!)
Grow these plants for a steady supply of cooking ingredients:

1. Basil – easy-to-grow herb, common choice for pesto base
2. Beans – wonderful whether raw or cooked in stir-fries or soups
3. Broccoli ­– a personal favorite, steamed or stir-fried
4. Cabbage – often steamed, primary ingredient in slaw
5. Chard – delicious, versatile green and top superfood
6. Chives – deliver a delicate hint of onion, suitable for omelets and soups
7. Cilantro (Coriander) – both an herb and a spice, cornerstone in Mexican and Asian dishes
8. Collards – southern staple, packed with nutrients
9. Cucumbers – essential in chilled cucumber soup, refreshing salad ingredient
10. Cumin – core ingredient in curries
11. Dill – adds a light, buttery taste to foods like grilled fish and fried eggs
12. Eggplant – popular meat substitute, commonly found in all types of cuisine
13. Hot peppers – easiest way to spice up any dish, range in heat levels
14. Kale ­– arguably more of a movement than a green, great in salads and stews
15. Leeks – member of the onion family, often added to soups
16. Lettuces – add an unmistakable crunch to sandwiches, salads, tacos and spring rolls
17. Mustard greens – spicy and quite tasty when stir-fried
18. Oregano – called for in virtually all Italian dishes
19. Parsley – more than a garnish, complements stews and potato dishes
20. Peas – delightful alone or in potato salad, stir-fries, curries and more
21. Rosemary – reach for this herb when roasting potatoes or grilling chicken
22. Sage – associated with the holidays, but useful year-round
23. Savory – lesser known herb, brings bean dishes to life
24. Spinach – commonly eaten in salads and stir-fries
25. Squash – appetizing uses include steamed yellow squash and zucchini bread
26. Sweet peppers – enjoyable stir-fried or stuffed, fun way to add color to dishes
27. Thyme – amazingly aromatic herb, pairs well with most everything
28. Tomatoes – most popular crop grown in America, with endless culinary applications 

There are many more plants I could add. What would your list look like? Leave a comment to let me know!

We've all seen the headlines. E coli, listeria, and other contaminants in romaine or other greens.  Well I am here to say Yay!  Since we started growing  with aeroponics we have not had to even think about recalls! You can control your food safety by growing it yourself!

When we moved to Bend in 1987, I was like so many newcomers who DID NOT UNDERSTAND the short growing season we have in most of the High Desert. It took years for me to get it through my stubborn head!
I had grown near the Oregon Coast with its mild climate where we could start our veggie garden in March and keep harvesting into October.
At least I knew enough not to start a garden that early in Central Oregon because most years our snowpack and freezing weather can still be in high gear through April. It's May that is the downfall of new gardeners here. In May the days get warmer and the nurseries have all of these plants that get gardeners all excited. For years that was me.
The nurseries love people like me. They are going to love the thousands of new residents of Central Oregon who have migrated here from longer growing seasons in the last two years as well.
I would buy a bunch of baby tomato plants and stick them in the ground on a warm day only to have a hard freeze happen a few days later. I would go back and buy more tomato starts. Some years I went back to the nursery three times before the end of the freezes for the summer.
September was always the killer month. Like clockwork, I would have a huge crop of big green tomatoes in early September. Like clockwork, a hard freeze would happen around the second week of September, annihilating my tomatoes. And like clockwork, the weather would warm up again well into October before the next hard freeze. Year after year until I gave up altogether.
I realize that I could have resorted to herculean means to try to save my tomatoes, but with my husband gone most of the time commercial fishing in Alaska, raising two young boys, and running a homebased business, I was mostly a flake when it came to diligently watching the weather report.
Years went by and our wellness business took off enough for Jerry to stop fishing and be home full time with me and the boys.
Imagine our excitement in 2011 when our parent company asked if we wanted to "test market" a vertical growing system that used no soil, had a 30 inch footprint, used hardly any water, and could be put on wheels so you could roll it into the garage on nights that were going to freeze! This instantly added at least two or three months to the growing season! AND NO WEEDING!!!! I finally had my first fully ripe tomatoes that year!
The next year, Jerry built our greenhouse using windows and a glass door that we had salvaged when we did an addition onto our house. We had been planning to donate to Habitat for Humanity, but had never gotten around to it. This was a game changer for certain crops. Now I was growing peppers, eggplant, cantaloupe, various squash, cucumbers and other frost sensitive crops. I could start my own seedlings and get them into the greenhouse by end of March, and the everbearing crops like tomatoes, peppers, strawberries would continue producing through November!
A few years in, the company added LED growlights and now we're talking year around gardening! Greens, kale, herbs are always in season now. Getting a two to three month head start with tomatoes, peppers, etc. by starting them under the LED lights and moving the towers to the greenhouse in March.
Each year we now have a few towers in the greenhouse and come June will have a couple on our deck to grow outside. If it freezes we can roll them into the kitchen for the night or use the weather blanket provided by the company.
This year I am planting extra tomatoes and peppers and squash so I can sell them at the Farmer's Market!

Here are just a few reasons we think you’ll love growing Tower Garden in your classroom.
1. You’ll grow more in less time and with fewer resources.Tower Garden uses aeroponic technology, which—compared to soil gardening—has been shown to increase yields by as much as 30% and triple the speed of plant growth, while using only 10% of the water and space.
2. You can grow inside the classroom.LED indoor grow lights allow you to garden indoors all school year long, which means bodies (and minds) don't have to leave your learning environment to grow. Tower Garden Home includes the grow lights. You can also add LED indoor grow lights to your Tower Garden FLEX Growing System.
3. You’ll have less mess.Compared to traditional gardening, there’s less hassle and cleanup with Tower Garden, because it doesn’t use soil.
4. You can move it wherever learning is happening.With the dolly, you can wheel Tower Garden from the classroom to the cafeteria to the playground—and pretty much anywhere else your students are!
5. You’ll get growing support.Lesson plans, growing guides, FAQs and more—the Tower Garden website is packed with useful information. Plus, Customer Service is just a click or call away, happy to help troubleshoot any problem you might have.
6. You’ll get free access to lesson plans.With 30 CCSS- and NGSS-aligned lesson plans and learning materials for Pre-K through 7th grade, incorporating Tower Garden into your curriculum will be easy.
Would you like to better engage your class, increase attendance, or improve student performance? Tower Garden can help you educate, excite, and inspire in your classroom.

Contact Deb to learn how to get started!