I grew up in beautiful British Columbia’s fertile Okanagan Valley. My mother made delicious meals for us from the vegetables and fruit she grew in her own garden. Produce was picked daily and made into healthy meals. Mom also canned, froze and dried her bounty for use in winter time.
As a young adult, I moved to the city and started cooking my own dinners. I soon learned that produce from the supermarket was often expensive, unripe or past freshness. I missed the wonderful fresh fruit, herbs and vegetables from home. I realized that most of the produce in supermarkets comes from great distances away thus impacting both its freshness and cost, never mind the carbon footprint it makes in its effort to get to my table. I always tried to have a garden like my mother’s, but could never find enough room or light on my balcony, or when I moved to the Rocky Mountains, my growing season was severely limited.
When I found out we were expecting our first child I knew I wanted her to eat the same fresh healthy vegetables I grew up with. I began to think that I had to come up with a way to grow plants differently. Vertical was the way to go. It saved valuable balcony space and indoors, with a grow light, it could be confined to the corner of a room or basement space. I began to research existing vertical designs but was not content with anything I found. They were often too expensive or not space efficient. Gradually it came to me–to make individual chambers that can house the plants and be supported one on top of the other. These chains of chambers could be hung in rows and columns. With this design, any wall can be a growing space. A simple hydroponics system feeds the roots inside the chambers as it cascades from the top. All the water is collected in a reservoir at the bottom then recycled by a small pump back to the top. This system conserves water as it only has to be topped up occasionally due to water loss through evaporation.
In winter, this system can be brought indoors. A larger system can be configured into a circular or rectangular configuration with a grow light in the centre to provide the required light.
Our friends and family were so impressed this Christmas when fresh herbs from our ‘garden’ were added to the gravy and the salad was made from our very own lettuce and herbs. This design, which I’m calling VERTICAL URBAN GARDEN, has enbled our family eat more healthily. We know there are no pesticides in the food we grow. We are happy that we are contributing less to the mountains of plastic that so many of our fruits and vegetables are packaged in, and that our self sustaining garden reduces our carbon footprint. I am very happy with my vertical garden and I hope you will be too!
This innovated design can triple plant production in the same area as conventional growing techniques, saving valuable space with half the energy bill.
Quality – Built for the novice and experienced indoor/outdoor grower alike, Cyberponics’ Vertical Urban Garden hydroponic kits are built out of the finest quality of recycled materials to give you a lifetime of high yields.
