Vertical Broccoli Tower

Since I have dedicated nearly my entire garden to salsa ingredients this year, I needed to come up with a manner to grow some broccoli and cauliflower. This was my remedy.

The buckets were purchased at the dollar store and painted hunter green. In hind-sight, I would have sealed them because the paint is starting to chip already.

We then drilled drainage holes in the bottom of the buckets.

The post was just lying around in the garage, and we purchased the brackets at Menards. They were FREE with the mail in rebates!

The shelves were made from an inexpensive piece of plywood that was  painted with exterior grade paint.

I had the little bird house on my back porch and it seemed to be an appropriate little ornament on the top.

There you have it, my vertical broccoli tower!

I’m going to plant more around the base, and mid-summer I will start more plants for another late fall harvest.

Next time I will start the seeds directly in the buckets rather than in seed trays because they did suffer a small amount of transplant shock.

Here is a great recipe using fresh organic broccoli:

Broccoli salad

1 head organic broccoli

1 cups mayonnaise

1 diced red onion

10 organic cherry tomatoes (halved)

3 tablespoons white wine vinegar

1 tablespoon sugar

1 pound crumbled bacon (optional)

Just mix, chill, and enjoy!

Here are a couple of tips for growing broccoli:

Broccoli seeds sprout best when soil temperatures range between 60 and 70 degrees Fahrenheit.

Cut the stems at an angle to keep water from pooling inside the cut stem and causing rot.
Use organic fertilizer every 3-4 weeks with during the growing season to give your plants an extra boost of energy.

Load the plants up with ladybugs to fight off the nasty flea Beetles, Root Maggots, and Aphids.

Happy Spring everyone!