Garden Towers!

So, one of the things I discovered online (and I can't remember from where, I think someone posted a link to it on FB or something) was the Garden Tower Project.   I was living in a townhouse-apartment and I had a decently sized patio, and had a lot of container plants going (actually using 30 gallon drums I had recycled from work).   But when I saw this project I pretty much fell in love.

In the middle of the container, there's a composting tube, so I can put my kitchen scraps and compost them using red worms.  And on top of creating delicious compost for the garden, they also crawl in the soil surrounding the tube, which disperses even more  nutrients to the plants.  And I believe it works, because I've tried conventional container growing against the garden tower plants and there is a sizeable difference.

And it's so much more efficient and fun!  And I don't have to "waste" my kitchen scraps!

On the list o "unintended consequences" - I eat a lot of tomatoes and squash, so I had a lot of volunteer plants from the compost that I used from the central tube.
Even with the insane winter we had, the worms made it through the winter A-OK.

I got my first garden tower (what I call the 1.0) in November of 2011, and then I kickstarted their newer version (it's 2" shorter, which significantly reduces the postage), which is the v1.5 (or Junior)

Last summer I had crap tonnes of squash, but for some reason they didn't grow as well this year, but this year I have crap tons of tomatoes, which I only had a few of last year.  And O.m.g. I love my zinnias!  whoohoo!

Here is my Tower 1.0

First "official" Garden Tower harvest for the year.

Anyone that knows me know that I love my Garden Tower (not to be confused with the Tower Garden).
I love it so much that I have two.   And maybe a $50 credit. 
And a whole FB album for it.

Anyway, it's ultra fun, and last year I managed to produce squash out the wazoo, and maybe a few cherry tomatoes. 
This year everything that didn't grow last year is going crazy, and the stuff that grew last year isn't, really.  It's so weird.

Here it is!  My ginormous, very tender zucc, a bunch of bell peppers, a whole lot of tomatillos, and then a few other peppers.
Not pictures?  The tons of cut flowers, overzealous herbs (mint, verbena, chives, tarragon, basil, thyme) and ripening cherry tomatoes that will take over my world.

 
I do have a lot of love for the various zinnias that are growing like crazy.  I think that due to the super-nutrient rich soil, they don't grow as tall.  they flower within a couple of feet, usually less.  Here's one name-less zinnia (I have a multipack, so I don't know what varieties I've got):

And my beautiful Ms. Mars sunflower (one of many):