Students in Culinary 2 recently set up a tower garden, which is a hydroponic system that uses water to grow fruits and vegetables instead of soil. They will be growing and caring for a variety of plants using this system.

According to culinary teacher Rochelle Briggs, the purpose of the garden is to teach her classes that even though land is being reduced, they can still yield a crop in less conventional ways. In a tower garden, one can grow anything from herbs, fruits, vegetables, and flowers, but not root vegetables such as potatoes, carrots, and turnips.

“I personally did not make the tower garden,” Briggs said. “The school purchased it from a company called Juice Plus. In the kit you receive you get the tower, seeds, a growing medium and fertilizer.”

Briggs said she has never cultivated a tower garden before but is interested in owning one for her home. She first heard of tower gardens while at a convention for family and consumer science teachers. According to Briggs, she decided to make one in her classroom when she heard of another teacher doing the same.

“We planted the seeds in the growing medium and kept them on a warmer and with an ultraviolet light for a week in order for the seeds to sprout,” Briggs said. “Once they were big enough, they were transplanted to the tower to finish growing there until they yield a crop. The tower is on an automatic timer to water the plants every 15 minutes and the UV lights are on a 12-hour timer to provide continuous daytime sunlight. My students are in charge of making sure the PH of the water is correct in order for the plants to grow properly.”