Do These FIVE Things For Vertical Gardening Success! 

I would highly recommend buying the spinner base for the Greenstalk. Makes life very easy.

Tips: it has to be 100% level to work. Buy the lids to keep dirt out of the drainage/watering system. Use good soil. I use garden straw as a mulch to keep them from drying out. I use liquid fertilizer regularly. Best results are with flowers, bush green beans, strawberries, bok choy, kale and lettuce, dwarf tomatoes and herbs. I have grown cucumbers using the support system. The spinner base is awesome.

I have 3 GreenStalks: 1 of strawberries, 1 of greens, and 1 of herbs. Don't be afraid to mulch them a bit in each pocket at least until the plants fill out. Over-wintering the strawberries is so easy. I took the tiers apart and lined them up next to my house and covered them with leaves. They LOVED that. I'm really excited about everything growing this year.

You forgot to show the water discs in between the tiers.

Also, line up the holes in the reservoirs for each level with the plants. Love my Green Stalks, too. Thank you for all your great information.

This will be my first year of gardening in a Green Stalk vertical planter. I’m in my 70s with increasing arthritis, so I’m hopeful this will extend my ability to continue the gardening which gives me so much joy and meaning to life. Thank you Luke for all your good tips…especially about the tendency to over fertilize!

I love so much how enthusiastic and positive you are! Thank you for planting this idea in my mind today! 🙏💜🙏

I just love my Green Stalks. Love that everything stays clean and is easily accessible 😊

“My aversion to risk is low! “ ~Luke 🤣🤣😍

Close Those holes in the center when you fill to keep It clear!

Great video, like always. Personally, I don't feel like you're pushing anything but helping make us aware of other options out there. It's then up to the individual gardener to decide if the product is a good fit for their garden.

Luke, thank you! That was more in-depth than other Greenstalk videos I've seen! 😊

Love GreenStalks! I have 3 with strawberries and 1 with herbs on the patio for easy access while cooking.

Aren’t you missing the gray water pan for each level? Love my Greenstalk’s. I had planned to put in more raised bed. Had back surgery. Won’t be 100% until Aug. I had gotten additional Greenstalk’s over the winter. Those are going where the raised beds would have been.

Nice info. When did you put in the gray watering disks between the tiers? You snapped the first two together without the gray disk between them. One problem I've read is the soil being too compacted under that gray disk. Showing how to accurately space, or fill, for that would be nice to see. 😁 I'll be putting together my Leaf stalk soon.

Your motto reminded me to order seeds. Thank you for the shop and the years of entertainment and knowledge.

Another important thing is, make sure your GreenStalk is 'balanced"/even. It makes sure that it's less tippy and the water flows evenly thru the GreenStalk

❤ Love the base spinner. I have two Greenstalk and three cheaper ones. The Greenstalk is far superior. My strawberry plants are amazing.

Regarding getting the tiers to click into place - I recommend not only filling the tiers before stacking but also watering thoroughly. I realize not everyone can do this due to physical ability but if you can, the weight from the wet soil will help it click into place much easier. The first greenstalk I ever assembled had dry potting mix and I was so frustrated trying to put it together. Someone in one of my fb gardening groups said to wet down the soil and it worked perfectly!

Thanks for the video. We just started using ProMix this year. The wife will find this video very helpful and informative.

I love my Greenstalk’s. I have one with different kinds of salad greens and the other one with strawberries. Mine have survived high winds 60 and higher with no problems. Making sure it is level is key to ensuring stability.

I'm glad you did this video. I had just looked at these vertical planters and was interested in how they work. Great timing! ❤

I have 3 green stalks and just purchased 4 more. My L5 is herniated and this makes gardening possible for me. You can grwo squash or cucumbers in them, the vines just overwhelm the part of the circle they are in. One tomatoe plant literally grew the entire diameter around the greenstalk and was still producing. I don't remember whether it was a determinant. Its growth vertically was a couple feet but horizontally it never qui. I have the ultimate spinner base for the 3 on my patio, but I plan to put the new ones out in the yard spaced so turning is not necessary. The spinners work great.

I have a big deer problem so I use the GS on my deck. Nothing like fresh herbs & salad greens. Cherry tomatoes also did well in mine.. For grins & giggles I took a single 6 pocket layer, didn't stack it, and grew cabbage in every other pocket. By having room for the leaves to spread out I got some large heads of cabbage. I have fun planting different things in my GS just to see what I can get away with. 😉😆

We've planted all sorts of things in our greenstalks, we've had good luck last year with micro dwarf, mini dwarf and basket tomatoes.

Absolutely love my Greenstalk towers! Best solution for my tiny yard and really grow a lot of food!

A couple other things about Green Stalk is the plastic is resistant to becoming brittle in the sun and won't fade. Not sure if they are made from recycled material or not. Also family-owned made in the U.S.A.

Bush beans did AMAZING in my greenstalks last year, better than in my raised bed. I have the 7 tier leaf planters (shallower pockets). I will plant mine up differently this year. I planted both in a mix of things, mainly Strawberries, leafy greens, and bush beans and a few experiments. I will do one in strawberries and one in beans, or maybe beans in bottom 5 and one or two layers of greens. Mixed planting caused shading problems. I think single use will help me harvest too. Editing to add that the spinner bases are WORTH the investment. I broke down and ordered a few months after setting up my Greenstalks. They do a sale (best one I saw was in June) that includes them watch for it and jump on it! I bought 3 because I use the greenstalks in my small greenhouse in winter and have to separate them into 3 stacks instead of 2 for height.

I love my GreenStalks! I will always use the ultimate spinner with wheels. I learned a lot from your videos! Thank you! I have a mixture of strawberry plants, petunias and marigolds in mine. I cracked laughing when you said "not terribly heavy, even when wet"! May be true for those of you that are young and fit! But for me... well once wet , I can't budge them if stacked! Thus, I love the spinner on wheels! This is my second year using the GS.

I also recommend buying the spinner base. You are going to wear that bottom out on the concrete.

I purchased a green stalk earlier this Spring. I grow all my herbs and one cucumber plant and one zucchini plant I started from seed. So far I harvested two zucchini and the cucumber is growing nicely; no cucumbers yet. Now I need to purchase the spinner base next. Thank you for your helpful tips.

How about on a 2nd floor apartment balcony? Seems like it would save a lot of space compared to my 4 foot planter box!

Good morning Luke I have two GreenStalks and I’m gonna do my third one this summer. I love them because I can no longer get down on my knees in the garden and these allow me to garden standing up. I gave my niece a Green stock for her birthday and watched this video so that I could forward it to her to watch and see how she can put her Greenock together however, I was really disappointed that you didn’t show the watering trays. You just put it together without the watering trays - aren’t you using the trays? How does it work without the watering system?

Just ordered my 4th green stalk. Love those things!

I love my green stalk. I’m growing lettuce, chard, spinach, radishes, herbs, bush beans and flowers this year. I tried snow peas and sugar snap peas last year, not a good idea. 😊

Greenstalk had a great pre-mothers-day sale I got mine from and I think it is an annual event. Get the lid to keep the watering working well all season and get a base to be able to move it safely as it is heavy when wet imo. Also I can pull it to a sheltered place for bad summer storms my garden has suffered from.

Thank you Luke for mentioning that it’s best to grow all the same type of plants in each tower. GreenStalk shows and advertises you can grow several plants from peppers to tomatoes to broccoli and flowers all in the same tower, which you can but it’s extremely frustrating to manage all those varieties in one tower!! Blocks your view, different watering requirements, etc for a new gardener. I speak from experience. The hat is as an EXCELLENT típ you gave again. Thank you!!

I love these. They worked out great for me last year. If you buy the base with the wheels, you can lock them so it doesn’t roll if it’s windy and you can also rotate them. The bases come with a clear drainage tube so that you can direct access water in any direction you want. I bought a lid for the top watering reservoir because I have a lot of Pineneedles that fall and I did not want them clogging it up. If you have liquid fertilizer, you can add it to the top watering reservoir and water like usual. I do not recommend Bush beans, peppers, or anything large, even though they really do very well in these planters, they shade out other plants. No matter where you put them. also, I didn’t see the gray drip down trays that every level has in your video so if that’s a different model, I recommend the one with the trays because I have no watering problems and I see some people commenting that the drip down watering system doesn’t work great. But they could also drill a few extra holes if it really isn’t working for them, I suppose.

I just got mine and plant to fill it with strawberries. I am excited now that I watched your video.

I grew your bare root strawberries in these greenstalk planters last year, and they were so proflific that I had to transplant plants to a native soil spot in my yard this year. I am looking forward to planting various leafy greens and bush beans in them this year.

Good idea Luke thank you😁! I'll eventually move strawberries to a Greenstalk once I buy one, or two I didn't think I needed them until now. In 2020 I built 6 raised beds identical to yours by watching you build them in a video {again, Thank you! }, I've given up 1 bed entirely to strawberry's. I often wish I had that strawberry bed space back to use for other crops because strawberries I planted are June bearing. A Greenstalk or two will solve this issue!

May suggest throwing in some worms ? Soil looks so rich and retains moisture far better than before I started adding worms.

A other amazing video !! Thanks Luke !! God bless !

This was perfect instruction for me as we get ready to plant our gardens. We have one Greenstalk (lots of elevated beds too) and I never knew how to make it work best - now I know! This video will really help to manage the how, what and where I plant much better. I think having one for just flowers is a good way to go, too, if you like fresh cut flowers all summer!

Got 2 green stalks, first time planting them up

I have professional towers from a farm auction. Love the idea of a reservoir on top. Mine were originally set up with an automated piped irrigation system with emitters for top tier.

My greenstalk fell over last week, heartbreaking and very alarming to say the least 💔 luckily it was a fixable problem. My bottom tier had expanded from last year. I didn’t know until after I planted it up for this season. Fell over the following day. Decapitated my beautiful pepper plants. And killed a few flowers. Greenstalk was amazing they replaced the faulty tier. Now I just have to transfer the seedlings that survived.

Love the Green Stalks. I have a breezeway I would like to try with one, two, maybe three?

I love my greenstalks, I get a ton of my greens from them. Romaine and leaf lettuce currently, next Swiss chard.

I just finished planting my strawberries and herbs in my Greenstalk, I'm excited. The one thing I don't see on yours though, is the grey water dishes between each layer? Do you not use them for a reason? I just found your channel (my son referred me to you) and, I am loving all your content, I am also a new sub, TY TY for your time! Awesome videos!

Perfect timing Luke. I’m doing mine soon.

How about doing a video on vertical hydroponic garden? i.e. without soil. Thanks.

I’m gonna buy one from ur website this weekend after pay day I like this idea. Never tried it b4

Nice tips! Loving my Greenstalks so far.

Perfect timing! I got one of these for my birthday this year that I need to put together this weekend.

I love the vertical planters. I have one but i like yours better. Going to order one. Very informative and great tips!

LUKE, THAMK YOU FOR THE INFORMATION NOW I FEEL I CAN SET UP MY GREENSTALK AND PLANT IT OUT.

Another vertical growing idea for the DIY enthusiast are getting large 8ft PVC tubes, the ones that are at least 8 inches diameter, then heating up each section (with a hairdryer, I saw some use) to make it pliable, and inserting a cup to 'mold' the temporarily-loose PVC into a little pot basin shape. Repeat this spiraling from one end to the other, then you can insert a small water pump inside at the base, attach a 1/2 PVC pipe, outfitted with those cheap plastic spray emitters all along, and a cap on the end. It would take a bit more work to make each cell capable of holding soil, but the general idea is really cool I thought. There's videos out there detailing the process

So Cool because I just received mine today and in the same color, so excited to start growing

I have 4 GreenStalks and want more! Love them 🥰

Thank you for your videos I learned a lot from you, but can I ask you if you please make a video about the cilantro seeds on MIgardener shop , there are many different varieties and I want to know the difference between them like ( leisure cilantro)

ive got beans planted in mine and also lettuce and onions and garlic.

Isn't there a water tray for each layer that sits on the center column before you add the next tier?

Green stalk is one of the things I plan to purchase once I’m more settled in the future!

Thank you, Luke. This info will make using this planter so much easier. I appreciate your not being pushy with products, but like here, you give us info that helps us succeed and avoid disasters. ❤

I have one but really haven't done anything with it. But I have in ground garden too, thanks for showing how to set it up

Thanks for the tips. I bought a couple of green stalk planters, but I admit...don't know what I am doing. So I didn't really fertilize , and definitely not regularly. Secondly, I didn't think about planting the heavier water drinkers near the bottom. All good tips, so I hope I will have a better crop output this year👍👍

Watering discs need to be between the layers.

Greenstalk has become very popular. IÇM in the process of setting up mine. Looking forward to watching it all grow. Lots of veg to harvest! Thanks for the vid.🎉

Greenstalks no 3 & 4 are arriving today🎉🎉🎉

LOL. I JUST realized how tall Luke is. I can barely see the top of my 5 tier GreenStalks LOL! hahahaah..

Thanks for this, its perfect timing! I literally wanted to make one of these this weekend!

Luke, love you BUT people always need that ultimate spinner base to move it. Also you didn’t show how to put in the grey watering discs (people always question how they attach) and wish you had the base to show how to put it together (especially alternating wheel locations on the base and hose). When filling I start on the base because I’m not strong enough to lift a filled tier, plus put a cup over the hole in the middle so dirt doesn’t get down to the watering disc while filling). 😊

I was the opposite. I bought cheaper tools and containers to start this year so I could buy higher quality seeds, soils, amendments, etc.

Those are a great way to incorporate some flowers for pollinators when you forget to plan on saving space for them in the garden

I love this idea. Thanks!

Great Video, I have the exact same vertical planter and it’s great!🎉

I have 5 greenstalks (so far) and I just love them! My newest will be a strawberry, vertical garden. Cucumbers (I plant pickling cucumbers) work great in them! I do use their plant supports. And yes - Bush beans are fabulous in them! I've even done carrots! I've also gifted Greenstalks to my daughters-in-law. They love them, too ♡

I plant mine with bush beans. Works great!

Hi Luke, thanks so much for your help, I love your videos. I’m in my second year of GreenStalk strawberries, but the soil is compacted in the pockets. What should I do, add more soil or let them be?

Wow, amazing clip! Thanks.

I love greenstalk

Did Greenstalk do away with the gray disc that goes in between layers?

Thank you for sharing non sponsored products. In my experience: it's easier to find local purchase points for the products as opposed to only your site, the sponsors, and whomever else they've sponsored; the products are more likely to work - how many times have I bought something an influencer said was great, but had horrible functionality? I think half the things I own. They're just saying it's great cuz they're sponsored, course they won't give it the 1 star it deserves. Or, maybe it is great. But that risk of sponsored motivation isn't present with these products you're sharing. For the majority of the growing season, my garden only gets about 4hrs of direct sunlight. So my in-ground gardening is extremely limited! Nevertheless, I adore your channel and learn from it constantly. Then a surprise like this pops up from you, and I could smooch you, I'm so happy! A possible solution! Other stacked planters I've seen hardly have any pockets, they're not worth the cost of the extra growing space. They're also very poorly made and fall over easily, even with rocks as a drainage layer. But this Greenstalk? And a good soil choice that I believe I've seen here in my town? Heck yes, Luke, share the non sponsored products!! 😁❤

Tip: Don't forget your watering discs between levels or you'll end up having to take the whole thing apart again and if you prefer to plant it stacked that may mess up your day.

Too tall for my height so I removed top tier on both of my greenstalks, ordered 2 extra tiers and created a 3rd tower. That helped with the weight so they move better (even with the spinner base) and no longer feels like they'll topple over. They also fit under window so I can push up against house and still able to open windows. The wheels dont roll smoothly, they resist even in unlocked position so I have to wrap my arms around it to move without tipping. Tubing gets in way and if I want to position greenstalk so the tubing isnt protruding out where someone can trip or step on it the spinner fights me, too difficult to move. I'm using Foxfarm potting soil but weight is still too much with all tiers on, much better to remove a tier. Buy the cover, keeps debris out of the reservoir. Plug center hole with kleenix when filling, then remove when ready to stack. Keep holes free of dirt! Including grey basins between layers. Dont let any dirt get in those trays!!

I typically grow strawberries in my Greenstalk and it is great for that. The first year I used regular raised bed mix and that was a mistake as it compacted and held too much water. I switched to Fox Farms Strawberry Fields potting soil and it made a huge difference. I also highly recommend the spinner base for averaging out the light for the plants. I rotate my Greenstalk 1/4 turn each day and that seems to work quite well.

Love this. I just got married and my husband’s place has a smaller yard so I’m doing a greenstalk this year. Thank you for some very helpful tips. Got to go get some fertilizer. Keep up the great work with all you do!

Hi Luke, That is a beautiful vertical planter!. Promix is awesome. Excellent demo. Thank you!.

Wow, tried this planter-a bust-if I knew what you just said it would have had a better chance to be a success. Thank you so much for all of your tips. I learn more from your channel than anyplace else.

I planted my Greenstalks with MIGardener strawberries this past week and they look pretty good with some green leaves! We are to have nightime low temperatures of 30 degrees F tonight, so I have my sheets ready to cover them so they don't freeze overnight. Hope that works!

Question how will the strawberries winter over in the greenstalk. My husband suggested to plant strawberries in containers but I am a little concerned about our winters. We live in PA zone 6 b I think. We were thinking of using containers that attached to the railing to the garden. Thanks Diane Hartley

If you plant perennials like strawberries can you leave them in container through the winter for spring or do you need to transplant into ground?

I love my green stalks

I follow your guide for container potatoes and only add trifecta at the base layer and they do great!

Great tips!

I have 2 green stalks, one with the spinner base and one on wheels. I keep them on my back covered deck, where they get full son from about noon until 6 pm or so. The one on the spinner base sits closer to the house. The one on the wheeled base, when we have storms come through, I move closer to the house too, because my deck is above the walkout basement, so it's on the 2nd floor. We can easily get wind at 30-40 mph. I've never had one blow over, but when it starts to get really windy, I move the one closer to the house. The wheels make it A LOT easier to move location than the spinner base (no wheels).

You forgot to put the tray between the tiers. The holes in the tray should also be centered on one of the six pockets. The other reason to fill the containers is that the tray has to sit on the soil and it won't wick as well if the tray ends up with air under it. I have two Greenstalks. One original and one hybrid. It is really good for lettuce, baby bok, herbs, bush beans, strawberries and as you said small compact plants. It was a little tight for chard, Komatsuna, kale and and the larger brassicas especially if you don't harvest them young. The leaf tiers are good for shallow plants and the deeper tiers were better for roots like beets, radish, carrots, and peppers. When first planting the Greenstalk it is best if the media is slightly moist. After planting the whole Greenstalk with seeds or plants, I usually water not just the reservoir but the individual pockets as well. I have birds and beetles that will eat the strawberries and also the pepper and bean seeds, so the 5 tier Greenstalk can fit in a tree insect bag. The 6 tier won't reach all the way to the bottom but will reach to the top of the pockets in the bottom tier and I have pinned the bag to the pocket. There are also accessories for stakes. It is good for holding netting of larger bags, but bamboo stakes work just as well for staking things like peppers. The hybrid came with a mover, but mine did topple multiple times because it was on weed block on dirt. When it rained, the wheels sunk and the tower toppled over. I had to put a 13 inch paver under the Greenstalk and level it The mover doesn't work on a paver, so I got two spinners instead. One for each tower. The spinner could be put on top of the mover if necessary. The soil level does sink over time and I have had to add more because the tray ended up partially in the air. I am reusing the soil in my Greenstalk. I hope I did not put too much fertilizer in it. I put in worm castings, dolomite lime, kmag, and 6-4-6 with micros. I just planted it on 4/22 with green onions, peppers, lettuce, and bush beans.

Thanks for posting! My green stalk just arrived today! I’m going to try cherry tomatoes, parsley and purple basil. I think after watching the assembly tips, things should go smoother! lol.

Thank you Luke! This was a great video as I am setting up my second GreenStalk which is a six tier. My first one was only a four tier. I'm going to get the potting mix you suggested also and save myself some time.