It is now late August and harvesting is a perpetual; especially tomatoes, lettuce, onions and the odd bell pepper in its green state(before turning color).
So what kind of changes can you expect to see at this time of the year with the vertical garden in the Pacific Northwest? Not a lot. Although the diet is slightly changing and feeding is geared towards fruiting, maintenance has basically been the same.
The key is to look and respond. Mainly, bell peppers can become so heavy that they need support. Often, this can be spotted after heavy wind gusts, morning dew and even lightly rubbing against the plants.
Since the vertical system has conduit in the middle, it works as a great stake, especially for the top pot with 4 plants. Under those, eight foot stakes work fine. The tying material is strips of burlap cloth, although old pants and shirts make good tying material too.
Asides from staking, just more picking which results in more fresh veggie eating and food dehydration.
Since the system is used to produce healthy food, I did conduct a nitrate test with tomatoes and the results show 0 ppm nitrate, which is well under what is considered ‘safe’.
To get an idea of the recent changes, you can view the last vertical gardening post here.
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