# Invictus Urban Farms

> Invictus Urban Farms designs vertical growing systems for balconies, patios, and small courtyards. The first product is the Vertical Grow System, a four-tier planting frame for people without a yard.

## Product

- [The Vertical Grow System](https://invictusurbanfarms.com/#product): A four-tier planting frame that fits a 3-by-3-foot patch of balcony, patio, or courtyard. Powder-coated steel frame, food-safe drain-linked trays. Leafy greens on the top tier, herbs and strawberries on the middle tiers, root vegetables on the bottom tier.

## Guides

- [Square-foot planting chart](https://invictusurbanfarms.com/guides/square-foot-planting-chart/): The square-foot gardening spacing rule (1 extra-large, 4 large, 9 medium, or 16 small plants per square foot) applied to the frame's nine-square, four-tier footprint.
- [Herbs per square foot](https://invictusurbanfarms.com/guides/herbs-per-square-foot/): Basil, parsley, cilantro, oregano and mint at 4 plants per square foot, garlic 9, green onions 16, chives as a single clump (Penn State fits about 6 chive plants, or 10-12 tightly grouped, in a 1-by-4-foot row). Conversion rule for herbs not listed: 12-inch packet spacing gives 1 per square foot, 6-inch gives 4, 4-inch gives 9, 2-inch gives 16. Annual/biennial/perennial split, mint containment, and why herbs get little or no fertilizer.
- [Lettuce and greens per square foot](https://invictusurbanfarms.com/guides/lettuce-greens-per-square-foot/): Leaf lettuce, European greens, Swiss chard and bok choy at 4 plants per square foot, spinach 9, kale and collards 1 (UW-Extension square foot gardening notes). Heading lettuce (butterhead, crisphead) at 1, from Clemson's 12-inch spacing; leaf lettuce 6-10 inches apart. Baby greens cut young are sown closer than the count; interplant leaf lettuce in the corners of a large plant's square.
- [Balcony weight limits](https://invictusurbanfarms.com/guides/balcony-weight-limits/): US residential balcony live-load ranges (typically 40-60 psf), why wet soil adds significant weight, and where to place planters on a balcony.
- [Watering schedule](https://invictusurbanfarms.com/guides/watering-schedule/): How water drains from tier to tier in the frame, watering frequency by season, and signs of over- or under-watering.
- [Container size chart](https://invictusurbanfarms.com/guides/container-size-chart/): Minimum container depth (6 in for radishes and lettuce up to 16 in for potatoes), recommended volume, and plants per pot for 20 common vegetables and herbs.
- [Container soil weight](https://invictusurbanfarms.com/guides/container-soil-weight/): Dry vs. saturated weight of potting mix (10-15 vs. 40-60 lb/cu ft), garden soil, and gravel, with worked examples (a 20-gal pot of wet potting mix runs roughly 110-160 lb).
- [Sunlight requirements chart](https://invictusurbanfarms.com/guides/sunlight-requirements-chart/): Full sun (6+ h), part sun (4-6 h), part shade (2-4 h), and full shade (<2 h) definitions, light needs crop by crop, and which crops produce on a north-facing balcony.
- [Days to maturity chart](https://invictusurbanfarms.com/guides/days-to-maturity-chart/): Typical seed-to-harvest ranges (radish 22-30 days through pepper 60-90 days from transplant) and succession-sowing intervals per crop.
- [Companion planting chart](https://invictusurbanfarms.com/guides/companion-planting-chart/): Which companion planting mechanisms have research behind them (trap cropping, shade nursing, legume nitrogen fixation, French marigold against root-knot nematodes as a two-month pre-plant stand, the Three Sisters polyculture), which pairing lists extension services call unsupported, and which crops share a container by root depth, water demand, and height.
- [Container fertilizer basics](https://invictusurbanfarms.com/guides/container-fertilizer-basics/): What N-P-K numbers mean, typical container feeding schedule (slow-release at planting plus soluble feed every 1-2 weeks), organic vs. synthetic options, and deficiency/excess signs.

## Key facts

- Footprint: 3 ft × 3 ft (9 one-foot squares). Tiers: 4, sorted by light exposure (full sun, part sun, part shade, cool shade).
- Top tier needs at least six hours of sun a day; lower tiers tolerate partial shade.
- No self-watering reservoir; each tray drains into the tray below through built-in channels.
- Contact: hello@invictusurbanfarms.com

## Optional

- [Photo credits](https://invictusurbanfarms.com/credits/): Source file and licence for every photograph on the site. All of them are U.S. Department of Agriculture work in the public domain; the diagrams are drawn in-house.

- [FAQ](https://invictusurbanfarms.com/#faq): Sun requirements, balcony weight limits, what to grow on each tier.