Our Hydroponic Garden is here!

We just got our hydroponic setup; and we will be growing, among several experiments, tomatoes of different kinds, bell peppers, butternut squash, basil, canteloupe, and whatever else we can!  

For those of you who haven't heard of it, in Hydroponic gardening, you grow your plants without soil. Food for the plants is dissolved in water and directly fed to the plant. Many people are surprised that plants don't require soil to live, but soil can sometimes be a very inefficient growing medium. Plants expend a great deal of energy growing root systems so they can search the soil for the water and nutrients they need to survive. By providing constant and readily available nutrition, hydroponics allows plants to grow up to 50% faster than they do in soil.

Gardening without soil offers many benefits: First, complete control over nutrient balance (Meaning Healthier Plants!... meaning a significant reduction of soil pests and diseases...meaning, no need for pesticides). Second, greater spacing efficiency due to smaller roots. Third, more efficient use of resourses.But my favorite benefits are related to the environment. It is obvious that growing our food locally has less carbon foot-print, but also there are other benefits specific to hydroponic systems.

Here is some info I found on that matter from plantcare.com: 

One of the heralded benefits of hydroponic gardening is how it can alleviate poverty while simultaneously easing strains on the environment. Hydroponic gardening systems can be set up to recycle water and nutrients, greatly reducing the resources necessary to grow food.Recycling hydroponic systems use as little as 10% of the water that traditional agriculture requires, a tremendous benefit in areas entirely dependent on irrigation. Hydroponic gardening virtually eliminates the need for herbicides and pesticides, and hydroponic gardeners need only use about 1/4 the fertilizer that traditional gardeners require.

 

As the amount of arable land continues to decrease (over 10 million hectares per year are lost), another environmental benefit of hydroponic gardening will gain attention: Hydroponic gardens can produce the same yield as soil gardens in about 1/5 the space. And because artificially lit hydroponic gardens are not dependent on growing seasons, they can produce yields several times a year rather than just once. It has even been speculated that in decades to come, hydroponics will become a significant food source for over-populated urban regions, with people growing food on rooftops or in basements. 

We are both really excited on starting this, and we thank Phil's friend, Russ, from Arizona, for sending us the garden system and helping us all the  way!