Hydroponic Vegetable Garden
I’ve long mentioned my desire to plant a vegetable garden indoors. I’ve grappled with figuring out where and how I would set it up, what sort of mixtures I would use for different plants, how much light I could give them, what types of fertilizer I would need to get, and so forth. The limitations of an indoor apartment vegetable garden combined with the complex needs and desires of such a garden were daunting. I ordered books, I did research, I realized, to my increasing frustration, that the world was patting me on the head and going, “there, there, darling, wouldn’t you like some lovely flowers? Perhaps you won’t kill your next dull potted plant.”
That is, at least, until I remembered that I had done a hydroponic garden as a science experiment in high school (independent study, long story). We’d been given at some point an expensive hydroponic garden, everything included, by someone who’d grown fed up with it and given up. I was able to more than make it work, but in fact make it produce, even without fully understanding nutrients and pH levels, (worse, I didn’t entirely understand the science of which plants needed which nutrients, and as a result, all the plants got too much or too little of what they actually needed).
The benefits of a hydroponic garden are many, but let’s look at how they stack up against the limitations of an indoor container vegetable garden:
| Hydroponic | Conventional | |
|---|---|---|
| Space | Very little; hydroponic plants get all the nutrients they need and therefore don’t need to grow their roots out to find nutrients | Considerable; the space needed to avoid crowding and compensate for root growth is prohibitive |
| Sunlight | To better control and thereby ensure the health and growth of a hydroponic garden, it’s recommended that you use a grow light. In doing so, you can ensure the exact amount of light for the precise amount of time for maximum plant yield | Patchy at best |
| Pests & diseases | With everything indoors and contained, without soil and a controlled water filtration, there’s a complete elimination of most pests and threats to plants such as molds, rots, slugs, bugs, rabbits, or pets. | Indoor potted plants are at higher risk for dehydration or root rot as a result of inadequate watering (guilty as charged). Near window screens, they’re far more likely to attract little bugs and pests. |
| Root Vegetables | With a combination of perlite and gravel (rather than conventional hydroponic balls), root vegetables aren’t only grow-able, but a potato plant can thrive far more easily as a result of easy harvesting permitted by hydroponics. Likewise, a system of “building up” can be used to train the plants to grow taller than the original vessel would otherwise allow. | The sheer depth required by most root vegetables demands a deep planter. Alternately, bags can be used and rolled up to build up the plant. The potential for root rot with bag solutions is far higher, as it is difficult to drain off bags without a great deal of mess. |
| Seasons | Because of the controlled environment of a hydroponic garden, endless rolling seasons can be created. Simply plant and harvest on a rolling schedule, and have fresh produce year-round. | Light becomes a critical issue with an indoor garden. When attempting to start an indoor garden using natural light, one will have challenges even under the best of circumstances. Some sort of artificial light is imperative, but will inevitably be sabotaged by lights during evening hours when the light cycle is supposed to be “off.” The inconvenience of having to go dark when the plants are sleeping is a pain in the ass, if not impossible. |
Suffice it to say, I discovered that old hydroponic system is still around and fully intact, if unused for about ten years. I’ll be setting up our storage closet in the coming weeks, dusting off the system, replacing necessary parts (presumably a new motor for water filtration), perhaps adapting some new functionality, such as an air stone, getting a sturdy and adjustable stand (and probably some new bulbs) for my light, buying a light timer, seeds, new grow media, pH tester and adjusters, liquid nutrients and a big ol’ floor mat to protect our carpeting.
I’m very excited to start growing a vegetable garden at home! It’s not quite as romantic as I’d originally envisioned, but it will be well-contained and protected, out of harms way, and out of our way, and hopefully we’ll get some wonderful yields!
3 Comments »
Yay! That’s great news. I’m really happy for you. I’m interested to see how this project goes.
Thanks again for dinner! I had a lovely time with you. However, I’m cursing myself for not getting at least one picture of us together. That’s me, I either forget to bring a camera, or I just forget to use the darn thing. Maybe sometime in the future I’ll remember. 
Comment by Karen — April 29, 2010 @ 3:18 pm
Whatever happened with this project? I’m hoping to try something very similar, and wanted to see how your experiment turned out. Is it still going producing great results? Or did it sound good on paper, but never actually happened?
Comment by Hexdump — August 22, 2010 @ 12:20 pm
It’s still in progress for a few reasons, one being that we live in an apartment with white carpet, and the only reasonable place to set this up would be in a closet – which we have – and with an electric light – which we can get. There are a few issues with this, however, 1) electric light is great as a supplement to natural light, but if it’s the ONLY light, it’s expensive. 2) running a light in an enclosed space creates a very real fire hazard. 3) most lamps exist somewhere between heavy, and absurdly heavy, which means hanging them from a stand (remember, apartment – we rent) is not an option.
The other half of it is the hydroponic garden I have is incomplete. The motor is dead and I need new growing media. I had tried to contact a number of local hydroponic garden centers with regard to replacing the motor at a reasonable price (aka, something substantially lower than the cost of a brand new hydroponic garden kit), but never heard back (boo!). Growing media is less of an issue, but again, this is a recipe for disaster in a rented apartment with white carpets. A giant reservoir of water, a fire hazard, growing media…
So for now, the idea is shelved, but not forgotten. We’re looking at houses with patios/decks in the next few years, at which point I would want to build my own hydroponic system. Here are some excellent videos on the subject:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tFWYjmzmRbo – a gorgeous outdoor hydroponic garden. It’s surprisingly simple to set up.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9yy5kJwdMv8 – a primer on hydroponics.
Comment by alex — August 22, 2010 @ 12:30 pm
RSS feed for comments on this post.
Find me on Flickr
Stumble Me
Friend me on Facebook
Check out my netvibes
+Fav me on Technorati
Subscribe to this blog!
