How To Hydroponic Garden: In A Few (Simple) Steps

You need a garden to grow plants right? Wrong!

Did you know there is a way to grow plants without soil?

I am going to show you how to hydroponic garden and the best thing of all? It is easy!

---

What to know something amazing?

The use of hydroponic gardening systems to raise vegetables indoors is over a hundred years old.

Hydroponic gardening techniques were brought into modern agricultural practice with the invention of nutrient additives and formulas in the early 1900s. Originally hydroponic gardening utilized water as the growing medium.

Today hydroponic gardeners use various other forms for growing medium.

---

How To Hydroponic Garden

---

Creating an Hydroponic Garden Indoors

Let’s jump right in:

Want to create your very own hydroponic garden indoors?

I’ll walk you through the whole process:

Choosing an area to grow your plants

Although it is possible to grow plants in just about any indoor space, you will want to ensure that this space receives plenty of good ventilation, as good ventilation is fundamental to healthy plant growth.

Also, make sure that your growing area is established with access to stable electricity and water.

An insider tip:

An excellent place to create a hydroponic garden indoors is in your basement, as here the air tends to be cool and dry.

If you don’t have time to read my entire article the video below gives a quick overview of hydroponic gardening.

Preparing the area

An important part of growing plants indoors involves adequate control of external lighting. You can block your windows with thick curtains or wooden boarding where necessary.

BUT! But, but, but, but but…

Remember that plants tend to elevate the overall humidity levels of the area in which they are placed, and if you are growing an indoor garden, it is possible that mold growth could occur.

Make sure to keep the area as uncluttered as possible by removing any unnecessary furniture and carpets.

This is the key:

You can set up an appropriate ventilation system by channeling air in through a plastic duct built close to ground level (to avoid external sunlight) and installing a fan to blow out air brought into the room via the ceiling area.

Growing

This is the tricky part.

Basically, you will need strong lamps to stimulate optimum plant growth and photosynthesis.

Some plants require a specific period of light over a 24 hour period that varies from other plants.

The fact of the matter is:

You will want to study the fundamentals of how to grow the hydroponic plants you are going to have well in advance of setting up your hydroponic system.

Hydroponics

Since you will not be using soil, but rather a water-based solution of nutrients and minerals, you will likely be saving a reasonable amount of money on extra fertilization for soil.

What to know the best part?

Using a hydroponic system allows you to control the exact nutrient balance necessary for your plants to grow strong and healthy.

But you will need to research and find out exactly what nutrients and what quantities should be included within your nutrient solution.

There are plenty of books available on this subject and a wealth of information to be found online.

By and large:

You can purchase all of the equipment and products necessary to build an indoor garden at a local hydroponic store or an online retailer.

Make sure that you are aware of your space requirements as on many occasions you will need a lot more room than you might have originally thought.

---

Hydroponic Gardening – The Good and the Bad

---

Benefits Of Hydroponics

• One of the major benefits of hydroponics is that growers use less space but can expect more production.
• Crops are said to develop faster, so there is a reduced amount of time between the stage of transplanting sprouts and harvesting.
• There is minimal labor since you are spared from digging and taking away weeds.
• Hydroponics has been described as having a cost-effective supply mechanism for nutrients and minimal risks in terms of harvest. In other words, hydroponic plants are not susceptible to pests and effects of insect killers.
• Although plants grow in water, there is a need for the lesser volume of H2O compared to the conventional methods.
• You can save on financial resources since the nourishing elements can always be recycled. The nutrients are infused in the water and distributed to the roots for optimum results. Plants remain fresh since these can receive nutrients until the final growing stage.
• The initial investment in hydroponics is relatively lower than ordinary gardening procedures.
• It can be the ideal alternative to conventional farming particularly in arid regions, mountainous areas, and remote islands. You can easily cultivate crops even in ice-covered terrain since there is no need for garden soil.
• Agriculture students can learn the entire process without difficulty because the roots are clearly perceptible. You will definitely see the full stages of growing.
• The root set can be controlled with respect to temperature, moisture, and nutrient blend.

Drawbacks Of Hydroponics

• Start-up costs are fairly high since you have to buy special equipment such as (Aeroponics Systems), nutrients, lighting facilities, fertilizer supplements, and organic manure.
• Novices will probably experience losses initially. If you plan to venture into hydroponics farming, it is important to study the complicated processes to maintain the best possible production or hire an expert to manage the growing techniques.
• Hydroponic plants are sensitive to any changes in the surroundings. You can see the deficiencies right away. Since all the plants in the system share the same water and blend of nutrients, any disease or pest invasion spreads speedily throughout the growing system.
• The restrictions in oxygen and natural weather can make a significant variation in your production and harvest.

---

Plants You Can Grow

---

The world is your delicious oyster:

Warm weather hydroponic crops that can be planted include tomatoes, eggplants, green beans, squash, cucumbers, green peppers, and melons.

For cool season hydroponic crops that can be planted include cauliflower, broccoli, lettuce, spinach, cabbage, swiss chard, green onions, peas, sugar snaps, snow peas, and carrots (stubbies).

---

Hydroponic Gardening Techniques

---

There are many techniques that you can use to grow a hydroponics garden.

But lets check out just two:

The two most popular types are solution culture and medium culture.

In case of solution culture, no hard medium is required for roots of the plants being grown, while in case of medium culture, a hard medium like sand or rockwool is used for roots of the plants.

Newsflash:

In both techniques, selection of the container for the plants plays an important role in the growth of the plants.

There are various types of container available, but glass, plastic, and concrete containers are considered to be most suitable for hydroponics garden growing.

And the best thing?

You are not limited by climates or seasons – you can grow pretty much anything at any time. 

Here’s to hydroponic gardening!

---

USEFUL RESOURCES

---

Want to learn more about Hydroponic Gardening, you can find further information here:

• Hydroponics: Pros and Cons of Hydroponic Gardening – Maximum Yield
• Hydroponic Gardening For Beginners – Greentrees Hydroponics
• How To Build A Hydroponic Garden – wikiHow