Hydroponic Gardening – 5 Reasons You Should Give Hydroponics a Try
Did you know that hydroponic gardening is becoming very popular? Many people are turning to this gardening of the future in order to have fresh, healthy food on their tables year round.
What is hydroponic gardening?
The simple definition is that plants are grown without using any soil or dirt. Instead, a growing medium is used to support the plants.
Hydroponic Gardening Advantages
1. You can garden year round which means you get to have fresh herbs and vegetables year round. If you are gardening the hydroponic way, then you will not need to do without fresh vegetables during the winter. And even better, you will not have to pay the high price for produce flown here from another continent. Year round gardening – year round fresh produce on your table.
2. No soil is used in hydroponics. Usually, plants use up a lot of their energy sending their roots out into the soil searching for nutrients. Hydroponics feeds the nutrients directly to the roots. That means the plant has more energy to expend on growth and a higher yield of produce. Also, the hydroponic plant will not pick up diseases which are in normal soil.
3. You can garden in a very small space indoors. In fact, hydroponic gardening is best done indoors. So no matter your lack of yard, you can be an indoor gardener.
4. Your garden will be very precise and controlled. With hydroponics, the gardener controls the amount of nutrients and light that the plants receive. Since you will be an indoor gardener, you no longer have to rely on the amount of sun and rain falling on your garden as you do if you are gardening outdoors.
5. Hydroponic gardens are easy to set up. Kits are available or you can purchase the supplies needed from your local garden store. Some supplies can even be purchased from your discount store. You can choose to spend a little or a lot – depending on how elaborate you want your set up to be. You can have a hydroponic garden in anything from plastic bottles to a bucket to a bathtub. Or, you can splurge and buy one of the hydroponics carts available.
WARNING: DO NOT skip on the nutrient solution you provide for your plants. Plants grown in soil derive their trace minerals from that soil. Make sure that you use a good nutrient solution that has those trace minerals in it. The nutrients that you buy should be made specifically for hydroponics.
