Experimentation my dear Watson. I’ve been looking over that vast resource of information called the Internet and have read about dozens of ways to garden. I’ve seen vertical gardening in windows using empty pop bottles, to growing things in nutrient rich vapors, the vastness of ideas on what and how to do our future farming is over whelming. Some of the systems I’ve looked at, can produce more food in such a small space, than our conventional farming does with 1000′s of acres.
Today I am building a basic Hydroponic system. Hydroponics is according to Wikipedia, “is a method of growing plants using mineral nutrient solutions, in water, without soil. Terrestrial plants may be grown with their roots in the mineral nutrient solution only or in an inert medium, such as perlite, gravel,mineral wool, or coconut husk.”
The system that I am building is basically a rubber maid tub, water and miracle grow, an air pump, and baskets. The plants will sit in small baskets filled with a medium like gravel, and the roots will grow down into the water/grow mix. The air pump, will add oxygen to the water, allowing the plant roots to breath while submerged in the liquid solution.
Some may be wondering why am I doing this now, its fall and the weather is becoming too cold? Well I am in the process of converting a canopy set in the backyard, into a temporary greenhouse. Inside I have made a raised bed, which will be filled with compost, the Aquaponics system, and then the Hydroponics. It may even end up with a vertical growing experiment before winter is over.
Here are some links to some of the neat things I have found.
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