The Hydroponic Garden

I have never considered myself a hydroponic diy kind of person.  I usually just go out and buy what I need. Setting up store-bought systems was as close to hydroponic diy as I got.

Then times got tough. The extra money just dried up. Suddenly hydroponic diy seemed very do-able. After all, how hard could it be?

Luckily as it turned out, hydroponic diy was a very easy thing to do! I am not a “handy” type of person. Most of my projects are a disaster. With hydroponic diy though I am very adept it seems.

Once you understand the concept of hydroponic diy I am sure that you can do it too!

Hydroponics diy is simply put just  a “do it yourself” way of figuring how to grow plants using hydroponics.

My hydroponic diy system is very easy. I used a black plastic battery box for the reservoir to hold the hydropoinc solution, some plastic tubes to carry air to the bubble stone that sat in the bottom of the reservoir, an old fish tank air pump, a piece of plywood with a hole cut in it to hold the plant, and a small plastic pot with small slots cut in the sides so the roots could grow through.

I started the plant, a standard  sized tomato in a hydroponic grow plug, once it got about an inch high I put it in the small pot with small washed gravel to help hold it in place. Then I just poured the solution over the plant twice a day until roots started growing out the bottom. Then I set up the system and turned it on.

The battery box turned out to be too big, it held several gallons of solution and had to be changed out. Not an easy task once the tomato started growing, so I put several sealed up jars of water in the bottom of the battery box to take up the extra room, that helped the situation.

So, That is my version of a simple diy hydroponic set up. If I can do it what’s stopping you?

General Hydroponics Information

Everything you ever wanted to know about garden hydro, but were afraid to ask!

Garden hydro is just a quick way to say gardening with hydroponics. The hydroponics part is growing plants without soil.  To garden hydro you use water and nutrients to grow and maintain the plant, instead of soil and water.

The ancients used to garden hydro, have you ever heard of the “Hanging Gardens of Babylon? That was a hydro garden in action! The gardens were considered a wonder of the ancient world. They were using the same concepts as we use today.

You don’t have to be extremely wealthy to garden hydro. I garden hydro all the time, and I am in no way considered “wealthy”! You can purchase a kit and be ready to start your hydro garden in an afternoon. Once you have your system set up it can be used over and over again! All you need is nutrients and water.

To me the real pay off to a hydro garden is fresh produce anytime of year. Imagine, it’s the “dead” of winter and you walk into your hydro garden, and pick a vine ripened tomato to have on your sandwich or with your dinner.  It is like a miracle!

At that time of year the only tomatoes you can get in the stores are greenhouse tomatoes. They bear no resemblance to a garden tomato that is vine ripened. Those tomatoes are picked green and gassed to make them red, they have no tomato taste. They are nothing like your garden hydro tomatoes!

I speak from experience, once you have tasted a tomato grown with garden hydro; you will never want to eat another store bought tomato. Just give it a try and you will know what I mean. Garden hydro is the only way to grow!

General Hydroponics Information