Beginning again, starting with raised veggie beds while I work to acquire the hydroponic equipment
Found my first notes on growing hydroponically this week and realised how much I have learned in the years since I wrote them and bought my first kit, – a large rectangular dish with a four hole cover, from a local hydroponic equipment supplier. Back then though if people thought of hydro at all, it was mostly to say that “Ha! you growing your own weed/drugs, nudge nudge, wink wink”. I found it a bit off putting and so only told my friends. And if you count tomatoes, peppers and lettuce, they were right, but my drugs of choice were vegetables and fruit.
I had always loved the possibilities of “growing my own” and soon had tomato plants reaching the sky, or at least the ceiling in my dining room, accompanied by beautiful pepper plants. Common sense crept in and I transferred them to a plastic greenhouse enclosure on the mostly sunny side of the house. Satisfaction! – I was a hydroponic home gardener! How many of us have done this? Wish I had tried potatoes in a plastic bag back then, which I actually did this last season and managed beautiful new potatoes for Christmas day at my daughter’s. Although I have less usable land I am still VERY enthusiastic, even if less than 100% knowledgeable on the subject. With the modern way it is thought of today, it’s hard to imagine that HYDRO (water) PONICS (ponos – to work), meaning working with water, has been known since the Hanging Gardens of Babylon and the Aztec Indian’s floating raft gardens. Some of these can still be seen, as can reproductions of pictures of the Hanging Gardens so we do know they existed. (Insert pcs) On reading a little of the history on the subject at the time wanting to find out a little more, my mind was intrigued by newer, to me, names such as Woodward in 1699, Liebig in the 1850’s, Sachs and Knop in the 1860’s, right through to 1925 when hydroponics began to be practically applied in the greenhouse industry. It would be so easy to bore on about the history of it all, but now that I have discovered this and so much more, I am fascinated by the thought that, even 2,500+ years ago, gardeners grew things for food or pleasure, using little more than water, possibly mixed with some soil. Reading over my earlier notes I am even more intrigued about how our 2,500 year old ancestors achieved what they did. Food for their tables and even a garden to ease the homesickness of a beloved wife. Today I find that I can still lose a day investigating a subject that still intrigues, especially now when I have more time to devote to this fascinating subject and, hopefully, the ability to follow through on the ideas I had back then.
This is my first adventure back into the endless possibilities for growing, not only sustainably, but also in a smaller space than I had back at the beginning of all this. Then, I had close to a quarter of an acre of ground I could use, now although I have a large lawn area, for someone who is no longer a “Spring Chicken” as they say, I will use both my deck and a large square raised bed to encourage both hydro and regular plantings. I already have a very small plastic greenhouse, which needs a new cover, our Autumn and winter being quite vicious this year.
New items to purchase
1200×1200 raised bed soil to fill it Cover for my greenhouse, (to be positioned next to the raised bed) plants for both. And here I’m getting excited again instead of depressed about the dreadful weather we have had here this year.
I am hoping and looking forward to any ideas, questions and answers I can get as my site – and garden plants – grow in this coming season. If I don’t know the answer I will very much enjoy researching it.
I can be contacted at any time on gosportgal@gmail.com which I check daily.