Growing your own vegetables indoors with hydroponic gardening is growing in popularity today, given uncertainties regarding our food supply. What with the overuse of chemical fertilizers and pesticides as well as the high economic and social costs of transporting food over long distances, more of us are looking closer to home for the food we eat - and hydroponic gardening in your own basement or spare room is as close to home as it gets.
The word hydroponics comes to us from the Greeks, and like many medical and scientific terms, is made up of two elements cidroVs, meaning "water," and ponikoV, meaning "to labor" - literally, "waterworks." Although scientific experimentation with hydroponics date back only about seventy years or so, the basic principles underlying hydroponic systems go back several thousand years. The legendary Hanging Gardens of Babylon and China's famed Floating Gardens are two examples. During the Second World War, some sailors attempted to set up hydroponic systems aboard ships aboard Naval vessels in order to supplement their supplies with fresh vegetables.
Although it has its detractors, the fact is that hydroponic gardening is much more efficient and produces up to 50% more that a traditional outdoor garden; because the hydroponics farmer is able to control the delivery of nutrients, plants are able to channel more energy into actual production rather than having to search for food in the soil.
Hydroponic gardening is also actually more environmentally friendly. It may seem counter-intuitive, but the fact is that hydroponic systems use only a fraction of the water required by traditional outdoor gardens. This is because the nutrient solutions used is constantly recycled during the growing period. And, of course because the growing takes place inside, insect predators aren't usually a problem - so you won't need to use any expensive and toxic pesticides.
Hydroponic systems are not particularly difficult to build and set up, but they require a bit of mechanical skill; if you are "all thumbs and Flintstone fingers," your local hydroponic supply store can sell you a complete system. Even if you are skilled enough to build one on your own, however, the proprietor of the hydroponic supply store or website is a good person to know, as s/he can steer you in the right direction and help you avoid potentially disastrous hydroponic gardening mistakes that result in the kind of mess and smells you don't want to think about!
Is hydroponics gardening for you? If you're ready to try your hand at hydroponics, there are numerous Web-based resources at your fingertips that will help you to educate yourself about all aspects of hydroponics gardening.
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