Backyard Urban Gardening - Grow Your Own Food: Basement Gardening Project

Saturday, December 17, 2011

Basement Gardening Project - Day 13

It's been 6 weeks since I started my hydroponic-lettuce-kale-collard-spinach-growing-system in my basement. The kale and collards are not quite ready to eat, but today we harvested 3 servings of lettuce and spinach for a nice healthy lunch.

Here are some pictures:

Lettuce in the salad spinner

Spinning out the water after washing

Fresh lettuce home grown in Michigan during winter

With some additional toppings and a little Light Rasberry Vinegrette

No comments:

Post a Comment

Amateur Hydroponic Tips for Deep Water Culture

1. Wash your hydroton before using it. I didn't do that in my first project and ended up with a film of clay dust throughout the water chamber in my deep water culture bins.

2. Adjust your lighting before planting. It's very difficult to make adjustments after you've planted when using deep water culture.

3. Use a commercially produced nutrient. DIY is great for most things, but why not take advantage of professional research and development to flatten the initial hydroponic learning curve?

4. Shop around for the best prices. Some hydroponic shops are "friendlier" than others and it follows that some have lower prices than the competition.

5. DIY is cheaper than paying full retail for a "kit" system. You can look around on the Internet and find several examples at inexpensive, but effective hydroponic growing systems you can assemble yourself.

6. Buy a commercial quality air pump for aerating your deep water culture beds.

7. Kick start your basement hydroponics by maintaining temperatures at optimal levels for the vegetables you're growing.