Growing your vegetables at home can be a challenging task for some peoples, and it gets even more challenging when you don't have space for the garden in your house.
Hydroponic farming can be a solution to your problems of growing fresh and healthy vegetables at home and in less space. Through the hydroponic technique, you can raise your vegetables in soil-less conditions. Hydroponic farming is a method in which plants are grown in a structure having a liquid nutrient solution in it to supply nutrients to the plants.
This method has its benefits when it comes to growing food at home, like efficiency in water use, that is why people are adopting this method, mostly those who are living in the urban environment.
Why it's better to grow your food at home?
There are many health benefits of growing your food at home. These benefits are associated with both your physical health as well as your mental health.
· Much Safer Food: Most of the time, when we buy vegetables from the market, we don't where they come from, in what conditions they are grown, and which pesticides applied to them. Growing your vegetable at home makes you convinced that your food is safe to eat.
· Availability of fresh vegetables: When you grow your vegetables at home, it is more likely that you will eat more vegetables than before. Fresh vegetables are now available at your home.
· Let you decide When to Harvest: The vegetables that you purchased from the market harvested much earlier from their ripening stage. Picking of vegetables early leads to a lesser quantity of nutrients in them, and growing your vegetables at home will let you decide the best time to harvest.
Start with choosing the type of Hydroponic System.
There are numerous types of hydroponic systems, or we can use the market term 'kits' are available in the market that will help in getting your first homegrown harvest.
But we will discuss the two most common types of hydroponic growing systems available in the market.
1. Vertical System:Vertical system is much more popular because of its efficiency in using space. It can comfortably fit in a small balcony having a dimension of 3 to 4 feet. The growing structure arranged vertically makes it much usable.
2. Raft or Tray System:This system is different from the vertical system in many ways. First, it used mostly for, growing vegetables having longer roots, and larger plant size. Second, it has a much larger volume than the vertical system.
Setting up the Hydroponic Farming Kit
When you bought your hydroponic farming kit, the next thing troubles you is the installation or the setup. There is no need to worry as the installation process is easy.
1. Choose a place for your hydroponic system:
The growing system can set up in your balcony, on your terrace, or it can also set up in your living area if you want. Just make sure that your plants get enough sunlight for growth.
2. Assemble the different components of the kit:
Put all things in one place and start with assembling the supporting structure first. The support structure mostly made up of hard plastic material to reduce the weight of the whole system. It will be better to choose recycled plastic to make your system as green as possible.
Then screw the growing channels with the supporting structure and connect the inlet pipe with the reservoir.
3. Fill the reservoir with nutrients and water:
When you have completed the assembling process, put some and water and nutrients for the plants in the reservoir. The nutrient solutions are available in the market, before choosing a nutrient solution, check its suitability for your plant type.
4. Add Seedling to the growing channel:
You can buy seedlings from a nursery or grow your seedlings at home in a growing tray. Some plants like lettuce need to grow in the tray before planting them.
5. Start the pump and check the system properly:
When you have planted the seedlings, start the pump to check if everything is working correctly. Check for the flow of nutrients in the growing channels. Check the pH and the water temperature for better growth.
6. Monitor the growth of plants daily:
Even when everything placed correctly, it is necessary to check the plants once in a day. Plants are highly sensitive to changes.
There is a variety of vegetables that you can grow in a hydroponic system like lettuce, leafy greens such as spinach, swiss chard, kale, arugula, and a whole lot more types of healthy vegetables.
Through home gardening, you feel more relaxed and focused as it connects you with the harmony of nature.