What is Hydroponic Gardening

What is Hydroponic Gardening

These days, when the humanity faces many challenges, associated with natural resources depletion, bad ecology and many health problems, stemming out of the wrong food choices, it is, perhaps, the best time ever to return to natural ways of producing food for the sake of our own and our planet.

It was a common practice for our ancestors to grow fruits, vegetables, herbs and flowers for their own needs. Nowadays, the natural way of growing plants reappears with hydroponics as the particular technique, which makes plant cultivation possible even in urban areas without the use of soil. With more and more people involved, hydroponic gardening develops rapidly these days. Irrespectively to whether it is your hobby or professional activity, indoor gardening brings significant benefits for all.

Hydroponic and soil indoor gardening - The World of Gardening for the Future

If you are only making your first steps in mastering the art of hydroponic gardening, our site will become a valuable resource for you. Our hydroponic library is a source of theory on the basics of indoor plants growing, and our shop is a one-stop destination to find everything you need for your hydroponic needs, starting from vegetable seeds and wide variety of growing media to start growing your plants, and finishing with reliable equipment, such as growing lamps and climate control, to help you gather rich harvest.

The definition of hydroponics

Hydroponics most often refers to the science of growing plants (vegetables, herbs, flowers) without the use of soil. Plants are cultivated on a special growing medium, and all the nutrients, required for growing, are supplied via specially formulated nutrient solution. The primary task of any growing medium, used in hydroponic gardens, is to support plants’ roots along with retaining water. There are many books on hydroponic gardening, so if you would need to expand your knowledge in this field, please browse our Literature section or the online library for further information on hydroponics.

Hydroponics vs Soil Grown Plants

The benefits, offered by hydroponics, are pretty simple, yet impressive: one can receive 200-1000% increase in yield with only half of time and space requirements in comparison to traditional soil horticulture. Absence of soil also results in protection of growing plants against pests, commonly living in soil. In hydroponic systems, plants receive all the necessary nutrients through nutrient solution and never suffer lack of water. As the result, hydroponic plants concentrate of producing fruits instead of growing large roots to extract water and nutrients from the soil. Hydroponic plants have smaller roots in comparison to common plants, which grow in soil. This allows increasing the density of plants in your garden. It is also a proven fact, that food products, produced in indoor hydroponic systems, are cleaner and have longer shelf life.

Usually, hydroponic plants can grow both indoor and outdoor; furthermore, even a loft, cellar, or closet can be turned into a garden with hydroponic system.

There are two major subtypes of hydroponic plants: solution and medium cultures. Solution culture does not require any growing medium for its growing; the only thing necessary is nutrient solution. Among solution cultures aeroponics, static and continuous flow cultures are defined. Medium culture needs a particular growing medium to grow in, for example, rockwool, sand or gravel. In most cases, the growing medium is contained within a reservoir, made from plastic. However, glass, metal or wooden containers are also used. The only requirement to hydroponic container is that it should not let light pass.

History of Hydroponics

Hydroponics as a term was first mentioned in the middle of the previous century to identify a method of plants growing without soil in the special growing medium. However, the method itself has roots in the prehistoric times. The Floating Gardens of Aztecs and those of the Chinese, Hanging Gardens of Babylon, perceived much as the myth only, and the flooding of the Egyptian Nile may now be treated as the very first attempts of hydroponic gardening. Moreover, even ancient Egyptian hieroglyphic records, which are actually documents, not myths, mention the ways of growing plants in water.

Thus, it would be unfair to say hydroponics is a brand new method of gardening: even Da Vinci made much progress in creating what we now call “hydroponic gardening”. At the same time, research of the last decades has significantly explained and improved the nuts and bolts of this agricultural option, actually, reviving it. This process started during World War II thanks to the government financing, and in the 50th of the 20th century it gained worldwide popularity. Just for the record: these days the incidence of hydroponically grown fruits and vegetables occupy about 65% of all those sold in the UK stores, and about 90% of the sold cut fresh flowers are grown with the help of hydroponics and HPS grow lights.

Among the researchers who worked on creating the ideal conditions for plants growing was a Belgian scientist Jan van Helmont, who discovered in 1600 that plants receive elements for the normal growth from water. Robert Boyle from Ireland managed to grow plants in the bottles with water, which is recorded in the documents dated 1666. 33 years later a notable discovery was made by the English scholar John Woodward, who found out that various constituents from different types of soils were also of vital importance for the plants growth. Thus, he made a valuable contribution to the work started by Jan van Helmont. Unfortunately, the absence of the necessary equipment prevented John Woodward from proceeding with his work.

With the development of chemistry the world got to know that plants consist of chemicals obtained from air, soil, and water as food and the materials for the proper growth. This real breakthrough was made by the French scientist Nicolas de Saussure in 1804. Jean Boussingault, his fellow countryman, made much progress in studying plants growth in various types of medium, as quartz, charcoal, and sand. That was he who found out that dry plant material is mainly made of hydrogen and carbon dioxide, received from the air.

Knowing the plants’ chemical structure and the ingredients necessary for the growth scientists became curious whether it was possible to grow plants without soil.

The scientists who succeeded in this task were Germans Sachs and Knop, who managed to grow plants in water solution in 1860’s. They called their invention “nutriculture”. Many years passed till the real interest to the “nutriculture” appeared. The pioneers of the greenhouse industry fully understood its cons and helped in the further improvement of the method between years 1925 and 1935.

The first effort to turn laboratory “nutriculture” into a commercial product was first made by Dr. William F. Gericke, who explored soilless plant growing at University of California Davis and was very successful. It was Dr. Gericke, who first used the term “hydroponics”, which means “waterworking” in Greek. Since then, the public interest to hydroponic gardening spread rapidly around the world. It is interesting to note that even the U.S. Army had special units, whose main duty was to grow hydroponics and provide fruits and vegetables for kitchen. In the military environment it is not always possible to grow plants in a traditional way, so hydroponic system was chosen as the way to grow plants virtually anywhere.

Key Facts on Hydroponics

Hydroponic plants do not require soil to grow in. They use different growing media instead. All the required nutrients are supplied through nutrient solution. Hydroponic system allows cultivation of plants, irrespectively to climate and environmental condition. Hydroponic system allows increasing the density of plants significantly (up to 3 times higher in comparison with traditional soil gardens). It may be surprising but hydroponic plants consume considerable less water than those, growing in soil. Since soil is not used in hydroponic systems, there is no need to worry about crops rotation. Hydroponic plants are healthier, because there are no or very little risks for them to get infected by parasites, living in soil. Hydroponic gardening does not depend on seasons of the year. You can grow plants and gather harvest all year round.

Hydroponics in the Present

Thanks to many technological achievements and innovations, hydroponic growing has already become much more effective, convenient and affordable. Plastic, used for manufacturing of hydroponic equipment, such as plumbing products, fittings, growing pots and containers, etc., made it possible to lower the cost of hydroponic systems significantly.

Multiple electronic devices, such as pumps, timers and monitors, have made hydroponic growing a fully automated process. Furthermore, the hydroponic plants themselves have evolved significantly, ensuring high yield results even if used under the most extreme environmental conditions, for example, at the submarines.

Hydroponics in the Future

The next goal of hydroponics developers is to make indoor gardening eco-friendly and more energy-saving. In this regard, current achievements in the development of solar heating systems look very promising. On the other hand, current innovations open new opportunities for designing new growing light systems with higher lumen output, better spectrum profile and lower electricity consumption. In the long run, hydroponic systems may allow increasing the amount of grown plants to completely satisfy the needs of people in food products, without using additional natural resources and soil.

Furthermore, maybe in the nearest future hydroponic systems, which have already been tested in space on the space stations, will even become another valuable step in the space exploration by the humans.

How do you make a crystal garden?

A project for my cub scout son is to make a crystal garden. I’ve heard that it can be done with items from the kitchen.

Create A Garden And Patio Design To Enjoy Year-Round

Retreat to a garden and patio design that’s beautiful year-round, and takes minimum fuss. What makes this possible? Carefree plants with continuous blooms, and a well-planned garden structure.

You don’t need to be a lawn and garden expert or landscape designer to do this. Here are a few tips for creating a super yet simple garden and patio design that will be a knockout!

The first step is to take a birds-eye view of your garden and patio area. Make a rough sketch of your space, and play around with a few designs until you like what you see. As you’re doing this, get some great ideas from existing garden and patio decorations. Pay a visit to other people’s gardens, or public gardens. Look through home landscaping and gardening magazines, find what you like, and develop plans of your own.

Decide what style or theme is right for you… formal, casual, rustic, Southwestern, Japanese… there are enormous possibilities. Then stay with that style and theme so the overall effect does not become confusing. For instance, you wouldn’t want to combine bronze garden sculptures of saints or cherubs with rustic wooden wagon wheels.

Imagine what your patio area will most often be used for. You may plan to entertain lots of outdoor dinner guests. If so, be sure your patio space has plenty of room for the largest number of people right from the beginning. Your patio may be more of a private, reflective retreat for enjoying the sun, reading a book, or gazing up at the stars. Determine the use of shade, open sun, or even covering it with a roof.

Now take your favorite ideas and put them into your rough plans - and soon you’ll have a design that is ready for action.

The next step is to create your garden and patio design to scale - you can use landscaping software for this, or do it by hand. Choose the flowers you intend to plant, noting how many you will need for each month of your growing season, and select the landscaping structures that will give your design its form.

Some say the secret to a beautiful garden and patio design is having a good amount of hard structure. This is what landscape designers refer to as “good bones” - walls, fences, garden bridges, gates, garden arbors, landscape statues, garden fountains … even a strong line of evergreen plants.

Garden structures such as these create forms and lines, giving your garden and patio design definition and dimension. Plus, in the winter when most plants are empty and bare, your garden will preserve its shape and sense of completeness. It’s amazing how just one or two structures can produce this satisfying effect.

Most garden and landscaping structures are built to withstand the elements. Treated pine, cedar and teak garden furniture, trellises, arbors, and decorative fencing are great choices. Stone, copper, and bronze garden statuary will never let you down. Garden fountains bring incredible beauty and atmosphere to any garden and patio design - in fact, entire gardens have been built around them.

Next, choose annual spring flowers and perennial plants that will give you blooms from one season to the next. For instance, select carefree roses that need no pruning or spraying, and bloom continuously from spring through fall. Fill planters with beautiful blooming flowers such as Oriental lilies or verbena for different colors all summer long. Establish flower beds in corners or along walk ways. Always consider your local climate and plant according to the sun and shade needs of your plants.

As you plan your garden and patio design, create paths or walk ways that lead from one area to the next. Rambling garden paths are relaxing and charming… and if laid out thoughtfully, will be a big help to you as the gardener. Paths can be of stone, brick, flagstone, gravel, or mown turf, although grass paths require more upkeep. Garden sculptures or sitting benches thoughtfully placed along the way provide wonderful expression.

If you want garden and patio designs that are pre-drawn, there are ready-made plans available in books and magazines. This is another fine way to get off to a solid start. Use pre-made garden plans from start to finish, or incorporate parts of them right into you own creative plans.

Copyright 2006 Robert Mosse

Meditation music. Japanese garden.

soothing, relaxing meditation music with wonderful pictures. Music by Oliver Shanti and Friends. my favorite part of this song starts at ~ 1min 30sec. enjoy this video that I made!

Relax on Garden Benches and Rock on the Swings

Relax on Garden Benches and Rock on the Swings

Gardening is an art that helps you to spend your leisure time usefully. It doesn’t need huge investment and consume less time when compared with other hobbies. Gardens can be maintained at your home with the seasonal flowering plants and fruit yielding trees. Maintaining a garden helps you to relieve the stress accumulated in your mind; gardening gets you close with nature and helps to understand nature better. The degradable wastes from your home can be used to manure the plants, which in turn yield colorful flowers making your home more beautiful. Information on landscaping can be gathered from various sources to guide you in this art.

Backyard gardening

Backyard garden does not require much place, and the available place can be converted into a beautiful garden with plenty of plants and other accessories. There are many types of gardens to choose from; first prepare a lay out of the area for gardening, and decide on the flora and accessories you wish to have in your backyard. Prepare a plan to get the best with the available space, gardening is an art and design skills helps to create a perfect combination of various elements in your backyard. Flowering plants, creepers, fences, wooden porch swing, arbors, cedar rocking seat, birdhouses, porch swing, land form such as terrain, water body, fountains, pools, log bridge, and lot more can be incorporated within the landscape to add to its beauty.

Garden accessories

Garden benches and swings provide an ultimate location to rest and relax. These garden accessories with the natural set up make a delightful environment. The elders will find solace in this beautiful landscape and the children will enjoy with the swing. There are wooden garden benches and cast aluminum garden benches that can be used according to the climatic conditions prevailing in your location. The wooden garden benches and swings are more rustic and suit the best for landscape. The cedar garden swings and wooden rocking seat attracts the children to the landscape.

Arbor with garden bench

The presence of arbors within the landscape delights us very much. If there is an attached garden bench and creepers climbing on to the arbor, our joy becomes limitless. The beauty and comfort provided by the arbor garden bench is limitless. The outdoor benches can be used to take rest between planting sessions in your garden. Plant some creepers and vines near the arbor and make them climb on it, it gives necessary shade and pleasant environment. Place the arbor with the wooden benches at the middle of the landscape, and it becomes the center of attraction.

Planter box

The planter box is used to keep the ornamental plants in a particular location. The advantage of the planter box is that it can be taken to the necessary location. The planter box benches can be made by placing a bench seat in between two outdoor planters. The planter box benches are very comfortable to while away time reading books or chatting.

The ornamental plants that are sensitive to temperature and weather conditions can be placed in a planter box so that they can be shifted when there is necessity.

Gardening is an art, and design skills help to get the best garden design. There are various garden accessories available to enhance the beauty of your landscape; select the accessories that are both useful and beautiful. The garden accessories like planter box and arbors enhance the natural set up of the garden, they can also be made to support the garden benches. The way your garden looks depends on the amount of interest you have in gardening; investing some amount of time and money with dedication on gardening will produce colorful and fruitful results very soon.

How do I start a garden?

I’ve never planted a garden, but I’d like to grow some veggies next year. Is there some way to get that going now in the fall? I live in NY. Any ideas on what a first-timer should grow?

Lesotho - Make a Keyhole Garden

A great little video made in Lesotho, showing how a group of schoolchildren made a keyhole garden. The charity Send a Cow showed them how to make it and the children can now make their own at home and have more food. Please support us and help more people farm sustainably - you can use www.sendacowgifts.org.uk and you can make one of your own by looking at www.sendacow.org.uk/africangardens

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savage garden - Break and shake me

Garden Decor is the Inner-signature of the Backyard Gardener

Most gardeners know that just the right amounts of sunshine & water combined with great soil and hard work bring their backyard oasis to life. Quickly, after the snow melts, the ground thaws and our singing feathered friends return, each spring gardeners across the country look forward to rolling up their sleeves and getting their hands dirty to cultivate their soil to create a garden of their favorite flowers, shrubs and trees.

A gardener’s shovel is to an artist’s brush. A gardener’s choice of colorful flowers, shrubs and trees is to an artist’s collection of paints, pencils and oils. An artist’s signature is to a gardener’s…hmmm?

The choice of garden decor that is placed throughout the landscape is undoubtedly the signature of a gardener. What does that mean? Simply, a gardener that chooses a sailboat weathervane over a rooster weathervane is more likely to be a water loving individual rather than a country/farm loving individual. It’s how they choose to express themselves in the garden.

The garden is an excellent place for one to set aside the hectic lifestyle of today for a moment, a weekend, or anytime that enables you to step into you backyard hide-a-way. The person that you are inside can be expressed with the garden decor you choose. Your choice of garden decor, your choice of its finish and your choice of its size all factor into the person that you are. Garden decor is an essential part of the garden; it brings happiness, joy, and it can even refresh the soul of its visitors.

Even the most colorful gardens can feel empty without the addition of some garden decor. A bed of roses is very beautiful, but add an elegant sundial or a birdbath, and now the bed of roses become incredibly beautiful. Garden decor adds style, brings comfort and let’s gardeners set the stage for another’s imagination. Each piece of garden decor can help create a scene, a story or a memory that brings life and meaning to the garden.

Gardening should always be fun and not a chore. Your passion for gardening is hard work but always fulfilling. Gardening should be about you and your artistic ability to create a space that is warm, inviting and a stepping stone into who you are as a person. Your garden decor will speak volumes of you and how you define yourself. It will be your signature to your backyard canvas!

Home gardening is an enjoyable, relaxing and most of all an inexpensive hobby. It sets your mood, keeps you alive and stress free. A lot of people nowadays have been into garding. They started turning their front and back yards into a sight to behold with bountiful colored flowers and blossoms or greenery. The process is easy and can be done in just few steps. By having the right tools; knowing what, where, when and how to plant, you can now indulge yourself in gardening and have fun without leaving your home.

Home gardening is growing in popularity. Some people garden as a hobby and some to make money. It is very innate in every person to appreciate design, beauty and symmetry. Everyone would love the sight of a garden in abundance of beautiful flowers in vibrant colors, although some people would prefer a bed of greenery. Freshly cut flowers in the living room will somehow bring a tinge of the summer indoors. It will be enjoyable to grow vegetables, too. Whatever your preference is, give your yard a face lift and make it a magical sight of elegance and beauty.

Many people had already made a way for home gardening into their own front and back yards. Statistics had it that it has became a favorite leisure activity, placed ahead of time spent with family, but not on top of reading and watching television. Another thing is that one out of every three families are more into home gardening nowadays with most gardens found in urban areas.

A person with a green thumb they say is gifted with the ability of growing plants. This may be true, but it doesn’t mean that people not having this gift cannot do home gardening anymore. It’s a matter of personal taste. Everyone, young and old, who has the willingness to learn how to plant can be a home gardener. There are a hundred and one reasons to plant a vegetable or a flower garden in your own yard and the benefits people get keep getting better and better all the time.

A Good Plan Today is Better than a Perfect Plan Tomorrow

Home gardening can be done in few simplified steps. There are lots of easy approaches on how to do gardening. First is having a plan. It will be better if you draw a picture of what kind of plants you want and where you want them planted. Of equal importance is knowing your plants and finding time to do a little research in a local library or a bookstore to get acquainted about the flowers or the vegetables you are growing will help you a lot in the process and will give you a clear cut definition of how they will be grown. Determining the type of soil, how much space, the amount of shade or sunlight and how much water your plants require will always give you almost perfect results. The second is the right gardening tools. You are going to need a shovel, a rake and a trowel to loosen and soften the soil to make it easier in creating the holes for the plants.

Having done these things, you are now ready to execute your home gardening plan. Before planting, you weed out the grass as this may take over the garden before your plants even begin to grow, then till the soil so it becomes loose and soft. Most importantly, apply compost or manure or a well-rotted animal a week before you plan to plant. This will make both the soil and your plants grow healthy.

Planting and Taking Care of Your Home Garden

Home gardening requires lots of nurturing for your plants. Planting and caring for your garden gives you a feeling of creativity as you turn that spot in your yard a masterpiece. Planting your garden can be done as much as possible in the spring and fall. This kind of conditions that ideally enable plants to grow and mature very well. You can either grow the flowers from seeds, especially during wintertime, or buy from a nursery. For a flower garden it is best to note which area you want to use gets the full or partial sun or the most shade. This will enable you to change the kind of flowers you can plant on your beds. For a vegetable garden, you have to dig holes in rows. Small holes for seeds, deep holes for bulb roots. Bulb naturally multiply and produces more blooms every now and then. In planting trees and shrubs, the dirt attached to the bulb is included and make sure the roots are deep enough to cover it all in order to protect it from animals.

For the most part during during the growing season, gardens require a weekly moisture supply tantamount to one inch of rain.Weed your garden as frequently as possible. You don’t want a garden full of grass. Mulch your home garden because it keeps it from drying out. These rotting vegetables will act as your protective covering and reduces soil erosion. When it matures, trust me, you can now decide what you want the end product of your garden to be. So let your home gardening tell the story, let it convey the power it possesses and let it take control of the environment for you, for your family and for your friends as well as your neighbors.

Home Garden

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