Day one involved some assembly of the hydroponic garden. Total time, about an hour to assemble, fill it up with water, insert the seed pods, and plug it in.
On day three the basil poked up. Within 10 days everything had sprouted, but was too small (or too bright) to capture with my camera, even on the macro setting. The dill didn’t appear until about half of the herbs showed up, and took off to an early lead (just to spite me, I don’t like dill). But in time the chives have surpassed that, and the basil even looks ready for a little harvesting.
Total time, energy and effort spent on three weeks of gardening (not counting watching them everyday, and seeing noticable growth each time): 2 lightbulbs running for 17 hours a day, and less than 2 minutes spent topping off the water (after 2.5 weeks).
Back row, L – R, Mint, Basil, Dill, Cilantro, Front L-R, Parsley, Purple Basil and Chives.
I’ve been wanting to make “purple pesto” for years. Despite not liking dill, my father-in-law, and brother-in-law assure me that my dill pickles are awesome (guess what they’ll be getting next christmas)... and the fresh mint will make for some great mojitos!
Oh, the investment/return on hydroponics is awesome! I’ve got to figure out how to do this with all my vegetables. No weeding, no pests, no running the sprinklers everyday…. just set it and forget it (and trim off some leaves when you need em.)
In a few weeks, I’ll be doing weekly harvests and likely have to freeze or dry the bounty as I’m likely to become inundated with more fresh herbs than I’ll know what to do with – weeks, if not months, before I ever plant any seeds outside!
-- southern NH. - smack dab in the middle of 5a and 5b - with lots of shade and full sun, in all the wrong places.
6 comments so far
Damocles
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805 posts in 361 days
hardiness zone 5
posted 320 days ago
Looking great!! Are those CD’s holding up your herbs?
-- Living on the square...Metro Detroit
scottb
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167 posts in 386 days
posted 320 days ago
not quite!... those are paper disks on top of the pods (sponges with seeds in em), and considerably smaller than cd’s, maybe the size of three quarters. The first photo is pretty close to actual size.
They act as mulch – help keep the sponges from drying out on top, and whatever else they do. The chives blew that one right off the ground, had to try to thread then all through. as i’m not supposed to remove them
-- southern NH. - smack dab in the middle of 5a and 5b - with lots of shade and full sun, in all the wrong places.
GrandmaT
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3212 posts in 385 days
hardiness zone 5
posted 320 days ago
Wow they look healthy!!!! So is that dill pickles for all of us this coming Christmas?? :-)
-- "A perfect garden is just a garden to be in-perfection. Mornings to work on it and evenings to pause and look at it." Southeast Michigan, Zone 5a/5b
MsDebbieP
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3811 posts in 508 days
hardiness zone 5b
posted 320 days ago
so your review is a positive one.
I wonder how you can do this without a big investment. Hey.. I just realized that I had put up a grow light to help my one plant that isn’t near a window and looks like it needs some special care. I could have some herbs growing under it at the same time. Silly me. I must have some herb seeds still kicking around here somewhere. Thanks for the idea, Scott :)
And, in about a month’s time, as you show us your crop, I can see that this will be on my wish list. It all sounds just too easy!
-- - Debbie, SW Ontario Canada (USDA Hardiness Zone: 5a)
scottb
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167 posts in 386 days
posted 319 days ago
I’m sure it’s possible to rig up a similar situation for less cost. You’d need a couple CFL bulbs, a pair of clip lights, a timer, a plastic container, some way of suspending the sponges over the water… the only thing left would be to figure out what nutrients are required. Might not be pretty, but possible for a larger scale.
There is a place in New England that grows basil, tomatoes and tilapia. They’ve set up a hydroponic system where all three keep each other going. I’ve bought the basil – delicious! Maybe one should re-think the plants they put in their Koi pond!
But until I solve that, the cost of this is, by far, cheaper than the hours I’d have to put into traditional garden maintenance, and the retail equivalent of the (advertised) harvest, whether fresh or dried.
The hardest part, seriously, was deciding where to put it – because of the cats.
-- southern NH. - smack dab in the middle of 5a and 5b - with lots of shade and full sun, in all the wrong places.
MsDebbieP
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3811 posts in 508 days
hardiness zone 5b
posted 319 days ago
all this is so fascinating.
-- - Debbie, SW Ontario Canada (USDA Hardiness Zone: 5a)