Dig Gardening -- Without The Dirt

How does your garden grow? With fresh air, sunshine and rich, black soil? Not if you're one of the countless gardeners who are now enjoying the benefits of hydroponics gardening.

Also called the cultivation of plants in water, the popularity of hydroponics gardening is booming, partly due to the shrinking water supplies and scarcity of fertile farmland.

There's nothing new about hydroponics gardening. This method of growing has been abound for thousands of years, and can be traced to the famous Hanging Gardens of Babylon. This ancient wonder of the world was created with a form of hydroponics. Since those ancient times, researchers have proven that a number of different aggregates or media could be used in place of black earth to support plant growth. Hydroponics gardening is just one of many alternatives to traditional soil growing.

Benefits of Hydroponics Gardening

People use hydroponics gardens for different reasons. For many, it's because of the space-saving benefits. With a hydroponics system, apartment dwellers and homeowners can enjoy fresh vegetables and plants grown in the smallest of spaces, even on tiny patios and balconies. These space-saving benefits have also caught the attentions of many commercial greenhouses.

It's been suggested that, when properly grown, hydroponics plants may be healthier and more vigorous than their soil-bound counterparts. Without soil, nutrients are more readily absorbed by the plant. Hydroponically-grown plants mature more quickly and yield their harvest of flower and vegetable crops earlier.

Automated timers can enhance the overall convenience of growing in a hydroponics garden. This sort of system allows the gardener a little more flexibility, because it takes less time to maintain the operation. The hydroponics grower can spend more time away from the garden and not be worried about watering the plants.

Raising Healthy Plants

All plants, whether grown with hydroponics or in traditional soil gardens, require air, water, nutrients and light. Plants grown in a soil garden will absorb nutrients and water from the soil. The soil impedes the roots' abilities to access what they need, making the nutrient uptake a little slower.

One of the joys of hydroponics gardening is the very lack of soil. It's a cleaner, easier way to garden. Water and nutrients are always available, so the plants are never stressed. If your hydroponics system is set up outdoors, you can regulate the levels of sunlight and air. Indoor systems will require artificial lighting and air circulation for plants to grow to the best of their abilities.

For artificial sunlight, many hydroponics gardeners use metal halide lamps and sodium vapor lamps in conjunction with incandescent light bulbs. Fluorescent or specially designed grow lights may also be used.

Plants are like all living things, and need oxygen to live. A plant's healthy, white roots are responsible for delivering all of the nutrients for the plant. If the roots die, the plant cannot survive. Even with all other growth requirements in place, those elements will be useless if the plants can't access nutrients through the roots. That's why it's so important for your hydroponics system to provide adequate aeration with an air circulation supply. This incorporated air into the nutrient solution and allows the plants to draw out the carbon dioxide necessary for natural photosynthesis.

The final piece to your successful hydroponics puzzle is a sterile medium. A wide selection of media choices is available, from simple gravel to special formulations. There is no soil, so there are no weeds to pull. That is, perhaps, the true joy of a hydroponics garden. There are no soil-borne pests to worry about, so diseases caused by pests are minimized, if not eliminated altogether.

If you love fresh produce but you're short on time, short on space or simply don't like getting your hands dirty, discover the many joys of hydroponics gardening.