Sure, we can make plans for when spring comes, but I really miss my fresh greens!  When hydroponics came into my consciousness, it was a very different thing from all the systems I’ve seen before.  First, hydroponics is defined as a soil free growing system to help plants grow by providing water and nutrients. 

The system has come to be used universally for several reasons.  Number one is transportation – as cities grow, and overpopulation hits places all over the world, getting fresh produce to everyone becomes more difficult and expensive.  Hydroponics offers complete control, all year long, protection from pollution and the ability to adjust the nutrients to exactly what the plants need. This is also true for the artificial sunlight.

Results: plants grow 20 to 50% faster, produce up to 30% more biomass, and use only 10% of the water because it’s all recycled.

I started researching this marvelous method for myself, but all the units I saw were either too complex for me to manage, or too big to fit into my home.

Then, I went to visit my sister in Iowa, in December.   In her home, in the bay window, were 4 hydroponic growing units!  She plucked off a tomato and handed it to me! It was an epiphany!  I smelled my garden on a summer day, felt the sunshine and heard the birds singing!  I think my toes curled.  The tomato was as good as the ones I pick in my garden in August.  I was sold.   

Within a month I had an Aerogarden growing in my kitchen.  Pictured is our original unit.  It’s empty right now, because I’m growing in my other units, but you can see how it works.  There’s  a water tank in the bottom, with a pump that moves the water up onto the plant roots.   The lights come on for 10 hours a day.  To grow something, I just drop a seed in a little hole in the top of the growing sponge, drop it into a little basket, and seat it into the top.

For four years now, most of the time, we have wonderful things growing in my kitchen.  It’s always a bit different, but most of the time this is what’s growing:  always a red or yellow cherry tomato, a big loose leaf lettuce that I pull from for our salads at least twice a week, a small romaine lettuce,  a fresh basil plant, and some parsley.

This unit sits on a shelf in my kitchen, taking up very little room.  They provide their own light, you just have to plug them in.   Water every other day or so, and give them nutrients once every two weeks. If you are growing something with a fruit, like tomatoes, you have use a small brush to pollinate.   

That’s it:  just a few minutes every other day or so.  Aerogardens, and the cheaper knock-off versions are for sale everywhere now and the prices are coming down.