Introduction

There are many people writing about games AND food for example @playfulfoodie I am not one of them.. This is still mostly a gaming channel. However, everyone needs some kind of hobby to clear one's mind in case you're stuck on that boss fight.. Growing cooking herbs became my passion for now, so I decided to try this lil’ cooking related post and see how you guys like it.

Hydroponics

Most people never heard of it. In fact, even if you grow plants as a living there is a good chance you never seen it or heard of it. Let's start by saying I am no expert in this field and just recently I picked this method up. I imediatly had to make it my new hobby because it absolutely fascinated me.. Since I really like cooking, Hydroponics allow me to grow herbs all year with little to no drawbacks.

How does it work

There are several theories to adopt. The one we will use in this article is called "Kratky". I will quickly explain how it works but if you truly want to understand, there is alot of reading to do. Basicaly, your grow plants without soil. Your sprouts are able to grow roots that can absorb nutrients from water. So given you have water with enough nutrients and the right PH (required for the plant to be able to absorb it), it will grow super fast with no soil at all.

Once you gather ingredients written bellow, you just need to follow few simple steps. First you put water in a container and lower Ph to a lvl required by your plant (Just google what you want to grow). Second, you pour in nutrients, there is a guide on every bottle (regarding how much you should use). Then you put your sprouts in a growing media and fix it so it's just above the water or touching it. Last part is lighting, you can use this method to grow under the sun, but if you want to do it year-around and without pests, you need to get a growlight and keep the plant inside.

What do you need

1. Growlight (your choice - bulb, led, fluorescent lamp)
   
2. Big enough container (Usualy around 5 gallons if you don't want to replenish it)
   
3. Some small pots and rockwool (limit is your imagination - this is what i use)
   
4. Ph control kit (availible almost everywhere - i recommend dry form)
   
5. Nutrients (Hardest part - You buy them online just make sure they are for hydroponics)
   
   

Setting up your pots

Again, limit is your imagination. I started with a few bottles and after first succesful harvest, I decided to make a growbox. I will post screens bellow, the whole thing cost me about 30 bucks and it can produce 12 plants at the same time.

What can you grow?

This is designed to be a simple, hands-off method. That means it can’t really account for the increased nutrient and water requirements of plants that bear fruit. Use this for leafy greens like lettuce, spinach, etc – not fruiting plants like tomatoes, cucumbers, etc. Right now, I am experimenting with peas.. will keep you updated.

Hope you liked this "out of the blue" post and thanks for reading