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What Can You Grow Using Hydroponics? The advantage of hydroponics is that you need not depend on the quality of your regional soil to produce fruits, vegetables, herbs and flowers. Anyone living in the low desert of Arizona knows the soil here, well, sucks. When you grow your plants using hydroponics, you can grow just about any fruit, vegetable, herb or flower you want. Nutrients are delivered directly to the roots, so there is no issue as to the quality of soil. Tomatoes, cucumbers, snow peas, spicy globe basil, chives, lettuce and marigolds can all grow in hydroponics systems, just to name a few of the more commonly grown plants.
If you want to garden here in the low desert of Arizona, but are reluctant to tackle the task of digging out the hard and dusty ground that is our soil, hydroponics can be the answer. The weather allows for a nearly year round growing season, (It’s debatable whether July and August can be considered part of the growing season) and with an outdoor hydroponics system, you can take advantage of the abundant sunlight. Grow your tomatoes and snow peas, your cucumbers and zucchini, your lettuces and greens, your herbs and peppers and pretty flowers. All any plant needs to grow is water, nutrients, oxygen and light. In hydroponics, you can supply them all without breaking your back, or the bank. |
Hydroponics is not a new or new age way to garden or grow food. The Aztecs used hydroponics to grow food for the populations. On an island in Lake Texcoco in what is now Mexico, there was little available land for farming. The Aztecs built rafts with sticks and reeds and seeded these rafts. They then sent them out onto the lake. The nutrient rich waters nourished the seeds and seedlings flourished. The roots grew into the water and the rafts became hosts to crops of food that fed the people of the island.
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Article copyrighted 2009 Shelly McRae Reproduction of all or part by permission only. Contact shelly@justaz.com |