The Hydroponic Garden - Apartment Gardening Made Possible

If you spend 5 minutes in an elevator getting to you front door, then a garden is probably the last thing you thought you could ever have. Well, with a hydroponic garden, you can. A hydroponic garden is basically the same as any conventional garden except for the fact that no soil is involved.

Plants grow in a nutrient rich liquid medium eliminating the need for large heavy planters and masses of difficult to move soil. A hydroponic garden requires little space, natural light and attention and is cost effective to maintain. You can easily start with a small windowsill garden and then move up to a bigger system space permitting.

Now that you know that growing indoors is a possibility, let's talk specifics. There are two basic types of hydroponic garden. One that works exclusively with a liquid growth mediums and one that makes use of solid mediums.

These include vermiculite, peat moss, perlite, gravel and composted bark. You can also choose between an active system that makes use of timers and pumps and a passive system that has no mechanised uses a wick arrangement for the plants nutrient access.

Normally plants receive their nutrients from dissolved soil born minerals. However, in a hydroponic garden the plant receives its food from water born suspension. The three main nutrients involved are phosphorous, potassium and nitrogen. Other nutrient supplements will have to be added according to hydroponic garden plants specific needs.

These are commonly known as micro or macro-nutrients. These are required in differing quantities and are essential for healthy plant growth. These supplements can be manually added to the growth medium or introduced with a more sophisticated and accurate dosing system.

One of the beauties of a hydroponic garden is that pest infestations are kept to a minimum. Many common plant pests are soil dwellers. So, no soil - no pest. Growing indoors is also efficient due to the fact that average yields are larger than conventional gardening.

So for those in apartment 1205B, having a garden is not just a dream anymore. With a hydroponic garden you can grow your own fresh vegetables and flowers in the convenience of your own apartment.