Watched a TV program the other day about the prospects for space tourism. Need to be pretty darn wealthy, and young, to enjoy one of those trips, I thought. Then about half way through the program what should pop up, but a segment on the need to eat while staying at a sky hotel circling the earth, or off somewhere in space.
As part of the preparations for making a space resort a reality they had built, wait for it, a hydroponic system inside a glass tunnel, which they called a Luna greenhouse. You can guess where that sent me, where else? straight off on a research detour, visiting a heck of a lot of sites, looking for housing and nutrient information.
By the time my feet began to freeze and my mouth dried for lack of sustenance, I was forced to concede that unless I ignored everything else of interest connected to the subject, I could read my eyes white and not progress in any practical areas of plant feeding and growth. Which I confess is easier than getting off my chair and actually, physically making a start.
But – Where do you start??
Well, the first thing I did as I didn’t have a greenhouse yet, was to buy six seedlings, very cheap, from a nursery warehouse and start them off on a windowsill in my living room, which gets lots of sun in the afternoon. They grew beautifully there and so quickly that they were ready to plant out before the frosts were over. We are in a colder part of the country here so I couldn’t just plant them out so just put the pots out every day to harden them off. Bit of a pain really and they didn’t seem to be doing so well, so I brought them back in for a while.
Not having any kind of hydroponic gear, I decided to take the first step by preparing a small, 6×4′, plot on the sunny side of my house. It is marked on each side by the house and side path and so is not part of the main garden.
So – first step, manure the small plot, stake the edges and surround back and two sides with clear plastic sheeting as protection from the winds (which whistle up the sides of the house in all seasons, it being on the side of a large hill), and shade cloth to protect the plants from the fierce summer sun.
The tomatoes had already grown a couple of feet while inside, but I still had enough room to plant a cucumber, courgette and bell pepper in the space available.
Within three weeks, the tomatoes had grown another couple of feet and had lovely ripening tomatoes, a pepper was ready to pick and courgettes were almost big enough to harvest.
Of course, not being grown completely hydroponically, the protection I have provided means the weeds are also lapping it up.
So – second step, weed, weed and weed. And plan furiously to be prepared for the day my tunnel house is ready to accept growing plants in a weed free environment.
I have to say though, that if this is the result of just the weather protection and nutrients I supplied here, I really can’t wait to get on to the harvests that can be achieved by growing produce in a real hydroponic environment.