Here at Mother Earth Living, we frequently hear from people who would love to garden but don’t have outdoor space to call their own. Of course we always advise people to look to the community to find gardening space and give tips on small-space growing, but there is nothing that can replace the delight of growing fresh food right in your own home. So when Worm’s Way offered to let me try out one of their hydroponic growing kits in our office, I thought it would be a great way to test out a growing system I had no experience with—not to mention get some fresh salad greens and herbs to enjoy at lunch—to see if it was something that made sense to recommend to our readers.
When I first got all the parts, I will admit I was a little overwhelmed. Constructing anything—even the simplest of things—is not my strong suit. Fortunately, my husband, programming director for the Mother Earth News Fairs, offered to help me and house the system in his office.
The first steps were to put it all together. With some help from the staff at Worm’s Way, James was able to make that happen. Then we started seeds in the “plugs” provided to us until we had little growing seedlings. We chose to grow lettuces and basil, one of our favorite herbs. The next step is to add water to the reservoir (yes, many people were wondering what I was doing hauling bucketsful of water from our break room to James’ office) and—now for the fun science part!—testing the water and adjusting the pH until it’s in the right range for growing.
Finally, we put our little seedlings in the growing containers, surrounded them with rock, and turned on the pump. Our system was ready to grow! Here is a pic of it the second week. I’ll keep you posted as it continues to grow and let you know how hydroponic growing is working for me.
Here is a view of the hydroponics system at the end of the first week. The water looks murky because of the nutrients you add to help the plants grow—more on that in the Hydroponics in the Office, Post 2!
Here’s another view of our sweet little seedlings. Doesn’t this look refreshing in the midst of a February snowstorm???
This is the stuff you use to adjust the pH levels. You simply take a sample of your water and put it in the little vial, then add a few drops of the pH test indicator to see what color it is. You’re looking for a nice yellow-green color. The charts on the back tell you what to do: Too red? Add the pH down solution, too blue, add the pH up. Pretty simple and super fun!
