Hydroponic Gardening: How to Grow an Indoor Garden for Maximum Harvest

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Growing and harvesting your own food is every homesteaders dream, but if you are presently homesteading from an apartment, options can seem limited.  Sometimes you can create outside space by renting a community plot or maybe using some of a friends yard, but if you want to find an independent option, I am a huge fan of hydroponic gardens.

Whether you buy an easy to use hydroponic system or make one yourself, hydroponic systems can be easily customized to your space needs and have a number of benefits.

BENEFITS OF HYDROPONIC GARDENS

• Great for getting a harvest in a small space

• Helps save on buying produce at the store or market.  When I used to buy herbs at the store for a recipe, I had to buy a certain bulk because that was what was available, and I usually didn’t need that much.  So I felt like a lot would go to waste.  With hydroponics, I can root the extra cuttings to START a crop, and then cross that herb off the future grocery list!

• No dirt. Hydroponic garden don’t make a mess and require infrequent cleaning.

• They are low maintenance in general. A self contained system is easy to take care of. Apart from cleaning the system yearly and replacing wicks (if applicable), all I have to do is keep the water tank filled for mine. If the lights are on a timer, which most are, that makes your job even easier.

With just a little bit of research, you can find a hydroponic system that works for you: size, design, budget, you name it.  Technically, the cheapest hydroponic option available to everyone is a simple container filled with water!  Add some edible cuttings like mint or basil and you can regrow herbs that easy.  I currently have some Cuban Oregano growing roots in a small glass jar.  Mint is a great herb for this method too, because it grows so fast.

I have been hydroponic gardening for a few years now and have a couple countertop systems.  Here are tips that I have learned along the way:

Low light plants do best.

Unless you want to invest in the extra fancy light systems, the lowest light plants will thrive the best and give you the greatest harvest.  Starting out, I grew some veggies and fruit like cherry tomatoes or strawberries, but the crops with the best yield by far were leafy greens and herbs.  I dedicated one of my smaller systems to my favorite herbs so I didn’t need to buy them at the store anymore!  Then my larger system was for a variety of rich leafy greens so I could have cut-and-come-again salads anytime I wanted!

How to grow indoor plants when you have pets

When I started growing greens, my cats decided they were also allowed to eat them which was not good for my harvest… or their bellies!  I managed to find the perfect sized mesh greenhouse cover to keep them out and it restored my harvest.  If you want to have something more aesthetic, you can always DIY a mesh tent or get a fancy cloche, or experiment with placement height of the system, but for me this worked wonders and was both easy and inexpensive.

The only way to know what works for you is to start growing! Experiment and enjoy!