Plant Growing Methods

Another plant growing method we have used is hydroponics. With a hydroponics system, plants get their nutrients from a nutrient solution instead of soil. This system is similar to aeroponics in that both use a nutrient solution instead of soil. The difference is how the plant's root system contacts the nutrient solution.

In a hydroponics system, the plant roots grow down into the nutrient solution just as it would soil. The nutrient solution gets circulated throughout the system. In an aeroponics system, the roots get their nutrients by having the nutrient solution rain down over the roots or by having nutrient solution sprayed on the plant roots. The plant roots do not sit in nutrient solution at all times.

With this type of system, you have choices. You can buy a small prebuilt system or create your own with some simple items you can purchase at the hardware store. I…

In addition to basic pot and soil growing systems, we also use an aeroponic plant growing system. An aeroponic plant growing system creates an air and mist environment for plants to grow in instead of soil. This system allows you to grow more food in a smaller footprint by growing multiple plants vertically.

We use the Tower Garden aeroponic system. We have three Tower Garden plant towers in our greenhouse. Each tower garden has 24 slots, and each tower slot can hold up to three plants. This system does not use any soil. It uses a nutrient solution. The nutrient solution is created by mixing 30 gallons of water, 200 milliliters of type "A" nutrient, and 200 milliliters of type "B". The nutrient solution is pumped to the top of the tower and rains down on the seeds planted in each slot. The mist environment exists within the tower garden.…

A flower pot and soil are one of the two most simple growing methods. The other simple method for growing plants is basic gardening with soil without a flower pot or container. We have used both of these methods. Let's look at our experiences with both of these methods.

Basic gardening in our yard is difficult. We have clay soil that does not drain well at all. Only grass, weeds, and select flowers will grow in our soil. I could add additional soil and amendments to change the soil consistency. However, this process is slow. It can take years to get the soil consistency right.

Due to the challenges of my yard, raised garden beds and pots have worked better. By using raised flower beds and flower pots, I can custom mix the soil for the type of plants I will be growing, which eliminates having to fight with clay…