How to Create a Self Sufficient Hydroponic Garden?

Do you to start gardening at home? Would you like to grow your fruits and vegetables simply and efficiently? Are you hesitating between hydroponics and growing with soil?

Our team of experts is here to answer your questions!

Self-sufficient gardening is growing your own fruits and vegetables with a soil or hydroponic garden to feed your family so that you never depend on a supermarket again.

In this article, you will discover: 

• What are the benefits of automatic home gardening
• What is the most profitable method between growing with water and growing with soil
• How to set up your first passive garden

At the end of this article, you will know everything about self-sufficient gardening and the differences between aquaculture and traditional gardening. The objective? To successfully launch yourself and not depend on anyone anymore!

Let's get started!

All you need to know about Self Sufficient Gardening

Before we teach you how to create your own self-sufficient garden, it is essential to explain exactly what self-sufficiency is and why it is increasingly important.

First, let's discover and answer together the most asked questions about this trend.

What is a Self Sufficient Garden?

A self-sufficient vegetable garden is a plantation composed of different fruits and vegetables that covers your consumption and that of your family.

This method is becoming increasingly popular due to the growing distrust of supermarkets that sell fruits and vegetables with pesticides, but also because of the rising cost of living in general.

The Advantages of being Food Self Sufficient at Home

This way of growing your own food at home has many advantages:

• Be sure of the quality of your food: you will control the entire growing process, from planting to harvesting. This will allow you to avoid pesticides and to eat organic
• Save money: although some vegetables are affordable, others are expensive. Producing vegetables yourself will take a little more time, but you will gain a lot in the end
• Suitable for houses and apartments: with the multiplication of growing methods, there are no longer any limits to the type of housing

Why Hydroponic Gardening is a good alternative to Soil Gardening?

If you are interested in gardening, you must have already heard about hydroponics.

This technology has been around for a long time, but it was only made public a few decades ago. The goal? To have a vegetable garden that runs on water.

Gardening with potting soil has always been the gold standard for gardening at home: low investment, good yield, ... It has also recently been democratized in the city, which was thought impossible a few years ago.

However, this method suffers from many constraints:

• Need to have a large space: although it is relatively easy to have a small plot of land at home, it is not enough to be self-sufficient. Moreover, it can sometimes be complicated to have a plot of land in expensive cities like New York.
• Being dependent on the climate: in some regions, there is more or less rain, more or less sun. These two factors can strongly impact your production, especially if you grow fruits or vegetables that require specific climatic conditions
• Global warming: large-scale agriculture is increasingly suffering from soil and water pollution. This aspect also affects personal farms in cities, but also those close to roads.

On the contrary, hydro farming allows to fight against these disadvantages:

• No more space problems! With hydroponics, you can choose an all-in-one growing system that best suits your needs according to different criteria (size, use, features)
• No more climate inequalities! The growing system has a built-in light with different modes that will allow you to adjust the light needs of your plantation
• Down with global warming and pollution! Choose a solution without constraints that allows you to grow everything from your home without the inconvenience of the weather outside

What if hydroponics was a real revolution?

How to Set-Up your First Self Sufficient Garden without Water?

Now that we've laid the groundwork, let's get to the heart of the matter and explain how to set up your first garden without soil!

Our goal is to explain to you step by step how to set up your system correctly so that you get the best yields.

This guide shows you how to set up your first hydroponic garden using the easiest to use hydroponic method with an all-in-one hydroponic system.

There are variations such as aeroponics, aquaponics or the Kratky method. We will detail these methods in a future article dedicated to them!

Equipment Required for your first Hydro Garden

To set up your first soil-less garden, you will need :

• A soil-less growing system;
• Hydroponic sponges (or a hydroponic growing medium);
• Hydroponic basket;
• Hydroponic nutrient solution

Steps to Install Hydroponic System

1) Once all the elements are unpacked, put the seeds in your hydroponic sponges or in the growing medium

2) Add everything in hydroponic baskets, then insert them in your hydro gardening machine

3) Fill your water tank and add hydroponic growing solution according to the number of liters of water

4) Plug in your system and select the most appropriate mode for what you are growing

And that's it! It's up to you to play with the different light modes and features to best adapt the system to your plants!

In the long run, your system will allow you to grow many fruits and vegetables. Hydroponics is particularly suitable for leafy vegetables, herbs, etc.

As time goes by, this method will allow you to be totally autonomous and to grow evenly throughout the year, regardless of the seasons and the region where you live.

How to maintain your Soilless System

Once your system is installed and your first fruits and vegetables are harvested, it is important to regularly take care of your water garden so that it functions optimally for years to come.

There are a few simple tricks that can be used to optimize its functioning and yield:

• Regular water renewal: it is important to renew the water and the hydroponic solution every one to two weeks (depending on the number of plants you have) so that your garden has new nutrients.
• Renewing your hydroponic sponges or growing media: it is important to renew this element as soon as you want to renew your plants. Indeed, they will tend to be damaged with time and will not be able to ensure their function correctly.
• PH optimization: to be grown hydroponically, some fruits and vegetables require more acidic or basic water. A PH tester will allow you to know more precisely this criterion to take corrective actions according to the results.

Make the choice of Hydroponics!

As you can see, there are many ways to get started in self-sufficient gardening. Whatever you choose, you can now grow your own fruits and vegetables at home without going to the supermarket.

Indeed, with all the information contained in this article, it will now be easier to know which method to adopt depending on the plants you grow at home.

Hydroponics will be ideal for all kinds of fruits and vegetables, as long as they are not too heavy. Furthermore, the second part of this guide gave you all the keys to start your first hydroponic system!

Discover our Growing Systems by clicking on the image below!