Mint Gone Wild: Managing Aggressive Plants Hydroponically
Now, allow me to explain The Great Mint Uprising of 2020. Allow me to set the stage first: I went to visit my parents in Rockford for a long weekend.…
Building My Off-Grid Rainwater System
The first time it hit me that I was officially “that guy” was not when I started tracking rainfall in my dedicated notebook or when I began eyeing every downspout…
My Microgreens Harvest Technique for Maximum Yield
My personal awakening to microgreens’ obsession did not happen when I transformed my kitchen countertop into a designated growing station or stole a spray bottle from the bathroom to keep…
My Year-Round Aeroponic Growing Schedule
Had you told me five years ago that I’d evolve into someone who keeps a color-coded spreadsheet of plant growth rates under artificial lighting, including recipes for nutrient solutions in…
How I Created My Own Hydroponic Nutrient Solution
It is widely known that hydroponic nutrients can be very expensive. Well, how expensive exactly? I’ll put it this way, “Maybe I should just plant this lettuce in an actual…
Aeroponics vs Hydroponics: My Side-by-Side Test
So, I remembered that last month, I woke up to an idea that seemed great at 3 am but dubious at daybreak – an idea that always makes you wake…
The Perfect Run Time: My Drip Irrigation Experiment
There once was a time I spent three unimaginable hours staring at dirt. That is not due to some meditative nature retreat. I really meant spent watching water moving through…
Starting My Balcony Garden from Grocery Store Scraps
The entire episode started with a head of romaine lettuce and unabashed cheapness. I was cutting up a salad in my kitchen and trimming off the bottom inch of the…
Automating My Rainwater Collection System
I felt somewhat innovative with my collection of barrels for capturing rainwater, each 55-gallon blue barrel linked with PVC pipe collecting roof runoff which I used to irrigate my ever-expanding…
My Journey from Soil to Water: First-Year Hydroponic Tips
No one warned me that I would miss the soil that clung beneath my finger nails. After fifteen years of traditional gardening—wrestling with the Illinois clay, amending soil with sufficient…