Gardening is a Science

Gardening is no longer a simple easy going past time or hobby, gardening is now a science in itself, and gardening is a microcosm of horticultural science. Many of the experimental techniques being developed in the science labs are also being trialled in the smaller garden, whether it is new techniques for irrigation or new methods of growing plants such as hydroponics or aeroponics.

One of the consequences of global warming is that food and horticultural scientists have been tasked with finding innovative methods of growing food on a large commercial scale. Scientists are discovering new methods to enable inhospitable terrain to be exploited for food production, a major breakthrough in this is the use of hydroponics. Hydroponics is a technique of growing plants without soil, the plants are grown in a nutrient solution and therefore plants can be grown in areas that are drought ridden or that have very poor soil, or that have very rocky or mountainous terrain. Hydroponics is a very efficient method of plant growth, it allows the grower to have complete control of the growing environment and can result in plants that are healthier and that grow much faster.

Hydroponics requires the grower to provide all the essential plant nutrients through a growing medium, the plants also require to be moistened but with new techniques this does not mean that hydroponics can only be used in areas with a good water source. The growing medium contains all the nutrients and moisture that the plants require and this can be carefully controlled. Can hydroponics be organic? The simple answer is yes, the nutrients supplied to the plants do not have to contain anything that is not derived naturally and because the growing environment is so controlled pesticides and fungicides are not necessary.

As genetically modified crops have become less popular a gap has developed in food growing, this gap could well be filled by the commercial use of hydroponics. Unlike genetically modified crops those grown using hydroponics do not need any gene altering the crops can be grown successfully by adapting the growing medium as opposed to modifying the plant.

Hydroponics enables the cultivator to have increased yields but also enables more than one harvest to occur in the year. Hydroponics accelerates the growing season and therefore is a very efficient and regulated way of producing food. So can hydroponics cultivation be commercially viable, again the answer is yes. Some countries have already begun to exploit the technology; countries such as the United States and Israel have used hydroponics to produce commercial crops. Other countries such as Panama and Mexico have carried out smaller scale but commercially viable hydroponics growing programmes.

Hydroponics is very appealing to the smaller gardener and many gardeners have introduced polly tunnels and hydroponics systems into green houses. Crops that require heat and moisture seem to thrive best in hydroponics conditions, tomatoes and peppers have been grown successfully using hydroponics. Many gardeners use drip system in green houses to bring on plants and then transplant them outdoors when they are ready, this is a basic and simple hydroponics method. There are also many hydroponics kits that any gardener can buy cheaply and grow for fun. Hydroponics seems to be a real innovation in gardening and cultivating plants.