18th
hydroponic garden system setup - Why Grow Food Hydroponically?
Hi Folks, as the first post I thought I’d talk about why we would want to grow our food hydroponically.
If you have been interested in growing fruit and vegetables hydroponically for a while, you’ve probably mentioned it to friends and family. The first thing most people ask is “why would you want to?” Heck, you may have even got some strange looks! So lets address this perfectly valid question.
In a nutshell, hydroponically grown food tastes better, plain and simple.
Blandness
If you’ve ever tasted a tomato from a supermarket, you’ll no doubt know how bland tasting it was. There are many reasons why supermarket fruit and veg is bland, most of which resolve around money. You see, farmers get paid just the same whether they have a small crop of delicious tasting fruit and veg or a bumper size crop of tasteless produce. Obviously, the small crop is going to bring in less money overall as there is less of it! In response to this, modern farming attempts to get as much produce into a space as possible, taste suffering as a result.
Ripeness
Supermarket fruit and veg is picked before it’s had a chance to ripen properly. Why is this done you ask? Next time you take a look in your local supermarket, check out where your fruit and veg comes from. How much of it is grown in your country? Not much I’m betting. Most of the produce sold is imported from foreign countries. Because of this, and the haulage distances involved, it needs to be picked too early to ensure it doesn’t rot by the time it reaches the store! As a result, the taste suffers dramatically, especially for tomatoes.
Food tasted better years ago
You’ve probably heard our older generation say that food used to taste so much better in the olden days. Well folks, we didn’t have the intensive farming methods years ago! Couple that with the fact that food used to be grown and sold locally (meaning the local farmer could leave it to ripen, no long distance travelling to worry about), you can see why they are right. The good news is that you don’t have to put up with tasteless fruit and veg, with a few steps and simple equipment, you can be on your way to fruit and veg like you’ve never tasted before. As a bonus, your shopping bill will be much cheaper too.
