HAVE YOU CONSIDERED 
HYDROPONIC GARDENING?
The Benefits of Hydroponics
There are many reasons and benefits for changing to hydroponic gardening. Hydroponics has been proven to have advantages over standard soil gardening. Hydroponic plants not only grow between 30% and 50% faster than soil grown plants but they yield more crops. There are several reasons that scientists feel explain this. When plants are grown correctly in water there is a lot of extra oxygen which stimulates plant growth. Plants that are properly oxygenated efficiently absorb nutrients. Nutrients that are added to the water in a hydroponic system get directly to the plant's roots therefore the plant does not have to search around in the soil for this much needed nutrition. It is also getting this nutrition several times a day. The plant does not have to waste energy searching for food, it can put that energy toward growth and food production. Hydroponically grown plants also have much fewer cases of bug infestations, funguses and diseases. Basically, plants grown hydroponically are healthier and more productive.
There are also environmental benefits to growing crops hydroponically. Growing plants in water, amazing enough, uses less water than traditionally grown soil plants because the nutrient solution is continually reused. Because there really is no need, pesticides are not used on hydroponic crops. And because these plants are not grown in the ground, topsoil erosion is not an issue a hydroponic gardener contributes to. If traditional food production continues the way it has in the past with pesticide use, extensive water use, and topsoil erosion than hydroponics could be the solution to help out planet recover from these abuses.
The History of Hydroponics
The word hydroponics comes from two Greek words, "hydro" meaning water and "ponics" meaning labor. Soil less gardening is not a new concept. It has been around for thousands of years. One of the earliest examples of hydroponic gardening is the Hanging Gardens of Babylon built in the city of Babylon, Iraq around 600 BCE and is considered one of the original Seven Wonders of the World. Scientists started seriously experimenting with hydroponic gardening in the 1950s and it has consistently grown in popularity every since. Now that we are in an age where organic gardening is hitting the main stream, hydroponics has been reaping the benefits of it. Other countries have used and continue to use hydroponic gardening for crop production with huge success. There are many family farmers here in San Diego who are finding great success with it, as well. Buy local!