pragmaticphotos: So I wanted to learn about hydroponics. I bought a few books and then figured I'd go the easy route and get one of these fancy Aerogarden things that no self respecting chef could live without (at least according to the infomercials).
pragmaticphotos: Here it looks like some long shot of a national memorial. Yes it is black and it is shiny with a back lit logo thingy on the top.
pragmaticphotos: Over time they grew.
pragmaticphotos: They came out pretty good but not any better than what you get at the store.
pragmaticphotos: Then I decided I'd take a shot at building one from scratch after finding the plans online.
pragmaticphotos: And so I built this heinous looking thing... what a truly appalling thing it was.
pragmaticphotos: Meanwhile back at the Aerogarden the cherry tomatoes flourished.
pragmaticphotos: I had made sure to hand polinate the flowers real good and thus little tomatoes grew in their place.
pragmaticphotos: The villagers were happy with the new fruit they had grown. There was rejoicing and a virgin was sacraficed to insure a good harvest.
pragmaticphotos: Got some 2" PVC pipe and drilled some holes in it to accomodate the 2" netpots.
pragmaticphotos: I tried some different ideas in regards to stands.
pragmaticphotos: And this is done with the fancy water pump system.
pragmaticphotos: Tried yet another style of herb garden with the Aerogarden.
pragmaticphotos: Doubled the capacity of the fancy style water pump garden.
pragmaticphotos: The little herb garden grew... well at least the basil grew like crazy.
pragmaticphotos: See what I mean.
pragmaticphotos: Finally I converted the Aerogarden for my own purposes. I wanted to start my seeds inside ahead of time. Pick the best to put outside. All that good stuff.
pragmaticphotos: I made sure to put to air bubblers in there to keep the little seeds and plants well airated.
pragmaticphotos: And thus they sprouted the little sproutlings they did.
pragmaticphotos: Slowly I began to move then outside after turning the gardens into just plain aerated tubes of nutrients added as required.
pragmaticphotos: This was towards the end of summer I'm thinking. Maybe the date on this photo will provide further insight as I am likely wrong.
pragmaticphotos: The sproutlings where pretty happy outside in the real sun.
pragmaticphotos: Close up
pragmaticphotos: They kept on growing they did.
pragmaticphotos: And there was more growing and I built some more gardens. Even came up with a design to all indeterminate plants to be supported.
pragmaticphotos: Supported with strings and such. Oh the geometry.
pragmaticphotos: Still it's got some clean line heh?
pragmaticphotos: More new seedlings were planted from inside.
pragmaticphotos: And there was sun.
pragmaticphotos: Nutrients and fancy filtered water. The PPM of the water is under 30 and then the food for the plant stage is diluted into the mix.