A lot of people still don’t realise how practical it can be to grow your own food. You get to know exactly what’s in it. You also get to save tons of money on groceries. Some people may be intimidated by the idea, however, and don’t know where to start. Growing herbs and vegetables from home is much easier than you might imagine when you have the basics down. Here are the steps for starting to grow produce from home indoors.
Choose the System
The first thing you have to decide is what method you’re going to use. You can either go traditional with soil and common fertilising methods or go hydroponic. While the traditional method has the benefit of being simpler, hydroponic has plenty of advantages that should be considered.
For one, it takes less space. Second, you can grow much more produce hydroponically, not only because it saves space, but you can grow vertically as well. The cost is usually what scares people away from hydroponics, but there are tons of suppliers like progrow.co.uk that sell everything from grow lights to hydroponic fertiliser and complete kits at a fraction of the price you’d pay at your average brick and mortar, so this is a good option for supplies for a starting operation.
Pick Easy Crops
When choosing what you’re going to grow, go with plants that will be easy to grow and forgiving. For beginners, we suggest you go with dark leafy greens if you were thinking of growing traditionally. Dark leafy greens like lettuce, arugula, and spinach are also great for hydroponics as they handle cool temperatures very well. You also have crops like radishes that don’t’ require much light, so that could allow you to save on your light setup. Herbs are also a good choice for people getting started for the same reasons.
Get the Right Supplies
No matter which option you pick, your grow lights will probably be the most important thing to look for. Lights will depend on the type of product you decide to go for. If you go for crops that don’t need that much sun and warmth as the ones mentioned earlier, traditional shop light should work. But for crops that love the sun, you will need to look into things like CMH grow lights.
Traditional growers will need to start looking for things like potting and seed starting mix, pots, watering equipment, and ventilation. For hydroponics, you will need to start looking at reservoirs, pumps, LED grow lights, and support structures for the pots. You will also need things like opaque containers for your roots as light could cause algae to grow.
Once you have all of your basic equipment and decided on which type of crops you are going to grow, you are ready to get started. It will be up to you to know exactly what every plant needs, and constantly keep fine-tuning your gardening knowledge and skills.