Agriculture Reference
In-Depth Information
FIGURE 7.20
Left to right: mint, sage, sweet marjoram, thyme, and chives in
plant towers. (Courtesy of CuisinArt Golf Resort & Spa, Anguilla.)
to cut them back severely once a week or so. To grow strawberries you
need to purchase live plants as was described in Chapter 2. They will take
several months to start producing. Growing vine crops in plant towers is
not very convenient as only one plant can be grown in a single pot near the
bottom of the tower. If you put many plants in the plant tower, even small
bush varieties the top plants will bear well, but the ones in the middle and
lower of the tower will not get sufficient light to be productive. We have
already talked about many more suitable systems for growing your toma-
toes, peppers, eggplants, and cucumbers.
POPULAR HYDROPONICS
“Popular hydroponics” is a term coined by a group of nonprofit organiza-
tions from the universities of Colombia and Peru to get people involved
in producing their own vegetables in poor communities. The universities
together with community members developed very inexpensive, simple,
nonmechanical methods of growing hydroponically on a small scale. The
principle is to use inexpensive local materials or waste such as old tires or
plastic containers. Drainage holes are drilled in the containers prior to fill-
ing them with media such as peat, rocks, rice hulls, coco coir, or mixtures
of these substrates. Seeds are sown in these gardens and the plants fed with
a hydroponic nutrient solution developed by the universities. The growers
are given seeds, nutrients, and other supplies at a very low cost. Lettuce,
