Farmville in my basement

     Hello.  My name is Joe, and I have recently taken up the hobby of hydroponic gardening.  This hobby started one day when I thought that my wife could use some help with some basil plants that she was growing.  I picked up a small flood and drain style hydroponic system for her, thinking that the automated watering would make our lives easier.  What I didn't know was that I was going to really screw stuff up with that first garden.  Well, at first anyways.  Now my wife and I have plenty of plants growing and producing fruit and vegetables.  Amanda, my wife, has been encouraging me to post pictures of our success on the internet for our distant friends and family to see.  This blog will serve as host for the pictures, plus it will be a place for me to keep track of current projects and their progress.

     The one small system is still around, but there are several other systems in place as well - hence the 'farmville in my basement' title.  At present, we have two areas in our basement: a seedling and vegetative growth area, and a flowering area.  Our flowering area has a 600 watt high pressure sodium (HPS) light, 5 constant drip buckets, and a 20 gallon reservoir with plants placed directly in the water for deep water culture or poor man's aeroponics.  The growth area has two T5 florescent lights with 4 bulbs each.  There are 2 flood and drain gardens, a deep water culture garden, a spray/mist cloner, and a hot house for seedlings.  I'm working on assembling a nutrient film technique (NFT) garden.  I also have several compact florescent lights that I have been using for side lighting.

     The pictures will be posted later tonight or tomorrow.  The next couple of posts will be about the lessons that I have learned since I first started playing with the idea of hydroponic gardening.  Hopefully the information that I have to offer will be of some help to others that are already gardening, or interested in starting.