Hydroponic growing from your kitchen

Bring your gardening passion to the kitchen with hydroponic growing, indoor composting, fruit trees, and air-purifying plants. Harvest yummy rewards and add a refreshing splash of greenery to the space you spend so much time in.

Lighten up your kitchen by installing LED grow lights to revive dark areas and get all your greens flourishing beautifully.

Hydroponic planting 

Experiment going soil-free and dare to be different with an intriguing water-based, edible garden. Hydroponic planting gives you complete control of the environment, minimises pests, boosts plant growth, and enables multiple veg varieties in one space.

Try planting lettuce, spinach, strawberries, blueberries, bell peppers, tomatoes, and cucumber (remember to grow according to season).

There are also self-watering vertical gardens for elegant and eye-catching living décor.

Kitchen composting 

You don’t need a backyard to be a compost-pro. Turn your kitchen waste into eco-gold by setting up a bucket or bin system with tight-fitting lids. Compost buckets fit neatly in a cupboard and provide easy, quick solutions to organic waste disposal.

Worm farming kits are also handy kitchen helpers and can be purchased from your local nursery.

Growing from scraps and soil-free try these:  

– Leafy veggies such as celery and lettuce.

– Bulbs such as onions and leeks.

– Root veggies such as beets and ginger.

– Fruits such as key limes and avocados.

Lovely lemons 

A lemon tree in the kitchen is a happy reminder to always make lemonade from life. These trees like high-light spaces (also substitutable with LED grow lights) and perform best in porous clay pots, which allow natural water evaporation and prevent water-logging issues (unlike plastic pots).

The Eureka Lemon (Citrus Lemon ‘Eureka’) and the Lemon Meyer (Citrus x Meyeri) are perfect for the kitchen or patio and will bear fruit all year round.

Tree tip: Feed citrus trees with a general fertiliser and a handful of Epsom salt per tree.

Maintain your indoor pot plants by replacing one-third of the topsoil with new, nutritious potting soil.

Snakes and spiders 

There’s even space in the kitchen garden for gogga-inspired greenery. Try planting these:

• Spider Plant (Chlorophytum comosum): An easy indoor plant that enjoys occasional watering on the windowsill. These plants are natural air purifiers that will help remove odours, fumes, and pollutants from the environment which is very handy to have in the kitchen. Spider plants are also non-toxic and are in fact edible, making them safe for pets and children.
• Snake Plant/ Mother in Law’s Tongue (Sansevieria): A good low-light contender that likes to be left alone. These plants are a good choice for the kitchen as they perform a unique type of sun-less photosynthesis, allowing them to release crisp oxygen all night long. They are highly adaptive to their environment and add an architectonic intrigue to the space.

DID YOU KNOW?

Click on the words highlighted in red to read more on this and related topics.
To receive news links via WhatsApp or Telegram, send an invite to 061 694 6047
The South Coast Sun is also on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram– why not join us there?

Do you have more information pertaining to this story?
Feel free to let us know by commenting on our Facebook page or you can contact our newsroom on 031 903 2341 and speak to a journalist.

(Comments posted on this issue may be used for publication in the Sun)