Story Title: Hydroponic Lettuce
Episode: Food and Garden Special
Date: 4 April 2010
Presenter: Neville Passmore

The hydroponic production of lettuce has revolutionised the salad industry worldwide. Crops can be produced year round with the benefits of faster cleaner production and a premium quality end product. At the same time newer varieties of lettuce with improved colours and leaf shapes have seen the market expand dramatically, and now you can grow them at home and save water.

Neville's Tips and Facts

• Hydroponics is gardening without soil. In hydroponic gardening systems, plants are placed in a growing medium and nutrients are provided directly to the roots.
• One of the heralded benefits of hydroponic gardening is how it can alleviate poverty while simultaneously easing strains on the environment. Hydroponic gardening systems can be set up to recycle water and nutrients, greatly reducing the resources necessary to grow food.
• Recycling hydroponic systems use as little as 10% of the water that traditional agriculture requires, a tremendous benefit in areas entirely dependent on irrigation. Hydroponic gardening virtually eliminates the need for herbicides and pesticides, and hydroponic gardeners need only use about 1/4 the fertilizer that traditional gardeners require.

•  Now with the change of season it's time to get planting in soil based beds as autumn and winter rains take care of the watering without using scheme water.

Download other waterwise hints and tips.

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