Originally Posted by
Jay DeFehr
Very nice, Eddy. Many years ago I became interested in hydroponics, and decided to give it a go, in a very low-fi way. I filled a 5 gallon bucket with rocks and gravel from my driveway, a nice mix from fist-sized down to pea-sized, and started a single tomato plant with some home-brew nutrient solution. had a leaky spigot outside my kitchen window, and placed the pail beneath it, so the media had a more or less constant supply of water -- just enough to keep the stones moist. To my great surprise, the little tomato plant took off! I stung a line to the peak of my roof and down to the pail, and pruned the tomato to a single vine. Every few days, another cluster of perfect, vine-ripened tomatoes was ready to eat, until at the end of the growing season, the vine had reached the peak of my roof, 25' above the pail. I grew tomatoes every year after that-- more varieties than I can list here -- and I've not been able to buy them without holding my nose until I moved to Seattle. We are very lucky to have numerous local organic growers to choose from, year-round. The pink styrofoam tomatoes sold in most grocery stores are an abomination, and bear only a superficial resemblance to the real thing.
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