Water Efficiency
When it’s time to water an outdoor garden, much of the water you use goes straight into the ground and not into your plants’ roots. This raises your water usage, and the cost of over- or underwatering can be harmful diseases, molds, or pests. In a hydroponic garden, you apply the water and fertilizer directly to the roots of the plant—no soil needed. Any runoff can be used again. Focusing on efficient water usage is a helpful way to improve the environment, especially in areas with little water.
All-Season Gardening
Potentially the biggest of the reasons you should start a hydroponic garden is the draw of gardening all year long, especially in areas with extreme weather. Seasons put a time crunch on gardens. Some regions produce unpredictable weather that can harm your garden—such as spring blizzards or midsummer droughts. With a hydroponic garden, as long as you can regulate the temperature, your garden will remain content in any weather.
Being able to garden in any season also opens up the possibility of growing fruits or vegetables that are out of their normal environments. For example, you can keep tropical fruit safe from extreme cold weather in a warm, humid atmosphere.
Grow Anything
Though some fruits and vegetables especially thrive in hydroponic gardens, with enough practice and patience, you can even grow a mango tree with hydroponics. Some plants may be more difficult, but with careful research on your part, they can live on happily in your hydroponic garden. This means you don’t have to change what you want to grow just because you want to switch to hydroponics.
Faster Growing
Plants that directly receive their water and nutrients through hydroponic irrigation systems will simply grow faster. Typically, you’ll see yields from your harvestable plants long before you would outdoors. This is especially apparent in lettuce and herbs, but it applies to any plant you care for properly.
No Pesky Weeds or Pests
Since you’re controlling the growing medium of your hydroponic garden, no weeds will pop up. Pests can still get in, but they’re less likely, too. You certainly won’t have to worry about bigger pests such as rabbits or mice in your hydroponic garden. Diseases are also far less common in hydroponic gardening; however, they’re still something to watch out for, since there are new ways for plants to contract diseases in hydroponics that you may not have considered.
