Bypass the produce section

Although the plants in the above photo are continuing to provide fresh produce everyday I have already started replacements. We have been harvesting the outer leaves of these plants for several weeks and we have enjoyed many a nice meal from this planting.

This time of year I browse the gardening forums and people are writing about planting lettuce in their gardens, and soon many will be asking for all kinds of help with plant diseases and bugs. Some write that they have been waiting for months to get back to gardening.

With such a simple alternative available I can not help but wonder why urban hydroponic gardening is not more popular. It could be that hydroponics has a bad reputation due to the people growing illegal crops. I get comments frequently like: "one of these days the cops are going to pay you a visit to see what you are growing in that greenhouse." My reply is that they are welcome anytime, and that I will treat them to a nice healthy salad if they stop by.

Recently I watched a documentary on nutrition, and the person being interviewed stated that the produce in the supermarket travels, on average, 1500 to 2000 miles to get to the market, is more than a week old when you buy it, and has lost 40% of its nutritional value by the time you eat it. And, and this is a BIG AND, Lord only knows what it was sprayed, and fertilized, with when it was grown!

I prefer to bypass the produce section.