This soiless garden can support about forty plants. We have grown many varieties of lettuce, spinach, herbs, tomatoes, cucumbers, jalapeno peppers,as well as many types of flowers. In addition,climbing plants such as morning glories or four o'clocks or nasturtia are grown directly from the surface of the aquarium by inserting Jiffy 7 pots into floating styrofoam. These are supported so they arch across the ceiling. Unless there is a need for a specific photoperiod, lights are left on for 24 hours.
Growth is rapid in the system.
A crop of leafy vegetables like spinach or soft leaved lettuce is ready for harvest in about four weeks. There is ample time to allow each student in each class to grow his or her own crop and perhaps time for some special individual projects at the end of the year. We usually celebrate the harvest with a pizza and salad party made from the classes own vegetables, of course. While in use the system can be used to visually demonstrate many important scientific principles from a variety of disciplines such as, animal and plant physiology, microbiology, and, of course, ecology. The construction details are as follows.