Hydroponic Herb Garden Kit - A Great Alternative to DIY

By Charlie Pearson

Should You Get a Hydroponic Herb Garden Kit?

You certainly could build your own hydroponic system, but often it is easier just to buy a hydroponic herb garden kit. And you might even save money by doing it.

There are many advantages to buying a kit. Let's look at a hydroponic herb garden kit, for example. First and foremost, a kit will come with everything you need to grow hydroponic herbs. You won't have to do any research on each separate component since they all arrive in one box. And more importantly, everything will fit together. It's terrible to figure out that the tubing you bought doesn't fit your pump, your net pots don't fit in the spaces you planned for them, or you bought the wrong light. All the hardware is included in a kit so there aren't multiple trips to the store to buy parts you didn't know you needed. Sometimes when you're making your own system you even need to buy tools like a hole saw to put holes in your reservoir, buckets, PVC piping or whatever other material you bought. A kit eliminates all the problems and should go together easily.

A hydroponic herb garden kit doesn't have to be too large. Lots of people buy them to put on the kitchen countertop.

Most hydro herb kits come with seeds. When you plant the seeds, remember not to plant all of them at once! For a herb garden you only really need one plant of each kind of herb. Trying to stuff too many plants in a small space is a recipe for thin, spindly plants that don't have room to spread out. So try planting just one or two basil seeds, one or two oregano, etc. Don't worry if they don't all sprout at the same time. Some seeds take longer to germinate than others.

Another nice kit is for growing hydroponic microgreens. Honestly you could grow them on a paper towel in an old plastic container, but it doesn't always work. The paper towel dries out, or you drown the plants, or the seedlings move all around when you water them, or mould grows in your container. If the plants dry out, you just have to throw them away and start again, which is a big waste of time and seeds. A real hydroponic microgreen kit is so cute, and can be reused over and over. They might have compartments so you can grow a number of different microgreens at once.

One final thought on a kit - it generally looks nicer than a homemade hydroponic system. It will be properly finished and watertight. Sometimes homemade systems look a little like Frankenstein's monster, and if you aren't careful with sealing all the joints they can leak. Then you end up wasting nutrients and potentially staining your countertop or floor.

Even with a kit there is a learning curve for beginner hydroponics growers. Don't give up!