Indoor Salad by Ginger Booth

Read carefully; this is NOT a book about preparing food, it’s about hydroponic farming in the home. Though hydroponic growing has gotten more attention since 2008, it’s been around far longer. Israeli farmers were using hydroponics in the 1960’s, not because they were ecologically conscious, but (a) they had to conserve water, and (b) they had to grow vegetables in sand. But unlike the massive hydroponic operations in Disney World or the Brooklyn Grange, this book is not about survival or profit. It’s about indoor hydroponics for personal use, and Ms. Booth keeps that in mind with regard to the budget.

The first thing hashed out by the author is that lettuce grows fastest, followed by cucumbers, tomatoes, and eggplants. She begins with plants, followed by the lights, growing mediums (pumice, vermiculite, etc.) and projects that are easy to start. Everything rests on using the cheapest equipment; dome lamps, fluorescent bulbs, cardboard, tinfoil, and plastic cups for pots. This book does not encourage nor promote the $30 Topsy-Turvy tomato planter you see on TV. I tried using them back in 2009, and I promise you, they’re a waste of money and a waste of water!

Still, I would be cautious about indoor growing. The combination of fertilizer and uncirculated air can encourage salmonella to grow, and you don’t want to eat that! North facing windows give poor sunlight, making it hard to start seeds indoors. Grow lights can run you up a rather large electricity bill, more so if you use a fan to circulate the air. But if you’re just trying to start seeds indoors before planting them outside, then the use of a small fluorescent light won’t cost you much, and her tinfoil set up won’t cost you anything. I’ll give this book accolades for the economics alone.