Dried Veggies, Fresh Herbs: Using Hydroponic Planters To Grow Culinary Herbs

You know we’re fans of all things dehydrated, and that means our kitchen is well stocked with dried herbs. But just like we haven’t sworn off fresh veggies in favor of the dried ones we love, we definitely don’t want to skip the fresh herbs. As you’ve probably found if you just need a sprig of thyme and had to buy a whole pack of herbs from the grocery store, living plants can definitely have an advantage for home cooking. You can pick what you need and the rest is ready and waiting for another day, plus the benefit having happy plants (we hope!) growing in your kitchen.

I’ll let you in on a little secret: I’m one of those people who can kill houseplants declared “unkillable” by others. My outdoor herb garden is happy all summer long, but my indoor plants tend to suffer, sometimes from too much love, sometimes from not enough.

A few years ago, while living in a space that didn’t have nearly enough greenery for my tastes, I decided to “jungle up” the apartment by ordering a hydroponic growing kit to see what would happen. The plan was to see how the first one went, and if all went well, I’d get more.

What actually happened was that I found my dream home on Whidbey Island and was no longer starved for the sight of greenery, but the hydroponic experiment also went fairly well, and I still use that planter for all kinds of kitchen greens.

Quick Intro to Hydroponics

Hydroponics refers to a method of growing plants with the roots suspended directly in a nutrient-rich water solution. No soil to spill, no dirt under your fingernails (yet somehow it gets there anyway). A hydroponic setup provides plants with all the necessary nutrients—like nitrogen, phosphorus, and potassium—that they would usually derive from the soil, but instead it comes from plant food you add directly into the water. 

There are all kinds of hydroponic kits out there, ranging from single-plant mason jars to room-sized systems. If you’re just getting started, I recommend one with a built-in pump and light. I tried the mason jar thing and ended up growing a little mildew and nothing more, but your luck may be better.

Hydroponically grown plants can still get pests, but at least the soil-based bugs are ruled out. In general, a small system is pretty easy to maintain, and they’re especially well suited to herbs and leafy greens.

 

Top Picks for Hydroponic Herbs

I’ve tried a wide range of herbs and other seeds in my hydroponic garden, and these were the ones I found grew the best:

• Basil, Basil, Everywhere — Every kind of basil I’ve tried has gone wild in my hydroponic planter. Genovese, Thai, lemon, and a few other random types. I love keeping this around for spur-of-the-moment caprese or chopped salads, or just throwing some shredded leaves and some fresh-grated parmesan on toast. You can also make some tasty wraps with the bigger-leafed varieties by curling them around grated veggies, cheese, or stuffed olives and pinning them with a toothpick.
• Cilantro — This one was one of my biggest surprises. It took longer to grow than some of the other herbs, but every time I plant cilantro in dirt, it starts bolting almost immediately (even the so-called “slow-bolt” varieties). My current crop of hydroponic cilantro has been growing for three months and has yet to bolt. I don’t use this herb frequently, but when I want it, it’s great to have on hand.
• Parsley — Parsley does well as long as it doesn’t get crowded out by other plants (I’m looking at you, basil). Even if it’s not as prolific as the others, it tastes so much better than the store-bought stuff I’m considering getting a whole setup just for parsley alone.
• Heirloom Lettuce — I know, it’s not an herb, but I picked up a packet of Forellenschluss lettuce from Seed Savers Exchange and was feasting on beautiful, fresh salads in a matter of weeks.
• Sage — While not quite as fast-growing as basil, my hydroponic sage showed steady growth. This is another herb I don’t use often, but when I do, it’s really nice to have around. This one grew fast enough that I clipped and dried it a few times before deciding to replace it in the planter because I wasn’t using enough.

 

Some Wins, Some Losses

So far my attempts at dill, mint, and oregano have produced smaller plants that get quickly overshadowed by the faster-growing lettuces and basil, but they do grow, and I didn’t mind letting them get crowded out since I have a prolific patch of oregano and mint outdoors, and usually dehydrate enough to get me through the winter until fresh herbs are available again.

 

I’ve had no luck with thyme in the hydroponic pot, but I’ll be making another attempt soon and we’ll see how it goes!

 

Getting Started

You can pick a hydroponic system that’s as small or as large as you need. I went with this one from LetPot, with 12 spots and lighting options you can optimize for fruit or vegetables. One of my first experiments ended up with a jungle-worthy cucumber vine, but I wasn’t able to hand-pollinate well enough for it to produce any fruit before I decided to cut it back because its roots had taken over the entire system. Trust me when I say that the size of the hydroponic water reservoir is not as limiting as you might think when it comes to growing huge plants!

 

If you get a self-contained system like the one mentioned above, setup is a pretty simple process of following the instructions. It took more time to get my LetPot connected to the WiFi to set the timer for the grow light than it did to set it up with my plant seeds.

 

Food for Growing Plants

The basis of any hydroponic system is the nutrient-rich water. Whether you buy a premade system or build your own, you can get hydroponic nutrients in a dried form that you dissolve in water in small batches, then add to the larger amount of water in your reservoir. Alternatively, premixed liquids are available, but they tend to be more expensive. In either form, the nutrients are usually a two-part mixture that you keep separated until the moment of use. 

How Long Does It Take to Grow Hydroponic Herbs?

One of the major benefits of hydroponics is just how fast the plants grow. The specific time it takes depends on the individual herb and environmental factors like temperature and light, but you might be surprised by how soon those green shoots start poking up from the sponges you place the seeds in.

 

 

• Basil is ready to eat in about 3-4 weeks for most people, but you’ll get a better crop if you let it grow for double that. My first shoots were poking their little green heads out 7 days after planting, and from there it was amazing to see how fast they grew.
• My lettuce sprouted in a mere 3 days and outgrew the little domes my particular system uses retain heat in the seedlings in just 5 days. I forgot to write down when I started harvesting, but it wasn’t much longer than that.
• Cilantro and parsley took just under two weeks to sprout in my pot, but weren’t ready to eat for another four. And being an avid parsley eater, I was too impatient to wait and ate it down too fast for it to get nice and leafy and robust.
• In general, you can expect to harvest most herbs in 4-6 weeks after planting, but it really depends on heat, light, and how well you maintain the water.

 

The Downsides of Hydroponic Planters

• Cost — While smaller, more basic systems can be pretty affordable, it’s still going to cost more than your basic pot and bag of soil. Both pots and hydroponic systems are reusable, though, so that’s a benefit either way.
• Electricity Required — Anything beyond your most basic hydroponic system will rely on a pump and lights that require electricity. Some larger ones have fans as well. A minor power outage isn’t terrible, but if the pump is down for too long it can be bad for the roots. Another downside I found out last power outage: if your system is a little too fancy and modern, you may get dazzling light and loud beeps when the power comes back on at 1:00am and it starts searching for the WiFi and resetting its internal clock.
• Maintenance — Since the whole system relies on the balance of water and nutrients, you’ll need to monitor and maintain the right levels of both. If the water solution becomes unbalanced, it can harm the plants. Fortunately, most all-in-one kits make this very simple with a float or other indicator to let you know when water is low, and as long as you replenish nutrients according to instructions, the plants should be fine and happy.
• A note about water usage — many hydroponic systems and articles about them say that hydroponic growth uses less water than conventional growing. This is generally true compared to field crops of the same plants, but compared to a small pot in your house, the difference is pretty insignificant. You may even find you use slightly more water due to increased evaporation, so keep that in mind if water conservation is a deciding factor for you.

 

So Why Are We Talking About This?

As you may have noticed, we’re really into pure foods with nothing un-food-like added to them. We’re also really into items you can have on hand to jazz up your eats with minimal effort so every meal feels like a treat, whether you’re impressing your guests or slurping comfort food in your pj’s in front of the TV. Having fresh herbs on hand is a simple way to do that. Looking at living plants can also be a mood-booster, and if your system has grow lights, having those around every morning can help keep the winter gloom at bay this time of year. 

 

One last tip:

Our favorite companion to freshly grown herbs is a good pair of kitchen shears with an herb stripper in the handle. The kind that come apart for easy cleanup are the best, so you can snip your basil into strips, remove stems from your thyme (if you have better luck than I do) and get on to the best part of the day: the eating!