The New York Times - USA (2020-10-25)

THE NEW YORK TIMES, SUNDAY, OCTOBER 25, 2020 D 5

EMILY MARSH, who lives in Sono-
ma County, Calif., always thought
the best thing about gardening

was the feel of soil on her finger-
tips. But last year she and her
fiancé moved to a townhouse with
an 8-by-12-foot concrete slab for a

backyard. As lockdowns in Cali-
fornia stretched into the month of
May, and Ms. Marsh, 30 and a

co-owner of a janitorial company,
read about the surge in gardens,
she felt the urge to plant her own.
But her only real option was a

hydroponic setup.
“I was completely against it at
first,” she said, adding that it just

didn’t seem like real gardening.
Reluctantly, Ms. Marsh purchased
a unit from Lettuce Grow, a com-
pany that sells ready-to-grow

hydroponic kits. “Now it’s just my
favorite thing,” she said.
As fall’s first frost strikes plants

across the country, you can practi-
cally hear the collective moan of
America’s gardeners: no more
fresh herbs, zucchini or heirloom

tomatoes until next summer.
Unless you bring your pan-
demic garden indoors.

Like urban chicken coops and
backyard beekeeping, interest in
hydroponics has surged during
the pandemic. For Aerogarden,

another company selling hydro-
ponic gardens, sales jumped 384
percent in the two weeks of

March, a time period that followed
most state lockdowns. From April
through June, sales were up 267
percent year over year.

“It has been a really amazing
year for us,” said Paul Rabaut, the
company’s director of marketing.

A representative for Lettuce Grow
said it was on track to do 10 times
the sales compared with last year.
Meanwhile, D.I.Y.-ers are build-

ing hydroponic gardens out of
PVC pipes and five-gallon buck-
ets. When lockdowns began, Vicki

Liston, 45, a professional voice-
over actor in New Mexico, wanted
to limit her trips to the grocery
store, and started construction on

a pipe-based system. She worried
about keeping a pandemic garden
alive in her very arid backyard,

but so far the project has been a
surprising success, she said.
Compared with traditional
in-ground gardening, “hydropon-

ics grows more food in less space
with less water and less time,”
said Dan Lubkeman, president of

the Hydroponic Society of
America.
That is, if you get everything
right. Hydroponics is about opti-

mizing growing conditions: You
must have the perfect amount of
light and nutrition available at all

times. Nail it, and plants can grow
up to five times as fast as they
would in soil outside, Mr. Rabaut
said.

Ms. Marsh, who now has gar-
dens indoors and out, can vouch
for Mr. Rabaut’s assertion. She is

constantly amazed at the vigor of
her plants. “We planted three
tomato seedlings, and so far we
have gotten 350 tomatoes,” she

said. “It’s insane.”
There’s a downside, though. Soil
is pretty forgiving — get overzeal-

ous with your fertilizer, and your
cucumbers may suffer, but the soil
can buffer a fair amount of the
damage. Water is much less for-

giving, and the internet doesn’t
always have great advice, Mr.
Lubkeman said. He recommends

connecting with your nearest
hydroponics specialty shop, where
employees are likely to be experi-
enced growers, or buying a book

on the subject.
That’s one reason many new-to-
hydroponic gardeners opt to buy a

plug-and-play kit: These kits tell

you exactly what to add and when.

If you’re feeling crafty and a little

adventurous, though, you can

easily build one yourself.

Here’s how to reap a lot of

produce without so much as get-

ting your hands dirty.

A hydroponic setup requires

a few basic elements.

Whether you construct it yourself

or buy a kit, a hydroponic garden

needs the following:

• Seeds or seedlings. If you’re
  doing this inside, look for varieties
  that thrive in containers. This will
  ensure none of your plants get so
  big they take over your whole
  hydroponic setup.


• A reservoir for the nutrient
  solution, which is made up of all
  the macronutrients (think nitro-
  gen and phosphorus) and micro-
  nutrients (like iron and calcium)
  plants need.


• An aerating pump for oxygenat-
  ing your nutrient solution, since
  plant roots need oxygen, too.


• A water pump to move water
  out of the reservoir and onto your
  plants throughout the day.


• Light! More on this below.


• A “medium.” Since you’re not
  using soil, you’ll need something
  to hold the plant’s roots in place.
  Many mediums also help keep
  roots moist between waterings.
  Mr. Lubkeman recommends a
  material called rockwool for
  beginners.

Decide whether to build

yourself or build out of a box.

As with most hobbies, you can

spend a little or a lot. Originally,

Ms. Marsh wanted to go the cheap

route. Setting up a medium-size

D.I.Y. system with a few buckets

and an aquarium pump can set

you back less than $150. But Ms.

Marsh worried about getting

everything working correctly.

Lettuce Grow’s container is made

from recycled plastic, and for Ms.

Marsh, that tipped the scales

toward buying a premade kit,

even if units start at $348 — no

lights included.

Aerogarden’s smallest units,

which do include grow lights, start

at $99, with larger models going

up to $600. Ultimately, the deci-

sion about whether to buy a kit or

build your own comes down to

whether you enjoy tinkering or

would rather not spend a Satur-

day gluing PVC pipes and plastic

tubing together.

It’s all about balance.

Once your setup is set up, you

may see seeds sprouting within

three days, though some plants

take longer. By two weeks, your

seedlings should start to look like

real plants. Which is when Ms.

Liston realized that her hydro-

ponic experiment was not going

quite right. Just a few weeks in,

her plants were dying.

It turned out her tap water was

too alkaline. A pH buffering solu-

tion fixed the problem. (Water

testing between 6.5 and 7.0 on the

pH scale is considered ideal.) A

setup like AeroGarden will tell you

when you need to add fertilizer or

adjust the pH of your water. If you

built your own operation, you’ll

need to remember to add nutri-

ents and check the pH of your

water (using testing strips)

weekly.

“It’s been fantastic,” Ms. Liston

said, adding that once she got her

light, pH and nutrient levels dialed

in, “it just exploded.”

There is too much

of a good thing.

If some plant nutrients are good,

more seems as if it would be bet-

ter, right? That’s not at all the

case, Ms. Liston said. So far, she’s

managed not to overfeed her

plants, but too much plant food

can result in dead or severely

damaged plants. How often and

how much you’ll need to feed

depends on the type of nutrient

solution you’re using. Read the

directions on the bottle.

Let those lights shine.

You may be able to grow lettuce,

kale or herbs in a sunny window,

but as days get shorter, investing

in a full-spectrum grow light is

worth the expense. These lights

provide the same range of light as

the sun and you’ll see much faster

growth, Mr. Lubkeman said. In

Ms. Liston’s case, adding a light

and moving her plants next to her

sunniest window resulted in a

noticeable change in their

productivity.

Goodbye bugs

(for better or worse).

Ms. Liston’s favorite thing about

growing indoors is that it’s bug

free. While that means you won’t

need to pluck slugs from your

lettuce, you will need to take over

for bees and do your own pollinat-

ing. For plants like peppers, toma-

toes and cucumbers, Mr. Rabaut

said some customers report get-

ting decent pollination rates just

by shaking plants gently every

day or two. However, you’ll get

even better results if you’re will-

ing to play the part of the bee —

using a Q-tip or small brush to

sweep pollen from one blossom to

another.

Keep things clean.

This is in your house, after all.

While there’s no dirt involved,

these setups can get a little funky.

Ms. Liston does a thorough

wipedown of the PVC plant hold-

ers every two weeks. If you buy a

premade kit, follow the manufac-

turer’s instructions on cleaning.

Maintenance is key.

Ms. Marsh tries to clip back

greens and herbs at least two

times a week. Many items — like

basil — do need to be kept

trimmed back or else they’ll go to

seed and stop producing. While

hydroponic gardens are signifi-

cantly less work than their out-

door counterparts (no weeding!),

you can’t neglect your plants

completely and still expect them

to thrive, Mr. Lubkeman said.

DYLAN COLE FOR THE NEW YORK TIMES

Whether inside or out, here’s how to reap vegetables, fruit and

herbs without so much as getting your hands dirty.

BY A.C. SHILTON

Use Hydroponics

And Enjoy

Fresh Produce

Top, Vicki Liston checking the

rosemary in her hydroponic garden

in New Mexico. Above, the Harvest

Elite 360 from AeroGarden comes

with a grow light and control panel.

Left, Lettuce Grow’s Farmstand

system can grow up to 36 plants.

WHAT DO CHILDRENmake of the day’s headlines?

The endless deluge of news is staggering and tough

to get a handle on, even for grown-ups. And with

disinformation packaged as journalism rampant on

social media, there is an urgent need to help kids

tell the difference between truth and propaganda.

These news podcasts are perfect for young people

seeking a better understanding of what the adults

are fussing about and for parents who want to help

their children learn how to engage critically with the

world around them.

‘KIDNUZ’

Want to develop a daily news habit in your children?

“KidNuz” is what NPR’s “Up First” might sound like

if its target audience was 14 and under. Without any

of the wacky bells and entrancing whistles that can

often give children’s programming a cartoonish

quality, the broadcast journalists behind this podcast

deliver accessible summaries of the news of the day.

Every weekday morning, expect a seven-minute

episode filled with age-appropriate stories from the

worlds of politics, science, sports and entertainment.

Each report ends with a flash quiz on the details

delivered in the episode to encourage close listening,

and the website features plenty of resources for

educators and parents to keep the learning going.

‘THE TEN NEWS’

In 10 minutes or less, the episodes of this current

affairs show feature “the stuff grown-ups are talking

about, explained, and way more fun.” “The Ten

News” tackles things like Supreme Court nomina-

tions, the Postal Service, presidential debates, poll

worker shortages and the gender pay gap in sports.

The host, Bethany Van Delft, breaks down the topic

du jour to the basics, giving preteens the background

they need to understand why that day’s news mat-

ters as well as the context to better help them de-

velop informed opinions of their own. New episodes

air every Tuesday and Thursday.

‘ABC KIDS NEWS TIME’

In each weekly episode, the Australian Broadcasting

Corporation reporter Ruby Cornish counts down five

news stories with the aid of preschoolers whom she

calls her “news helpers.” While the show focuses

mostly on the lighter headlines for 6-year-olds and

under (think awesome animals and young inven-

tors), it also offers deft summaries of the world’s

more serious stories. But the show’s real strength is

in how it lets kids explain the big news of the day

from their own points of view. For example, in June,

“News Time” gave a breakdown of the Black Lives

Matter protests that was delivered by the news

helpers themselves, who explained in their own

words what the words protest, racism and movement

mean to them. The show still manages to be full of

silliness and surprise and encourages curiosity in the

world around young ones.

‘THE BIG FIB’

How do you raise a judicious consumer of journalism

in the golden age of misinformation? You get a sassy

robot to host a fact-or-fiction game show, of course.

Every week on “The Big Fib,” a show for ages 7 to 12,

the robot L.I.S.A. (“Live In-Studio Audience”) and

Deborah Goldstein, the show’s co-host and executive

producer, introduce a young contestant of the week

to two adults, both claiming to be experts in a partic-

ular subject. But one is an impostor. The players

must weigh the information given to them, ask smart

questions and use reasoning skills to determine who

is the real expert and who is the liar. The podcast,

previously known as “Pants on Fire,” keeps the

subject matter fun and family-friendly. Topics have

included “Bread,” “Hip Hop,” “Puzzles” and a peren-

nial kid favorite, “Toilets,” in which a 9-year-old

named Theo has to figure out whether a civil engi-

neer named Gloria really created a solar-powered

toilet, or if the other grown-up in the hot seat, Joe, is

really an expert plumber. It’s a goofy premise that

nevertheless shows children how to be good skeptics

and equips them with the critical-thinking tools they

need to interpret the world around them.

Make News

Kid Friendly

These podcasts can help your

child understand and think

critically about current affairs.

BY PHOEBE LETT

KA YOUNG LEE

LISTEN TO THESE

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