Tomatoes - Hydroponic vs Traditional Garden Bed Comparison

It doesn't look like I'll ever have to buy another tomato plant again. Mine are all self seeding and since they've been mixed in with the compost they've also made it into just about every garden pot I have around the yard.

I have 3 garden beds and about 100 plant pots. They've made it into about 15% of them.

It's the last week of August and most have been ripening since the beginning of the month. I finally got down to picking them and this was what I harvested. There was probably about 15+ lbs.

This is from one Hydroponically grown tomato plant.

These are from 3 10x4 ft garden beds and a few planters.

It's obvious that growing Hydroponically is the way to go. The plant is just so much more productive! and ultimately you end up using less energy, water and other resources.

You can also avoid the hungry mouths of slugs!

The sungolds are my favorite from this season. They are like eating sweet grapes. It's so delicious! I will have to do a couple of hydroponic sungolds next year.

My Hydroponic setup was relatively simple. I used the deep water culture method with a 5inch net pot, tub, water soluble fertilizer from Amazon, and an air pump with an airstone.

What to do with all these tomatoes? dehydrate them of course.

Garden Harvest Today

I have a ton of tomatoes that are ripe for the picking. Things have been very busy with work and photography however. So they are staying on the vine bit longer than I'd like.

I picked this guy for dinner last night. I believe it was a beef steak. The nutty thing is. I only planted one tomato plant this year. My sun golds. However I have about 30 plants growing every where around the garden. It's a bit overwhelming.

Note to self do not compost tomatoes. Because if you do, the seeds will grow and literally take over everything! Because I use my own compost, I have them growing in every single up pot. Including my figs.

I also picked a ripe asian pear off of my first yr tree. It was small but very tasty. This one came off of my espalier tree. Luckily the worms did not get to it. My sisters tree down the street from me was completely lost to worms.

I love being able to go into the garden on daily basis to enjoy the fruits of my labor. Even if it's just picking one fruit at a time. It makes the hard work all worth it!