The Hydroponicum
A garden of the future in a garden of the past
On the site of the old glasshouses lies Houghton Lodge's Hydroponic Greenhouse enclosed within the walls of The Walled Kitchen Garden.
Hydroponics is a way of gardening without using soil. Instead plants are successfully grown in a nutrient enriched perlite and vermiculite base (so light, it is miraculous for those of us with bad backs – there are no more heavy bags of compost to lift!). It is used extensively for the commercial production of tomatoes, lettuces, flowers etc
Here, in our hydroponicum, we demonstrate how the amateur gardener may use hydroponics in his own home, garden or greenhouse, to grow flowers, herbs, salads, vegetables, exotic plants, shrubs and even trees!
You can discover the many possible applications of Hydroponics worldwide and in space - from window sill to space capsule. In fact, wherever soil is unsuitable or non-existent, or the climate unkind, there is a future for Hydroponics. By this method, astronauts could harvest salad in outer space and racehorses travel with world supplied daily from their own grass-growing machine. Forests can be established on sand, and in desert areas no water need run to waste.
There is no digging, no weeding, no slugs to share the bounty. This is the ideal kind of gardening for the less able and for the chair-bound for the 'garden' can be set to any convenient height.
Opening times of the Hydroponicum: Open from 1st March to 31st October 2011, Thursdays to Tuesdays, 10am-5pm.
