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The word, Hydroponic, comes from Latin and means working water. Simply put, it is the art of growing plants without soil.

When most people think of hydroponics, they think of plants grown with their roots suspended directly into water with no growing medium. This is just one type of hydroponic gardening known as N.F.T. (nutrient film technique). There are several variations of N.F.T. used around the world and it is a very popular method of growing hydroponically. What most people don't realize is that there are countless methods and variations of hydroponic gardening. In this section, we explain the most common, including the pros and cons of each along with an abundance of great, general information about hydroponics.

Just think growing a vegetable without the soil. No more worries about too much water; or too much fertilizer; or when to fertilize; or the labors of cultivating and weeding to provide just the right soil consistency and texture; and how much space to give each plant to avoid competing for food and water; etc.

There are many advantages of growing plants hydroponically;

• Hydroponic gardens produce the healthiest crops with high yields and are consistently reliable
• Gardening is clean and extremely easy, requiring very little effort
• Due to nutrients fed directly to the roots, plants grow faster and with small roots plants may be grown closer. In general hydroponically grown garden needs 1/5 of the overall space when compared with soil gardens
• Hydroponically grown plants do not come in contact with soil borne pests and diseases thus saves costs of soil preparation, insecticides, fungicides
• Since the amount of nutrient solution is fed directly to the plant roots, there is no wastage of water due to run off or evaporation

Overall, the main advantages of hydroponics over soil culture are - more effectient nutrition regulation, availability in regions of the world having nonarable land, effecient use of water and fertilizers, ease and low cost of sterilization of the medium, and higher density planting, leading to increased yields per acre.