About

A carpenter, a laptop, and a lot of dead lettuce.

My background isn't agriculture or horticulture. It's carpentry. I got into hydroponics for a simple reason: I wanted to grow fresh food for my family without the grocery bill, and I wanted something green and alive around the house.

Plant cuttings rooting in clear glass jars of water on a table — Where this starts: a cutting, a glass, and clean water.

5-10 kg: Fresh lettuce per day
20 kg: Strawberries per month
45: Guides published
5: Field guides written

The lettuce and strawberries go to a few local cafes and small businesses near home.

Learning by doing

I made every beginner mistake you can think of. I bought gear I didn't need, lost plants to nutrient problems I couldn't diagnose, and fought water quality issues for weeks.

Most of what I know came from trial and error, not a manual. That is the part nobody puts in a product listing.

As the setup improved, neighbors started asking questions. Then they started asking me to build systems for them: NFT setups, countertop rigs, backyard growing stations. I built them all, and every one taught me something the last one hadn't.

Rows of lettuce growing in an indoor hydroponic system under LED grow lights — The setup after a lot of iterations, and a lot of failed ones.

What started as a family hobby grew into more than I expected.

Why this site exists

I kept running into the same two things online: the same beginner mistakes, and the same vague advice that skips every detail that actually decides whether a plant lives.

Tap water chemistry. Room temperature swings. What "nutrient solution" even means the first time you're mixing it in your kitchen sink.

So this site covers the practical side. Step-by-step guides, honest product picks, and the mistakes worth knowing about before they get expensive or kill a crop.

You'll find vegetables, fruits, herbs, microgreens, and non-edible plants that do well in hydroponic setups. All of it comes from building and growing, not from a lab. Everything here has been run in real conditions, with real setbacks.

Ripe and unripe strawberries hanging on the plant — Strawberries take longer than the internet tells you they do.

Who's behind the wheel

This site is a partnership between my wife and me.

Wooden mallet, chisels and hand tools resting on a carpentry bench covered in wood shavings

Builds and grows

I spend most of my time building systems, growing plants, and writing down what actually happens. Including the runs that fail.

Open notebook with handwritten notes beside a laptop on a wooden desk

Organizes and edits

She comes from tech. She takes the pile of notes and turns it into something you can follow on the first read.

What we stand for

Learn from mistakes.

Everything here has gone wrong on us at least once first. We tell you which part.
Build smarter.

Real part lists, real costs, real build time. Not a shopping list with the hard bits left out.
Grow better.

Numbers you can act on. A pH range, a distance, a day count, not "keep it healthy".
No made-up data.

Every statistic traces to a peer-reviewed journal, a university extension service, or a manufacturer spec sheet. Never another blog.

Where to go next

Start here Four steps from nothing to your first harvest. Read the guides Every article on the site, newest first. The field guides 5 printable PDFs for when you want it all in one place.