Vegetable gardening: Indoor hydroponic systems allow for year-round salad growing

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Growing fresh leafy greens for your favourite salad doesn’t depend on the season or having a backyard garden — there are all-inclusive indoor hydroponic systems that will produce lettuce and baby greens no matter the weather outside.

Predictability, production and quality are some advantages of indoor gardening using a hydroponic system, says Andrew Vickerson, CEO of Les Verts Living, one of the more than 300 exhibitors at this year’s BC Home + Garden Show.

Leafy salad greens such as lettuce, herbs, microgreens and baby greens are among the best crops to grow in a hydroponic system, says Vickerson.

“Leafy greens [grown outdoors] are especially susceptible to bugs and diseases,” he says, adding that for people with backyard gardens, an indoor hydroponic system is also useful to start seedlings that can then be planted into garden beds and borders.

Vickerson combines the benefits of indoor growing and an outdoor garden.

“I’m growing year-round — all my leafy greens indoors, and then plants that take up a lot of space like watermelon and sunflowers I grow outdoors.”

Showgoers will be able to see plenty of leafy greens growing in the Les Verts systems, the Terrace Pro and the smaller 24- by 24-inch Terrace option.

The Terrace Pro and the Terrace are the result of more than six years of research and development, says Vickerson, adding the Les Verts team is split between the company’s innovation centre in Winnipeg, and the Fraser Valley, where the two systems are built and assembled.

Describing how a hydroponic system functions, Vickerson says the