What is Hydroponics?
Hydroponic Gardening
Hydropoinic gardening maximizes small spaces, accommodates a wide variety of plant-specific needs, and takes advantage of the year-round indoor climate control that already exists in the spaces that humans occupy.
Check out how hydroponics work with WindowfarmsLiquid soil
On the whole, the hydroponic system functions like well aerated rich soil, providing an ideal "virtual terroir" condition for many species. For those of us who do not have naturally fertile land to cultivate, hydroponics offers a means of delivering equally delicious and nutritious-- even organic and vegan-- food to our food plants. 
In Brooklyn, where Windowfarms began, most of the native soil is tainted & importing soil is very expensive. While remediation efforts unfold, local communities can learn a great deal on site, in existing spaces from the adjustability and modularity of hydroponics. Hydroponic nutrients can rival the properties of good soil. Part of the mission of the Windowfarms Project is to create a new generation of connoisseurs of a wide variety of highest quality, ethically sound, hydroponic nutrient solutions, as we have seen emerge recently in the coffee industry.
Fresh Produce During Off-Season Months
One of the most valued benefits of hydroponics is the ability to harvest fresh fruits, vegetables and flowers in off-season months. Instead of purchasing days-old produce that has been flown in from warmer cliamtes, Windowfarmers can access their living refrigerator all year long.
Chefs and cooks alike have touted hydroponics as an excellent resource for fresh produce. “Given the choice between days-old produce grown in soil, and super-fresh hydroponic vegetables, I’d rather have the hydroponic...”
Compact Roots Save Space
Hydroponics provides a way of growing healthy plants without soil. The "food" (nutrients) a plant needs are delivered through its water instead of through the solid medium of soil. A big plant can be grown in a much smaller small container with hydroponics because the spacial volume dirt would occupy can be vastly reduced.
The plants' roots sit in clay pellets (in the case of a windowfarm hydroponic system), held in a basket full of holes, which is in turn housed in a container that acts like a miniature greenhouse (e.g. windowfarms water bottles). A timer periodically activates a pump to send this liquid nutrient solution through the system, directly irrigating the roots. Between waterings, the clay pellets, riddled with holes almost like a lava rock, hold a mixture of nutrient solution and air bubbles around plants' roots.
The Future of Food
NASA has been experimenting with hydroponics to grow food locally on the space station, where fresh food transportation costs are obviously exorbitant. For many of us who live in cities, our conditions are not so different from the space station-- from a plant's point of view or from the standpoint of our high carbon "foodprint". Hydroponics make a lot of sense for today's world.
Why are Windowfarms Hydroponic?
"Why not dirt in pots?" There's not enough room for root development in dirt in confined spaces. Plants grow a different type of compact root structure in hydroponic systems so you can fit more plants.
Not Cardboard Tomatoes
Hydroponics have been stereotyped both fairly (by industrial agriculturalists) and unfairly (by those who haven't properly educated themselves about the possibilites) for having less flavor than plants grown in soil. Even the New York Times has noticed a movement amongst chefs to re-examine the benefits of access to hydroponic produce in their article "Hydroponic Produce Gains Fans and Flavor."
