Hello and welcome to my website!  My name is Eric McIntyre and I love to grow my own fruits and veggies all year round using Hydroponics and Aeroponics.  Growing using Hydroponics and Aeroponics is simple, quick and can be done year round. Hydroponics and Aeroponics have many benefits to the home gardener over using soil.

If you are thinking about switching to Hydroponic and Aeroponic growing – Why wait! – I’m sure you’ll ditch the soil after you see some of the benefits in our list below:

• Super fast growth rates and fast harvest times
• Can be done indoors and out with minimal space
• Requires no “watering”, minimal maintenance
• Indoors, pests are non-existent or minimal, which means no chemicals
• and no weeding!

I must admit, I’ve always been a soil gardener – the love of food has drawn me into growing my own tomatoes, basil, lettuce, hot peppers and other various veggies and herbs. My problem was a limited garden space with very little good soil. I was pushed towards buying Miracle grow and other soil from chain stores and grew everything in pots which severely limited my production.

Intro to the AeroGarden: I received an AeroGarden as a christmas gift and after unpacking it and peeking at it, it looked way to simple to do what it says it can do. I just didn’t believe it until I plugged it in and started growing the included herb kits. It’s simply lights and water running over the roots constantly…It was just too simple so I started researching hydroponic and aeroponic growing. It didn’t take long to realize it’s very simple, you only need a few things: Nutrients, Lights, Water/Air and a growing medium – something to hold the roots and stem, but not soil!

I came across the wonderful book by Keith Roberto – titled “How To Hydroponics” and I was blown away at the wonderful descriptions on how to build your own system. I quickly ditched the Aerogarden and built a Lettuce Raft and an AeroSpring immediately. I was so excited I paired 2 aerosprings together and doubled my lighting – which doubled my growth. Lettuce and Basil were my first crops, and a few stray Cilantro and Parsley plants. Needless to say, I was blown away at the super fast growth rate and production, and not to mention the TASTE of the amazingly crisp lettuce and super fresh basil. Not to mention the wow factor when friends and family come over and see you pick the lettuce from the grow cabinet…

Why Technology Garden? I named the website since hydroponic growing is more “technical” than simply planting in soil, and my garden is also closely monitored by technology. I can turn on and off my lights and blowers, Fans and pumps at anytime, from anywhere. I use a home automation technology called Z-Wave with a mix of X10 protocols to make all of this possible. I use a Hawking HomeRemote and also use Linksys Internet Home Monitoring Camera’s to remotely monitor temp, humidity, water level and light/fan operation when growing indoors.  The camera is set to detect motion detection, which in turn is my “lighting monitor” – when the lights go off, it sends me an email each day to confirm that everything is normal. If there is a power outage, I also get an email since I have the camera on a UPS along with the cable modem. As soon as the lights go out unexpectedly, the camera sends an email to me so at least I know….but the standby generator running on propane outside kicks in within 2 minutes and powers everything back up. As you can see, technology is highly integrated into our Hydroponic garden setup. We hope this site helps you understand more about hydroponics and aeroponics – happy growing!

-Eric