I love lettuce and was thrilled when I found the Hydroponic Hut’s living lettuce at our local neighborhood plant nursery.  Then other stands started popping up in the neighborhood and I was also able to find safe lettuce** at farmers markets.  

I signed up to take the Al’s class in July 2025, and purchased one of the starter bins.  I had just moved onto a property that had room for me to learn to “garden”.  I had brought pots of herbs and medicinal plants with me, but now was an opportunity to learn and grow.  

I brought the tote, nutrients and plant starts (keiki) home, set it up under the front eve at the corner of the house where it would get sun.  It rained overnight and half the bin got rained on.  No moisture need be added in this technique of growing lettuce.  

So I relocated the bin to the center of the house under the front eve.  I set it on small cinder squares so it was up off the ground.  Then I watched it grow!!!  So much fun, no work involved, just the pleasure of watching the lettuces getting bigger, trimming off a few leaves, though not necessary.

It was so much fun that after I harvested my first bin, I went and bought three more, along with a hole saw to fit into my cordless driver***.  The intention is to have rotating bins so I’ll always have lettuce available.  I haven’t always been successful but have achieved it a couple of times.  

I started out with my four bins in a temporary farm structure that had a silver tarp over it.  I positioned my bins on the make shift repurposed “stands” and started watching how the sun hit them. They were struggling, reaching for the sun.  

The property had a nice greenhouse that was in a transition state but the owner allowed me to use it while I put my own clear tarp in place of the silver tarp.  It was very different growing in that space.  My four bins were moved up there, for another growing cycle, while I ordered and installed my tarp. They had trees and bamboo behind the greenhouse that had grown up and blocked the winter sun from above.  I moved the bins back after harvest and shifted into the next cycle of learning how to grow hydroponically.  

I bought a couple more totes. At that point I was able to get into the cycle of having greens at different stages so that I always had lettuce. Part of my goal is to provide lettuce for myself as salad to my favorite food and to be able to have enough to share with friends, family, community.  Food sovereignty is one of my passions. Even though we live on an island, I am not afraid of going hungry if the barges quit bringing in the containers of processed foods.

Along the way, I learned many valuable lessons. At one point, my lettuce wasn’t doing very good, I thought it was because it was winter time, when actually it was because my nutrients were weak, they had been mixed up and left out in the light at some point. Once I mixed up new nutrients and added to the bins, everything flourished again. Just like us, we put the right food in and we can do amazing things.

The stands that I had in my bins on were not intended to hold the weight, and I realized if I wanted to continue to grow and expand, I needed to build my own tables. I modeled mine after the Al’s schematic; theirs are 4 x 8, mine are 2 x 4. I needed them to be mobile as I don’t own my own property and I’m still looking for my perfect place.  My actual tables are not screwed together, the tops are separate from the stand that they’re on. Of course the lids are separate with the holes drilled in them.

The person who helped me build these stands originally is a great carpenter. We were putting these stands onto land that was at a slope. He asked me if I was going to dig it level. I said no, he pulled out his tape measure and his saw and sculptured the legs to the contour of the land. It worked great for the period of time that I was on that property. 

I have now moved and they did not sit straight at all. We cut off seven of the legs to make them level for their new location, which is now on a raised deck under a covered lanai. The cover is Suntuf roofing panels which provide UV protection.  Hmm interesting 

I have grown hydroponically in a couple different ways in the last year. I have a bucket with a large net hole in the center that you put clay pellets into and then put the cakes in that. I currently have a cucumber in one. I have taken lettuce in a bucket, that was a week out from being harvested, to a friend.

I have been using the Al’s method of hydroponic pots for the last year with good success. The black cinder peat moss combination works really well for so many plants. I use the leftover nutrients that are in my bins to water them with.