Our First Hydroponic Tomato & Capsicum Harvest!

The past few weeks have brought relentless heat, but our hydroponic setup has been a lifesaver for our tomato vines. Despite a few crispy leaves from the sun, they’ve thrived, all thanks to the system we’ve worked hard to set up. While the top of the shade house still needs its proper shade cloth, we’ve rigged a temporary solution by draping shade cloth across the trellis wires—it’s doing the trick for now!

And what better way to celebrate our first harvest than with a batch of fresh, zesty salsa? 🍅🌶️

This garden milestone has been a long time coming. A few years ago, we bought a massive shade house frame on Gumtree, and since then it’s been sitting in pieces in the dirt. Last spring we finally tackled the challenge of reconstructing it. At 8m x 9m and nearly 4m tall, it was no small feat! The first archway— temporarily held upright with the help of a few ratchet straps, an almond tree and a tractor—was the toughest part. Once that was in place, the rest of the frame came together much more smoothly but we definitely both had a sigh of relief once it was all bolted together and concreted into the ground.

With the sides wrapped in shade cloth, we couldn’t resist jumping straight into building our first rain gutter grow system, with 6 channels and a 500L reservoir. Inspired by countless hours of Hoocho’s YouTube videos, we planted a dozen varieties of tomatoes, along with chillies and capsicum. Recently, we expanded the system, adding 6 proper NFT channels (also picked up off Gumtree!) to grow all our berries, and ginger. Watching our hydro garden outpace the traditional beds has been nothing short of amazing. (Although, the horse manure from Mum and Dad’s farm is doing wonders for our watermelon patch!)

Next on our to-do list is setting up an NFT system for leafy greens. With everything we’ve learned so far, we’re excited to see how it will transform our garden even further.

This first harvest feels like the start of something truly special. It’s so exciting to step outside and rummage around for fresh goodies in the garden. Stay tuned for more updates— we’re excited to explore some delicious ways of enjoying homegrown produce!