A number of interesting techniques of growing vegetables and herbs were showcased at the recent Urban Agriculture trade show staged by Agriculture Magazine at the Rockwell Tent in Makati.

A company called Grassroots, for instance, demonstrated how you can grow your own lettuce and other plants that you need in your kitchen even if you live in a condominium. You can do that by growing your veggies in a cabinet with glass doors and equipped with LED lighting.

The cabinet with growing plants could be an interesting conversation piece among visitors, and it could be decorative too. The vegetables are grown the hydroponics way. They are grown in trays and seated on water supplied with nutrient and mineral solution.

The typical cabinet is 61 inches high, 29 inches wide and with a depth of 16.5 inches. The plants are grown in three shelves with controlled temperature of about 26 degrees Celsius. Aside from different varieties of lettuce, other plants that will grow well inside the cabinet include basil (both green and purple), parsley, arugula, pechay, chives, leek and others.

One cabinet with the above dimension can accommodate 36 plants. Lettuce will be ready for harvesting in five to six weeks from planting while parsley and arugula will take about eight weeks.