Fresh salad all year round with this easy hydroponics unit from ManoMano

If you spend £1.50 a week on bagged salad you could make your money back on this in 6 months. Bagged salad is wasteful in terms of the water used to produce the leaves, the non recyclable plastic it is bagged in and it is one of the most common food items left to rot in the fridge. And there is something very rewarding about picking food you have grown yourself, even if it was no hassle to grow. Did I mention that fresh tastes better too?

If you have a garden or any space outside, salad is really easy to grow from spring through to autumn. In the winter, when days are short and dark and the weather is grim, it is a different story. I can usually manage to keep kale alive all year round but it is not the same as a nice green lettuce.

Indoor growing

You do not need a lot of space to grow indoors, what you do need is light and the light has to be particularly balanced so that plants grow. You can’t just use a normal bulb and expect your green leafy veg to thrive. You also have to remember to water your plants more, they will not get rained on inside. If your home is anything like mine, dark with no windowsills, you need some help to grow plants indoors.

I’ve been given a neat little Garland Micro Grow Light Garden by Mano Mano to review. The unit comprises of a light and reflector set in a canopy above a water tray. The tray has a set of legs and capillary matting that goes on top. Your plant pots sit on top of the matting and as long as there are holes in the base of the plantpot, the water will wick up.

So, you get light specially designed to grow plants and you don’t need to water them that often.

It is a nice size, add half a sheet of A4 to a whole sheet and you get the space it takes up on a tabletop or shelf. And it has won the Garden News Best Buy Award.

What is the hassle factor?

It took me about 10 minutes to put the unit together. The instructions say you need a screwdriver but you can do it without, the only time you need that is to tighten the clips that hold the light in.