Eden Project in Cornwall,United Kingdom

The biggest ever greenhouse can be found in Cornwall, United Kingdom. The Eden Project opened to the public in 2001, becoming a venue for environmental education, as well as concerts for both local and international artists and bands.

Biomes

Yes, those thingies that look like weird beehives are called biomes. The steel structure can be seen from the outside, and that is not glass covering the giant bubbles, but plastic. The interconnected plastic greenhouses are covered with ETFE plates, ETFE being a thermoplastic material. There are three biomes: the Tropical Biome, the Mediterannean Biome, and the uncovered Outdoor Biome.

Water!

The area of the covered biomes combine to over 2 hectares. Watering all those plants could get REALLY expensive! The Eden Project though, implements a unique water system that combines the use of sanitized rainwater and the usual outside water source. The main water source is used for cooking and hand-washing, but the rest of the facilities (including water for the plants and toilet facilities) use the sanitized rainwater to the best advantage. It would have been quite ironic to make such an effort for environmental awareness, and in the process need to spend so much on water supply.

Renewable Energy

The whole estate runs on Green Tariff Electricity, which is powered by wind energy from wind turbines in Cornwall. The Eden Project also started a recent project in December 2010 to build a geothermal electricity plant which can power  not only the whole Eden Project, but also five thousand other households.

Tour the Eden Project for Free

Yes, you read that right. See the Eden Project for free, and right at the convenience of your own home to boot. Eden Project can be seen in Street View on Google Maps. Head on over to maps.google.com, type “Eden Project, Cornwall” and zoom in to Street View. Be amazed with the beautiful sceneries.

Hydroponics is a form of gardening and cultivation of plants. The various pollutants that we are exposed to in soil often do not go away even after several years. This fact, along with others, has prompted researchers to look for ways to minimize the exposure of the plant to mediums that may carry factors that can add or contribute to a person ill health. Hydroponic gardening is one such way wherein the plants do not use soil as a medium where they are planted.

Three Types Of Solution Culture

In solution culture of hydroponics gardening, there are three subtypes which are called static solution culture, continuous flow solution culture and aeroponics. The concept for all kinds of solution culture in hydroponic gardening is basically the same. The plant is suspended and the nutrient solution is provided for it.

In static solution culture, the plant is always exposed to the nutrient solution in a way that the solution may be depleted. After depletion, the nutrient solution may be added to up to a point where only some of the roots are touching it. In continuous flow solution culture, the plant is exposed to the solution all the time. The solution flows through the container for the plant in hydroponic gardening. This is usually reserved for bigger hydroponic gardening outfits where automation is used.

Aeroponics is the type of hydroponic gardening where the plants’ roots are exposed to the nutrient solution via fine mist or drops. Exposure to the mist is frequent and plants have responded very well to this type of solution culture. The mist is what carries the nutrients of the plants and they are absorbed directly by the roots as the mist or drops cling to them.

In medium culture, the basic question is which media to use for the plants in hydroponic gardening. There are actually many different mediums that can replace soil and these include, but are not limited to, mineral or rock wool, gravel, clay pellets, brick shards and perlite. These media are quite easy to use for hydroponic gardening and provide the roots with some stability as well as provide the nutrient solution with something to cling to.

Hydroponic gardening is actually easy to do. A hydroponic herb garden as well as a vegetable garden is one of the most popular forms of hydroponic gardening. Researches have yielded favorable knowledge regarding the efficacy of hydroponics in terms of plant growth and also produce supply. It is also notable that the occurrence of soil borne sicknesses and diseases has lessened without the use of soil in hydroponics.