Homemade Floating Greens Bed

A Homemade Floating Greens Bed can allow one to grow lettuce and other leafy greens without having to stoop over or kneel. The approximately 1-foot-deep hydroponic growing beds, made of wood frames and heavy-rubber sheeting, are filled with water containing a small amount of fertilizer then covered with thin sheets of foam insulation. The greens plugs are planted into holes made in the foam sheets, with the roots then growing down into the water. About four weeks later, the foam sheets are pulled from the bed and the now-mature greens removed – all able to be done from a standing or seated position. (Some growers build long, narrow beds that contain “rafts” that are planted at one end, floated towards the other end as the plants grow, then harvested after reaching the end-like a greens-growing conveyor.)

Cost: $350 to build a 4'x 8' bed

Impairment Category: Back, Lower extremity, Strength/endurance, Visual