Picture Frame Hydroponic Garden: Shallow Wall Frames of Greens

A picture frame hydroponic garden is a shallow box that hangs or stands like a frame and grows small greens in soilless media. The simplest is a wick system. The University of Illinois Extension describes the wick system as passive, with no pump and no moving parts, which suits a quiet frame on a wall.

The short answer

Build a shallow frame with a watertight reservoir at the bottom, a media bed above it and wicks that carry nutrient solution up by capillary action. Add a fill tube and an overflow tube. Grow lettuce, herbs or small brassicas and refill before the reservoir runs dry.

What is a picture frame garden?

It is a wall or tabletop planter built into a shallow frame, with greens in media fed from a reservoir. Illinois Extension says a wick system moves nutrients from the reservoir into the root zone by capillary action, often through a candle or lantern wick. It calls the system easy and inexpensive. It uses media such as sand, perlite or vermiculite that stays quite wet.

How do you build a shallow hydroponic frame?

UC Agriculture and Natural Resources lists the parts of a wicking system. A watertight reservoir, usually plastic, holds the solution. A media separator made of plastic, weed barrier or fiberglass screen sits between the reservoir and the media. Wicks of nylon, polyester or cotton carry solution up to the roots. Coco coir, perlite, vermiculite or clay balls fill the bed. A fill tube, often PVC pipe, lets you refill without disturbing plants, and an overflow tube limits the water height. See hydroponic in different mediums for media.

UMass Extension notes that some growers use 3 inch PVC pipes with holes 6 inches on center for leaf lettuce, another shallow shape that fits a frame design. Check the frame often, as in caring for your hydroponic system.

Which plants fit a frame?

Pick small, fast greens. The University of Minnesota Extension says lettuce, herbs and brassicas grow well in small systems year round. Hold the room above 65°F and give about 14 hours of light a day if the frame hangs away from a bright window.

Picture frame garden basics

Sources: UC Agriculture and Natural Resources, University of Illinois Extension, University of Minnesota Extension.

How to: step by step

1. Build or buy a shallow frame with a watertight bottom section.
2. Fit a separator of weed barrier or screen above the reservoir.
3. Thread wicks through the separator so they reach the bottom.
4. Fill the bed with coir, perlite or vermiculite.
5. Add a fill tube to the reservoir and an overflow tube at the top water level.
6. Plant lettuce, herbs or small brassicas.
7. Refill through the fill tube before the reservoir runs dry.

Troubleshooting

Media dries at the top: add more wicks or use a media that holds more water.

Water spills: check the overflow tube height.

Plants stretch toward the window: add a grow light for about 14 hours a day.

Hang a frame of greens

A wick frame turns a bare wall into a small salad bed. Set up the room with hydro setup environment and plan sowings with growing schedule for your hydroponics for more greens from Kind Seed Co.

Sources

• Small-scale hydroponics, University of Minnesota Extension
• Wicking hydroponics: a soilless growing method, UC Agriculture and Natural Resources, Master Gardeners
• Home hydroponics handouts, University of Illinois Extension
• Hydroponic systems, UMass Amherst Center for Agriculture, Food, and the Environment