Experiment Status: Setting Up
This experiment is being set up in February 2026. The full write-up with methodology, data, and results will be published as the experiment progresses. Check back for updates or subscribe to the newsletter to follow along.
The Question
If perennial vegetables already produce food year after year in soil with minimal effort, what happens when you put them in a hydroponic system? Could you build a setup that produces food indefinitely with almost no replanting — the ultimate low-labour growing system?
What We Are Testing
Can perennial vegetables — specifically Babbington leeks and perennial kale (Taunton Deane and purple collard varieties) — thrive long-term in hydroponic systems compared to their established performance in soil?
The Setup
- Babbington leeks: Divided from a 17-year-old soil stock. Smaller bulbs transplanted into at least two different hydroponic systems.
- Perennial kale: Cuttings from established soil plants, transplanted into hydro alongside the leeks.
- Control: The established soil patch continues as the baseline comparison — same genetic stock, different growing media and nutrient delivery.
Why It Matters
If perennials work in hydro, you could build a system that produces food indefinitely with minimal replanting. That is the cheapest, lowest effort way of getting a delicious crop from a small space — and it perfectly embodies the “plant once, harvest forever” philosophy at the heart of everything we do here.
Timeline
- February 2026: Division and transplanting into hydro systems
- Spring 2026: First growth comparison data
- Summer 2026: Yield and quality comparison
- Autumn 2026: End-of-season analysis
- 2027 onwards: Long-term perennial performance in hydro
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