Show HN: Vegetable Gardening for Engineers

Vegetable Gardening for Engineers is a science-oriented starting guide to growing food in urban apartments, especially indoors or on balconies using containers and hydroponics. It aims to replace vague beginner advice with a structured synthesis of research and practical material from universities, commercial crop guides, biology education, farmer training, workshops, and indoor growers. Its scope excludes garden beds, composting, aquaculture, fungi, and permaculture. The guide is organized around growing concepts, crop data, practical techniques and resources, and the economics of market gardening; its crop tables are intended to help readers decide what to grow.

The central idea is that successful cultivation depends on balancing interdependent conditions: light, temperature, humidity, airflow, carbon dioxide, water, nutrients, pH, and root-zone oxygen. Both shortages and excesses can hinder growth. The guide explains how photosynthesis supplies energy, temperature shapes metabolism, and transpiration moves water and nutrients through plants. It also outlines stages from germination through harvest, including transplanting and pollination. Its lighting guidance distinguishes plant-relevant measures from human ones: PAR covers 400-700 nm, while PPFD and DLI quantify light reaching plants; crop needs vary, and sunlight counts toward the total. It recommends full-spectrum lights and illustrates how photoperiod affects daily light exposure. The temperature section introduces minimum, optimal, and maximum ranges, noting that faster growth at higher temperatures can come at the cost of plant strength and flavor.