Need Help

I am creating a hydroponic indoor garden that will be grown right in my kitchen. Don't get all excited it is just vegetables lol. Just not brave enough for the other I need to know since there is no grow room or tent involved what kind of lighting is best it will be a vertical garden, so I will be needing I assume, and yes I know what assuming means lol, that I will need level lighting?? I want to get this done on a tight budget so anything I can do or build on my own would be great. Does lighting have to be so expensive?? I want it to look nice because of being in my kitchen, but can't afford the lights that you all have been talking about. Is there alternative lighting that will get the job done? I am growing lettuce, tomatoes, cucumbers, green onions, maybe some beans.. Green, and pinto, peas etc soooo I really need some direction and can I grow them all at once or do some have to have different times uhhhhhh I just don't know Please help ohhhh wise One's.

Well i would not grow cucumbers and tomatoes in the kitchen unless your JUST starting them off well the weather is chilly and you plan to move them to your green house in mid may.. I would really go T5 for look and price but u will need lots of them because of the type of fruiting your plants require. Really your light from the windows will be good enough and on a nice day, stick them outside. Its generally ideal to grow herbs in the kitchen under T5. Otherwise it might look restarted and un practical to have a MH hanging or retro fitting. I think its great that your growing veggies too btw! But your kitchen has a window I would use T5 to help supplement and a MH for fruiting times or bring the veggies outside!! BTW im a HPS guy but I do know veggies that bare fruit like MH more.. Best luck! And and more T5's the better, u stack up lumans with the overlap and can get pretty goood output!! very good output but than they start to draw some juice like a HID.. But thats like 16 of them together.
Best luck

Going to be a living wall type if that helps you visualize the concept I am going for except the plants will all have their own spot for growing so the roots don't get entangled and kill each other. So does that change the lighting problem or no? And also the veggie dilemma??? I really want a full spectrum of food.

Hey, well yea it would change it, I would use a 400watt MH bulb. I dont know how much sun u get in the windows and if they will be in direct light but u can always use the MH for supplement lighting on rainy days or use it all around. sec brb gotta close window screen

so a 400 watt how many plants do you think that will cover? I am thinking at first I will scale it down and start smaller like 4 ft tall by say 3 ft. So does the 400 allow for the flowering also or do I need another light? Wow what did they use before these expensive lights? Maybe back then they weren't so expensive lol. Thank you so much for sharing your knowledge and helping me out. I do appreciate it very much.

Hey, always happy to help! Well my was the bulb back in the day. Wat are they charging u for a mh? U sholapur be able to get one for a decent price like 100 or 50 bucks used!! The bulbs are always expensive that's the catch, I would buy the hortalux sun master one that's ment for flowering! The problem with a mh on an indoor grown in relation to tomatoes cucumbers Beans is that they grow tall and the penetration for all lighting sucks really! Good note is that these plants are not leafy bad Norris that they do have larger leaves like the cucumber. Trick is , get as much sunlight as possible , u need a south west exposure! My father grows tomatoes sunflowers , lots of stuff just inside his window on a south west exposer and does well. He simple uses a little bit of general hydroponics as frets and home made soil from composting. That's it!
Your 4 by 3 area works but the best is a 3 by 3 or even 2 by 2 . Not much room for growth! Also I would get it in a sealed reflector so it does not light up the whole place to restartedly lol.. A few t5 will work great in the beginning , but they are 29 bucks at four feet in length but that's fixture and bulb.. Plus u can link them together on one circuit if u buy the ones at the grow store , all it is is a little line that u plug into each reflectors end and than all the t5 work off one plug!! I love them!!!!!

Oh and your welcome, I am not sure how much help I am but if I am any, glad to be here to help with wat I can!