I wouldn't use perlite. It floats and would get nasty quickly. Plus being white, you would see it getting nasty quicker. I would use clay pots with the open end up and put a wire grid over them. The egg crate would work but i think it is too brittle/fragile. Drop one pot on it and you'll be replacing it. Clay pots will wick up moisture, they're cheap and easier to clean, and readily available. With the open ends pointed up, any air flow over the large surface area will boost humidity better, I suspect. I would use something cheap but durable for the walls, paint them with white marine epoxy paint, and affix some plastic coated hardware cloth or other type of wire grid over the panels. That will provide endless spots to hang mounts which you will undoubtedly, eventually, acquire in large numbers. You can also use the wire to hang additional lights or fans, or to hang pots higher up so they're closer to the lights, if needed. It will allow you to use your vertical space. Ventilation will be very important, especially if you have very cool and humid conditions, as most basements would. Sounds like a fun project. Post pics when applicable, please. -MB

LED's have been used for quite some time now and work very well IF they are used in a complimentary manner. Packing 1000 lights together as close as possible and then hanging that light above a plant is not as useful as spreading that 1000 lights out over broader area at a much closer distance. See linked news article here. I find the cost of food purchased also has the hidden cost of what was done to that food by the producer in order to get it to me. Potato's can be purchased rather inexpensively but are doused with chemicals that I would rather get away from at any cost. Unlike an outdoor garden that requires preserving to extend your food supply into the winter I can grow a much smaller amount continuously with out the need to preserve as much food for as long. Light placement has been my latest concern. Placing a light above a horizontal growing surface is an inefficient use of space. I can see 20 head of lettuce being grown vertically in less square footage as 4 head grown horizontally. When planing how to use the space in my basement this becomes very important. The Use of artificial lighting as efficiently as possible is also a major concern. Providing light to as many plants as possible per light is an absolute requirement. Hydroponics has proven to be extremely flexible for plant placement. I am still working on making my vertical growing stands for leafy vegetables and the vine plants are not yet tall enough to give visuals for what I am wanting the garden to look like but I am excited for the opportunity to share my ideas with like minded people. Thanks for the responses so far Brad

TrpnBils, that's the route I went. I made two pallet planters to conceal my compost bin. I then filled the top row with petunias, the middle row with begonias, and the bottom row with some sedum that I relocated. I'm hoping that the sedum and petunias will cascade down to help conceal the bin. I think they came out well, though I did use two different size pallets and in hindsight I should have picked up two of the same... though they were free. If I have success this year I will definitely do more next year and look into doing more herbs and the like, as well as making them a bit more polished.

Mesclun should do very well. Any kind of greens. But the other things are going to require more sun than you have. You can start off planting a mesclun mix or other baby greens in a flower pot. You should be able to get a crop inside of a month! And it's cut and come again. The English grow their mustard greens in a saucer - you can sprinkle the seeds on a paper towel and they will come up fine as long as you keep it moist. And you can sprout all kinds of seeds (mustard, cress, alfalfa) in the same way or in pot filled with potting mix. No extra light required.