Well this is pretty much clichéd nerdiness but given it only required a couple of lines of C# I couldn’t resist. I have updated my grow box software to “tweet” some sort of semi-humorous and not really witty comment appropriate to its current state and share its current temperature and moisture content every 2.5 hours. For those who want to do something similar, this is how I did it. …
If it were up to me every part of my landscaping would be edible. Though my homeowners association may disagree with me but blueberry bushes looks just as nice as any ornamental plant/bush when you visit the nursery with the obvious bonus of free food. When selecting a blueberry bush, unless you are very patient spend about $10 a plant and get some more established ones (about 1/2 inch…
My jalapeno peppers did great this year. So good I didn’t really know what to do with all of them. After making some salsa and having several mature red ones as snacks in the garden, I still have about two pounds that I didn’t want to go to waste. After a little thought I decided to make some pickled jalapeno peppers. CVG Picked jalapeno pepper recipe 1 cup vinegar…
Though I have made some significant changes to the grow box controller, the actual grow box has undergone some minor but important changes over the past few months. Automated watering Now I must say this one is pretty darn simple. Though I will be planning on a slightly more complicated hydroponic setup later I decided to start with a very easy bottom watering technique. Just take a regular old…
Last February my 7-year-old daughter and I attended the Northwest Flower and Garden show for the first time, which is back on next year if you haven’t yet heard the good news. During our visit my daughter purchased a single dahlia tuber from Swan Island Dahlias. We carefully followed the detailed planting instructions and it grew to about 5 feet by the end of the summer, though there were…
Whether you are trying to determine if those seeds you have been stored for 3-4 years are still good or questioning your ability to harvest seeds on your own testing germination is a great way to take away from of the guesswork and avoid disappointment next spring. The process is very simple, I believe I did the same thing in second grade during our plant section. Though that was…
Well slightly more exciting than watching grass grow but for something that takes several weeks to complete is definitely worth a watch. If you watch carefully you can even see the automatic watering in action. Joining the sprouts is a mature pepper plant which has been flowering and daisy seedling my 7 year old planted hoping it will flower as well.
Though the advice on the back of a seed packet gives some great information, they are recommendations and their advice may not exactly apply to your garden. First is row spacing, many times you read something like “plant seeds 3 inches apart in rows 1 foot apart” This brings up some immediate logic of why can the plants be 3 inches apart one way but 12 inches in another. …
Some UW researchers have determined that if you add a couple of similar metals in a tree it produces electricity. Though only 200 mV so we won’t be moving to tree power anytime soon. Though the articles mentions some applications such as detecting environmental conditions or forest fires. To me the most interesting part is they don’t exactly know the cause of this voltage, though they theorize that “there…
When I am storing seeds for months at a time my homemade paper seed packets work great, but for seeds I seem to use many times throughout the year I was looking for a new option. My solution was small plastic/metal resealable containers. They are small and do not take up too much extra space and securely close so now worries of reaching into my pocket do find it…
Last year I did origami seed packets last year which worked out pretty good though I only got two per sheet of paper and didn’t hold too many seeds (especially large seeds like peas) with the many types of seeds I am collecting this year I decided to try another option. I looked online and found many templates, though I couldn’t find any with standard seed package sizes. Eventually…
With the summer starting to come to a close it has been time for me to start thinking back to the computerized grow box. I have been doing some considerable work on the electronics and software over the summer. Better to break stuff while the plants are outside and not while killing them inside. Though I have been happy with my homemade gypsum soil sensors I decided to try…