Dwight sterilized soil for our next batch of microgreens, the last batch having succumbed to fungus. The kitchen was filled with an earthy scent, which was not unpleasant. He sterilizes the seeds in diluted hydrogen peroxide.
Category: Apartment Gardening
Sunscreen on Wheels
Our wheeled garden is on the move. This rolling rack now keeps the afternoon sun off the kitchen island at dinnertime, reducing the need to lower the blinds.
Plants Without Roots
I played with LEGO while Dwight worked on the apartment garden. It’s a lot of work to keep all the plants happy. He recently acquired some new epiphytes, Tillandsia (rootless air plants). Here, the automated misting system is providing them with the moisture they need to thrive.
Houseplant Corral
Consolidated houseplants so they could be hooked up to our irrigation system. Periodic misting runs automatically but Dwight prefers to initiate watering himself, even when we’re traveling. Two cameras provide visual and auditory evidence that the system is operating correctly.
Hydroponics 101
This week I’ve been prototyping systems for maintaining water levels while rooting plant cuttings. This morning I built a “production” system that includes a float valve connected to a water supply to top up the tank automatically.
Science Experiment: Siphonic Action
The problem: maintaining water levels for rooting cuttings while we’re away, traveling. The solution: siphonic action. The blue container represents a reservoir that will be topped up via a float valve. Prototype 1, here, has too many points of failure. Next up: straight runs from the reservoir.
Drip irrigation Going Undercover
Arranged drip irrigation tubes in large planters on a roof deck of our building. Once the plants establish themselves, they hide the tubes.
Plumbing Plan
Met with two members of our building’s garden club to plan improvements we’d like to the irrigation on a roof deck. Updated a document that will be part of a request for quote. We were treated to delicious home-made scones, and I left with three more for later.
Sunday Ablutions
On Sunday mornings houseplants receive extra care and attention. Here, they’re lining up to take a gentle shower. All the plants happily survived six weeks of drip irrigation while we were in California.
Remote Plant Watering
In Minneapolis I lay on the couch, grouchy, nursing a cold, periodically flushing out radiation. From Palm Springs Dwight remotely watered our apartment garden. The plants look good to me, but doubtless he’ll see issues when we both return to Minneapolis at the end of the month.