#gardening

i started growing lettuce in a spare server cabinet. this is, for many reasons, a terrible idea. here's how i did it.

The more intense my work and this political landscape has gotten, the stronger my urge to run away to the woods forever had become. But, as I said in my recent post, I’m not going anywhere. And when I decided that I wasn’t going anywhere, I also knew that I would then need to make my home more of the type of space I need to maintain some level of peace in my life. So I decided to build a garden.

I wanted to start gardening, but I knew I wouldn’t keep up the regular schedule of watering the plants and making sure they got enough light. So I recruited a microprocessor and a suite of sensors to help with these tasks. An Arduino microcontroller runs my indoor garden, watering the plants only when they’re thirsty, turning on supplemental lights based on how much natural sunlight is received, and alerting me if the temperature drops below a plant-healthy level. For sensors, the Garduino uses an inexpensive photocell (light), thermistor (temperature), and a pair of galvanized nails (moisture).

"Victory gardens, also called war gardens or food gardens for defense, were vegetable, fruit and herb gardens planted at private residences in the United States, Canada, and United Kingdom during World War I and World War II to reduce the pressure on the public food supply brought on by the war effort."