Mutant Action Environment and Technology

Better organize your home garden

Gardening can be a very charming work, and like other sciences, a little bit of knowledge can not hurt to start with the right foot. Wired has published an interesting article that provides some avenues of study and helps us to organize the space at our disposal 4 proposing solutions depending on the square footage available for our green corner.
The cultivation of a garden, even small and located in an urban context, must be planned carefully so as not to waste any resource and quality products to eat. It is useful to know the basis for the production of compost with the help of worms, techniques to recycle gray water, how to combat pests and how to help friends insects, primarily bees, useful for pollination.
If you are a geek and a fan of science fiction to make work more fun you can think of this as home to a terraforming.

The balcony of the house (1 meter x 1.5 meters)

Illustration: Oksana Badrak

It will not be able to feed us, but also a narrow balcony can give satisfaction.
To optimize the low floor area and increase the yield the key is to exploit the vertical space with shelves and hanging baskets. It should be realized, if possible, a protective fence vertical which allows to create a micro-climate controlled to allow production during most of the year.

• Solar heat: to create a mild microclimate a wall of cans or bottles of water can help to store solar heat during the day (even on cloudy days), then allowing a gradual release during the night
• Crops with high efficiency: choice of crops which have a good yield in order to make the most of limited space. It is preferable to perform well a plant that requires little land to grow
• Vertical crops: the arrangement of the containers along the vertical walls may have several advantages such as better solar exposure and ventilation plant. Use several separate pots also allows you to choose a wider variety of vegetables with different flowering times.
• A coating of transparent polyethylene lets you filter the sunlight spectrum with photosynthetic income (between 400 and 700 nm) and prevent the plants are burned by the sun

The vegetable garden behind the house (6metri x 9 meters)

Illustration: Oksana Badrak

A small orchard of this size should meet the needs of fruit and vegetables for 4 people in summer and autumn. Three hens will provide eggs for us most of the year. The droppings collected in the hen house, very rich in nitrogen, are useful for the production of compost.

• Separate areas: divide the space into 3 separate areas, one for people, one for vegetables and one for the hens.
• Potatoes: ensure some extra calories. Should be grown in small containers of fabric in order to better control the humidity of the soil and aerate the roots.
• Compost kitchen scraps and chicken droppings can be very useful for the production of fertilizer for crops.
• Raised beds for crops. A wooden structure off the ground where to plant our vegetables can have several advantages: better drainage, better weed control and fewer parasites. Be careful not to use treated wood that can contain harmful chemicals.
• Laying hens: a house with wooden roof and a bit of outdoor space allow us to keep 3 or 4 hens that produce eggs.
• The dividing fences can be used as a support for climbing plants tomatoes and zucchini, the walls are perfect for hanging pots of lettuce and strawberries.

The large vegetable garden (10 meters x 15 meters)

Illustration: Oksana Badrak

A cultivation so great can ensure the bulk of the diet of a family. The key is treating the soil so that it is self-sufficient and nutrient-rich. With a little work you can eat apples, mushrooms and even fish.

• C ompost in abundance as not to reduce the layer of soil
• Rotation of crops. Maximize returns without depleting the soil, rotating crops each season to change the nutrients absorbed from the soil
• Eggs and rabbits help vary the diet
• Farming of fish. The Tilapia is an African race which tolerates a wide range of conditions and produces a crop every 100 days

The farmhouse (12 meters x 18 meters)

Illustration: Oksana Badrak

All of this land can produce more than what a family needs to live and you can add to the harvest luxuries such as honey and beer.

• With a little care the bees can make honey, wax candles and be useful to pollinate our crops.
• Beer. Hops are easy to grow, the vines can grow 6 feet high along the wall of the house to keep it fresh. It is perhaps possible to obtain 10 kg of barley by a portion of the soil of 5 x 5 meters. This is sufficient to produce 35/40 liters of beer!
• Ducks and fish. A pond fed by rainwater and recycled by the consumption of home can accommodate fish, ducks and frogs.

For more in depth information I recommend the original source from which I gleaned this article:
Gardening Geek: A Wired Guide to Domestic Terraforming

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