The Cheap Vegetable Gardener

Something new sprouting in the garden

13.8 years ago Uncategorized

We are happy to announce that I will soon have a new helper in the garden shortly with the birth of our 3rd daughter Mia.  Just thought I would warn you in case my posts begin to get a little extra incoherent, I am not losing it, just sleep deprived.

Seed types: Heirloom, open pollinated, hybrids, GMO

14 years ago seed saving, seed types, seeds, Uncategorized

When you pick up a packet of seeds knowing what type of seeds you are growing is very important especially if you are planning on saving seeds from the fruits of your labor.

Much like man’s best friend seeds come in many varieties, sometimes these occur with careful consideration of pedigree. others are brought together to complement both parents good (or bad) physical traits, and finally there are the nature chooses their own way.

Heirloom: These would be the purebreds (English Bulldog) of the seed world.  These seeds are carefully pollinated and saved for decades or even hundreds of years to preserve the quality product that has been stabilized over many generations.

Hybrids: These would be those carefully planned mixes (cockerdoodle) with both parents being specially selected to produce offspring that carries traits of both parents.  The tricky thing about hybrids is the seeds these plants create more than likely will not be that of their parents since it normally requires at least a few generations to stabilized their genetic makeup.  So your “tasty slow bolting cilantro” might end up being “tasty fast bolting cilantro” or “not so tasty slow bolting cilantro”  Even if you decide to collect your seeds if the seed company has patented that variety you could be sued for patent infringement…though I have yet to hear of a case of this occurring to a home gardener.

Open Pollinated:  These can be thought of as the “muts” of the seed varieties.  Just like in the canine world these can produce some very fortunate accidents and produce some seeds no one could have even considered trying to create on their own.  There are many benefits to growing with open pollinated seeds.  First there are very little worries in collecting seeds from these varieties.  There are no patents to worry about and these varieties have a few more generations to stabilize their genetic traits.  By collecting your seeds and growing these along with other varieties to add some diversity to your garden and avoid establishing a monoculture which can be susceptible to pests and disease after a few short seasons.

I should also state that Heirlooms are also open pollinated thought for most strains extra care is taken to prevent cross pollination to keep the end products as true as possible.  These

GMO:  Now GMO or Genetically Modified Organism, would be the the creation of a dog which is crossed with a cat which has the loyalty of a dog but the bathroom habits of a cat.  In the seed world this would be seeds that are grown with “good intents” such as the creation of a potato that is resistant to the potato beetle, reducing the need for pesticides.  On the more scary side are seeds with “terminator” genes whose offspring that does not create viable seeds.  From first thought, this seems like a justifiable way for seed makers to protect their patents being infringed on, until you think about cross pollination.  For example lets say your neighbor is growing some GMO tomatoes where your friendly bees cross pollinate your open pollinated heirloom varieties.…now to your dismay now your seeds are now crossed with the “terminator” gene and you no longer can produce your own viable heirloom seeds.

Though I have never actually found GMO seeds being sold to home gardeners, though for commercial seeds these are much more common.  Basic rule is to avoid these seeds at all costs.

Tags: seed

Controlling my growbox with a mobile phone

14.1 years ago computer, electronics, indoor growbox, Uncategorized, windows phone

How many times have you been riding the bus and have been curious what temperature your computer growbox was running and if the plants needed to be watered?  Ok maybe never, but I decided to solve this problem anyway.  There is also no point in identifying that you may have a problem without having a way to do something about so I also implemented the ability to override the controls on the growbox by using a Windows Phone 7 application on your new T-Mobile cell phone or any other cool Windows phone.

Design

I made the design for this pretty simple, unfortunately I could not connect with my growbox directly using a mobile device because the computer is behind a firewall (which is a good thing) so I used machine that both the mobile phone and growbox can contact cheapvegetablegardener.com.  After creating a quick web service with the following methods the growbox and mobile device could now talk to each other:

• SetStatus(StatusInfo) – GrowBox sets this status every minute
• SetOverride(OverrideInfo) – Mobile sets override to default functionality
• GetStatus() – Mobile Phone gets status
• GetOverride() – GrowBox checks for potential overrides requested by Mobile device

Mobile UI

Now I have the two devices talking here is the basic UI.  The top half of the screen shows the growbox temperature, cpu temperature, and the moisture content. All of these statues change color (to yellow and red) as their values get to critical levels (too hot, too cold, too dry)

The middle section shows the current state of the growbox letting me know if the lights, heater, exhaust fan, and/or water pump are on or off.  If a situation occurs where you want to override this state you can do this by simply clicking the status indicator.

The bottom part of the screen shows temperature and moisture levels over the past 24 hours.  The graphs are rendered using Google Charts for simplicity though am thinking about creating my own custom solution to get the graphs just right.  It also displays a current screenshot inside the grow box and you can transition between views with a finger swipe.

Screenshots

Temperature history graph	Moisture saturation history graph
Overriding the heater setting	Status screen following heater override

Though this covers most of my required functionality, I still need to add some cool transition animations and some additional analytics, but thought I would share my current version.

Tags: growbox

The winner of the Gar’n Grow Filter is

14.2 years ago Uncategorized

Congratulations to the winner of the Gard’n Gro filter…meemsnyc.

Butterfly in butterfly garden

14.3 years ago Uncategorized

My daughters and I started a butterfly garden a couple of years ago, though we have seen a few butterflies pass by this was the first time we have been able to capture one on camera. 

This butterfly was visiting our butterfly bush, which for by many standards is basically a noxious weed.  But it doesn’t need much water, makes pretty flowers, and butterflies/bees like it so seems like a good plant to me.

Protecting Your Plants and the Planet: Eco-Friendly Large Pest Control

14.3 years ago deer, pests, rabbits, Uncategorized

Photo from Alberta Home Gardening

You’re not the only one who enjoys your garden–deer, rabbits and even household pets may find your flowers or vegetables to be tasty treats. And, of course, dogs and cats may mistake your garden beds for a great place to do their business.

While organic or eco-friendly pest control is a good idea for combating any type of pest, it is especially important to use non-harmful deterrents when dealing with larger animals, particularly household pets. Fences, lighting, noisemakers and a variety of biological sprays and spreads can help make your garden less appealing and less accessible to unwanted guests.

Physical Pest Control Methods

Perhaps the easiest way to keep animals out of your garden is to fence it in. Dogs, rabbits and even deer will dig, so a good garden fence should extend at least a foot underground, and the spaces should be too small for little heads to poke through. Deer can also jump, so a good deer fence will be 8 feet high. Depending on the size of your yard or garden, a fence can quickly become an expensive means of pest control, but it can also be a beautiful landscape element itself, and well-built fencing will last many years.

If a fence is not an option, then floodlights, noisemakers or motion-activated sprinklers are also effective, but less intrusive, pest deterrents. Neither cats nor rabbits like water, and dogs’ ears are sensitive to certain pitches that can’t be heard by humans. Deer tend to shy away from brightly lit areas and may also be startled by sprinklers or noisemakers, causing them to retreat and avoid the area in the future.

Unique Pest Control Methods

If physical pest control methods don’t work or aren’t enough, there are also many natural chemical options. Diluted hot-pepper sauce sprayed over plants will make them unappetizing. A sprinkle of coyote urine, available at many hunting and outdoor supply shops, around the border of your garden will deter rabbits and deer from coming near, and may also keep dogs and cats at bay.

Biological Pest Control Methods

Of course, like people, animals like certain plants and dislike others. Rabbits, for example, prefer clover to vegetables and hate onions, so planting clover will keep them away from your vegetable garden, and planting rows of onions along the outside of your garden will deter them from going after the tastier vegetables in the middle.

Deer, too, prefer certain plants–namely, clematis, roses, tulips, lettuce, peas, broccoli, azaleas and fruit trees (among others). Avoid these plants, or locate them in a less accessible area of the yard or garden. Disguising these plants among less desirable offerings–such as mint, onions, chives, daffodils, boxwood and butterfly bush–may also protect them.

Author of this guest post is Marco who is an editor over at Luma Gardening.