The Cheap Vegetable Gardener

Mantis 4-cycle tiller/cultivator review – Day 1

9.5 years ago Uncategorized 1 Comment

A week before I was about to move to my new house with a much larger yard I got an email from the nice people at Mantis asking if I would like to review their 4 cycle tiller/cultivator.  Given I needed to start from scratch of a new garden and had a decent amount of land to use it on it sounded like a great idea.

The tiller came in the box requiring some basic installation requiring some basic tools.  This was pretty easy though guessing it was from some of the long days moving/unpacking but I had some trouble handles put on the right way.  Brain kept forgetting I had the thing upside down :)  Though after probably about 30 minutes I had the tiller assembled ready for its first mission…expanding the garden.

I previously pulled this ivy-like ground cover away with a rake and some gentle massaging by yanking on it pretty hard and was hoping to have the tiller do some of this heavy work for me.  The tiller had some serious power though the ivy just wanted to hang onto the tines and eventually had to remove them to get the mess I created cleared.

Though it had the power to clear this ground cover out this is probably not exactly its designed use so results probably should have been expected.

After clearing some ivy I decided to try digging into the ground a bit by pulling the throttle and walking backwards with it.  This caused the tiller to dig deep into the ground where I remembered that my new yard has rocks 3-4 inches down which one ended up getting stuck in the tines where I again had to remove them.  In the future I should reverse the tines to use as a cultivator unless I have cleared the rocks deeper ahead of time.

Though I was not too successful with my first use I admittedly was pushing the intended use of this tiller but I was very impressed with the ease of starting (after reading directions) and the power this tiller/cultivator has while still being light enough to pack around with minimal effort.

What is also pretty cool about this tiller is there are optional attachments such as aerator and dethatcher which gives some options to extend it’s functionality without having to take up much extra space in your shed.

My next mission for this tiller is to clear an area of grass under my youngest daughters playset before laying down some wood chips which I expect will go much smoother than this mission…

Control two 120v electrical outlets with your computer

15.8 years ago computer power control, electronics, solid state relay 6 Comments

Here is one more component for "Project Everbearing" which requires the ability to toggle a 120V power source using my PC. Now there are a few interesting applications for this, home automation, music synced Christmas display, or just the nerd factor of being able to say I can turn on my coffee maker from your web enabled phone. Whatever your need, hopefully with these instructions you can do this yourself.

If we had lawyers, they probably would want us to say this:
WARNING: I am not an electrician and do not pretend to be one.  I do not know the specific building electrical codes of your area, so please be sure your wiring is completed under the proper safety code for your area. As always, using high voltage electricity can result in self-electrocution or burn down your house if not done safely so if you are not comfortable doing this wiring please contact a qualified professional.

Materials:

• 2 – 20 amp solid state relays (got off eBay for $4.00 each)
• 1 – Outlet box (Home Depot for $2.00)
• 2 – 20 amp outlets (Home Depot for $1.25 each)
• 1 – 2 outlet switch plate (Home Depot for $0.50 each)
• 1 – PC power cable
• 2 – LEDs (optional)

The outlet I am plugging this into is 15 amps, though my use for this project will be considerable under this but best to place for worst case scenario and I would rather trip a circuit breaker than who knows what happens when solid state relays or outlet exceeds their limits. I could have saved a couple dollars and gone with cheaper mechanical relays but solid state will last much longer even with frequent toggling on/off.

Now for the build, this was actually surprisingly easy and took less than an hour from start to finish. I first fed the power cable through and three stands of low voltage wire through access in back. I cut about 6 inches of wire off the end of the power cable. Using the continuity feature of my voltmeter I verified the hot, neutral, and ground, then checked one more time. I attached the neutral and ground in parallel to both outlets. I then connected the hot from the power cord to left side of both SSRs. I then used the 6 inches of wire I cut off to connect from left side of SSR on both and connected a wire from the left side to the corresponding outlet.

Now to add the ability to turn the things off/on using low voltage. I hooked up the wires fed through the back (which will later be hooked up to computer’s parallel port) green to positive SSR #1, red to SSR #2, and black to both grounds. Now with 3-12 volts of power to these connections will activate the SSR and provide power to the outlet. For a little added effect and easy confirmation everything is working (even with the unit unplugged) I also attached corresponding red/green LEDs that match the wires (I am getting old color coding helps) I was doing this hack indoors though first thought was to use my soldering iron to burn a nice little hole into the outlet plate but didn’t want to stink up the house, so risked using a drill instead. As you can see from the pictures I should have gone outside. With a little solder and hot glue everything seemed to be staying together.

With all the wiring completed, I carefully packed everything into the outlet box. The SSR were already pretty snug but I added little but of hot glue in case they feel like shifting around after everything was put back together. Being careful that wires are staying secure and no shorts are being created carefully screw the outlets to the outlet box. Finish it up with a (cracked) outlet plate and the assembly is complete.

Now the scariest part still remains, which is testing, first part is plugging this monster in. If you plug it into the wall and no sparks occur you are in pretty good shape but not in the clear yet. Plug something like a nightlight into your switchable outlet box, should be off now. Using a 9-volt battery connect black to (-) and red to (+) if you didn’t cross your wires anywhere the red LED should come on and appliance plugged in should get power. Now switching to the other side do the same with the green wire and appliance comes on with sparks or fires looks like a successful build.

The most profitable plants in your vegetable garden

15.7 years ago cheap, cilantro, garlic bulbs, organic, seedling, seeds, vertical gardening, winter garden 152 Comments

Many vegetables can be expensive to purchase by growing the most expensive vegetables in your garden and buying the least inexpensive vegetables at your grocery store you can easily help drop your food budget.  This especially important for people like me with very limited space to grow everything that I consume.

It may be impossible to put a price on the satisfaction of bringing in a basket of produce fresh from your garden.  As well as the enhanced flavors from having truly fresh produce from your garden compared to that of your local supermarket.  Though when I was harvesting my potatoes this summer with my daughter I did have the thought, Would it have been smarter for me to grow something else in this space?  I estimate out of the 4-5 square feet I used for these plants I probably got about $4-5 worth of potatoes.

I did a little research first to determine yields of various plants per square foot and secondly what the value (organic supermarket prices USD) of the yielded produce at harvest.  Given I am a city dweller with a fairly small footprint for my vegetable garden (about 30-35 square feet) making decisions on what to buy at the supermarket and what to grow in the garden may be a huge money saver with just a few dollars invested in some seeds for your vegetable garden

Now from the results below you can see the winners for the most produce value per square foot are many of the leafy green vegetables/herbs (cilantro, lettuce, chives, dill, Swiss chard) next comes many of the larger vine plants (tomatoes, squash, pumpkins, peas) with many of the root plants taking up the rear.  Now much of this makes sense where many of the vine plants grow on trellises and are allowed to spread, which I guess is sort of cheating the square foot rule but I will let it slide.  Compared to the root plants whose production is entirely dependent on the space allowed in square footage they have to grow as well as these are normally inexpensive produce items to begin with.

Sources: http://www.mcgoodwin.net/pages/ppatch.html for plant yield information, http://shop.safeway.com for current produce prices

Now even with this information I will still plan on growing some onions and garlic since I more than likely would be forced to use dehydrated alternatives due to being too lazy to drive to the supermarket to buy fresh varieties.  Though I may be adding some more herbs/greens to my garden this year.

One important thing to remember is you still have to eat the vegetables, throwing $20 worth or arugula or cilantro into the compost bin is not exactly a sound investment.  You can also get higher yields by growing vertically, but don’t forget those tall plants produce a larger shadow so you may still need some extra ground space to support these alternate growing methods.

So go out and get some cheap vegetable seeds (or in many cases free) and plant some profitable vegetables in your backyard/patio garden this spring.

     

Youngest gardening blogger

16.2 years ago Uncategorized 8 Comments

Well not 100% sure there is not a younger garden blogger out there but at the ripe age of 6 pretty sure Megan is in close competition. You can check out “Megan’s Garden” at http://www.megansgarden.com. Now I must warn you that this blog is written by a 6 year old that does not use a spell checker so if you may need to read phonetically which can be a fun challenge to see garden blogging from a child’s perspective.

If you have any serious issues translating feel free to post in the comments and I can translate.

Soil Logic Moisture X-Tend testing and review

14.1 years ago moisture sensor, product review, Uncategorized, water 2 Comments

I was contacted by SoilLogic and offered a free sample of their product Moisture X-Tend.  Though I could attempt to describe their product, I will let them do it in their own words…

Moisture X- Tend helps water penetrate the surface of the potted soil easier and remain within the soil root zone up to 4X’s longer than untreated water.

This innovative soil moisture management product helps prevent water from evaporating too quickly or draining past the roots of the plant. Moisture X-Tend is so easy to use — just add and mix the recommended amount directly to our watering can and water as usual.

The specific claim on the bottle that got my attention was that by using the product you can actually water plants 4 times less often.  I must say I was a little skeptical about this claim, though I decided to give it a try. 

My first attempt was shortly after I brought out a couple of my pepper plants from my grow box.  They both were bearing fruit of similar size and overall plants were of very similar size.  I started by watering one plant with water and the second with Moisture X-Tend and I observed their physical appearance over a period of time.  There was one problem on day two it rained ruining my results.

Having an empty client controlled grow box in my garage equipped with a moisture Vegetronix sensor, I decided this would be a great place to conduct my testing.  I watered two identical pots filled with Miracle Grow Potting Mix (without moisture control) with 250ml of liquid.  One being purified water, the second with Moisture X-Tend as described in the directions and monitored the moisture saturation over time.

As you can see the Moisture X-Tend started out with a much greater water saturation immediately after the watering and continued to hold the moisture 1.5 times longer than water alone.

Now this 1.5 times is quite a difference between the 4 times claim on the bottle, though in their defense this was from a single application and the FAQ on their website mentions that watering frequency is reduced after about a month of use.  I also was using a 4 inch pot and I would suspect that a larger pot would show better results.  If there is interest I am considering extending this experiment over a longer period of time to attempt to prove/disprove the 4 times claim that they mention on the bottle.

Though for me this is not practical to use all summer Moisture X-Tend is a great option when you are going away for a few days on vacation and do not have an automated watering solution or are forgetful like me and just get busy and neglect those poor plants for a day (or two) too long.

Protecting your transplants with window screens

11.4 years ago cheap, plant screen Leave a comment

Typically I do my best to give my plants some chance to harden off by reducing the low-end temperature of the grow box and bumping up the extended time the internal fan runs as well as letting them have a few hours out in real sun when schedule and weather permits.

Fortunately/Unfortunately eventually these plants have to venture out on their own.  To provide some protection to these plants for the first few days (or extended periods of very hot weather) it is best to provide screen to allow the plants to acclimate to actual sunlight.  Of course you can buy some netting screen but having a pretty small yard and even smaller garage this is something I do not want to pay for nor have to fold back up and search for again until it is needed again. 

My solution is to “borrow” the window screens from a couple windows I pretty much never open (behind my desk I am typing at now) this provides a good screen with a sturdy frame which as you can see I have simple rested against a fence…though if you did not have a similar structure you easily could use a couple bamboo poles or stakes to hold the screen up.

Great part after a few days or week you simply snap them back into your window where you will easily be able to find them next year…