I’ll try to be brief and mostly informational.
This is the first in a sequence of articles regarding a vertical hydroponic garden I am implementing in an effort to increase our family’s self-sufficiency and reduce financial overhead in this time of COVID-19.
This may be of interest to you because I am attempting to rapidly assemble this system within the constraints of the pandemic (delivery only, with anticipated delays), while still creating a pleasant aesthetic.
Be apprised: I’m no shill. But there are Amazon affiliate links in here for stuff I used, because why not?
This first article is mostly background, will probably be long, and likely lacking pictures. But I’ll put one in right now, just to keep things engaging:
I put this plan into action March 25, 2020 (when I ordered the prop kit from Amazon). It arrived March 29, seeds went in March 30th, and this photo was taken April 3. So in less than 10 days since my fancy was tickled by the idea, I’ve hit ~90% germination, on track for harvest in the next 8 weeks. If you think you’ve already missed the mark on a project like this, I assure you, you have not.
Why?
tl;dr – survive & save
The impulse to do this came prior to the pandemic. In January, after a month of watching Julia & Jacques, I became frustrated with having to spend $4 every time I wanted fresh herbs in a recipe. So the plan had been in the back of my mind.
Mid-March it became abundantly clear that reliable food was going to be an issue. I couldn’t tell you with any certainty that I could get fresh lettuce/spinach/herbs any day this week. Frozen vegetables have also been in high demand. So recipe planning is out the door, and stockpiling has become difficult.
I don’t believe this to be a long-term problem, but more an issue of inter/national logistics catching up to an ever-changing pandemiscape. I think it’s a problem with an end in sight, but right now the value of (really, any attempt at) self-sufficiency is clear, as is the long-term value in growing one’s food.
Why Indoors?
Because I live in a condominium, with no yard to speak of, in a place not known for being particularly sunny, and hydroponic cultivation is a year-round proposition. Also, because I am mildly obsessive, the aspect of having a ‘clean’ hydroponic garden is extremely appealing.
On Constraints
tl;dr – rapidly delivered & constructed, visually striking, well-architected
In early April of 2020, it’s clear day-to-day existence has become dramatically different (even within states). If you have truly chosen to stay in, as I have, you might face a similar list of constraints. If you find yourself questioning the quality of some items purchased, or general rationale on my part, please refer to this list. This project is not about building the ‘best hyrdo garden’ or the ‘cheapest’. Just like with software, I’m building the best product I can within constraints.
Everything must be delivered:
Usually I start projects with a meander through Home Depot, seeing what my options are. This whole project is going to have to be from my imagination, with help from YouTube, and ordered online using the most effective possible combination of Home Depot, Amazon, Lowes, and others.
It’s got to be set up quickly:
Right now Amazon is limiting Prime delivery to ‘essentials only’ – everything else is 2 weeks out. This created an interesting situation in late March where some items were still available as the inventory was flushed from warehouses. I was able to get some great products in short order, but now I find myself paying a bit more from third-party sellers, or ordering from Wal-Mart and other online stores, in the interest of having them shipped more quickly. Because rapid-setup is an essential constraint, fast shipping is frequently selected over product quality.
Besides my regular job, the stay-at-home task list seems never-ending. So while this is happening quickly, I also can’t let it dominate my time with enticing MacGuyverisms and Rube Goldbergs, and general DIY tangents.
Yes, I will eventually move to COB LED’s, custom fixtures, organic heirloom seed stocks, and roll my own nutrient, but that’s not the driving force here. The plants will happily grow using the equipment I purchased and appreciate the improvements I make along the way.
It has to look awesome:
I am short on square footage, but high on ceilings (10ft). So keeping things vertical, with a light footprint, is a must. Many of the simple, inexpensive designs out there place the sacrifice on aesthetics.
It has to be Well-Architected:
The ‘Well Architected Framework‘ is a five-pillar set of guidelines for building secure, resilient, performant solutions in the cloud (AWS). As an AWS Solutions Architect, my work is guided by these principles. In many ways WAF is just ‘good engineering’, and forces you to ask the right kinds of questions up front, so I try to apply the principles to any engineered project. They are:
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- Operational Excellence
- Security
- Reliability
- Performance Efficiency
- Cost Optimization
My next post will focus more on analogues to these principals within the context of the garden, but know it’s an essential constraint.
What’s next for this project/blog series?
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- Planning & Ordering
- Assembly
- (Hopefully) Gratuitous self-back-patting
- More pictures of things growing
- More mixed computer/garden metaphors