this post was submitted on 17 Jun 2023
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Permaculture, Sustainable Design, Homesteading, Off-Grid Living, Natural Building, and more
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I thought I would respond with my own - I've been trying to design some low energy indoor gardens from recycled materials. I think that's permaculture?
Of course I make it sound much fancier than it is. I just keep old containers, fill them with water, and then stick old aerogarden seed planters in the top and grow them hydroponically. I've had some luck growing jalapeno peppers and just recently tried cherry tomatoes. I got a few tiny ones :)
I think I'd maybe like to scale up to a hydroponic tower type setup, I'm not sure. Looking for ideas.
We do the same with old containers.
We also have our own compost. Started from some fishing worms and kitchen scraps. Black gold has helped out with pots and gardening.
I've definitely tried to compost and failed. I think I tried to go too big and I think maybe I didn't account enough for the dry air in the sonoran desert. Whats your compost process like? Does it take much watering?
I do have a local worm farm that lets me pick up compost for super cheap, which is nice - but I'd still like to make better use of my kitchen scraps.
I made that mistake a couple of times. I know most guides say that worms can eat a lot, but I found another that stated worms can go without fresh food for a week. So what I do is have a huge bucket and just put in a very small amount of everything and a tiny bit of dirt. Then once a week, I'll give them food scraps cut up, some leaves, and turn the pile with a spoon. I put a water bottle in with them to help with the temperature. I live in a desert as well so I water them once every three days ish but on one side, that way, if they feel like they have too much water, they can migrate.
One thing I did notice is once the pile got established, the pile itself got easier to self regulate. It seems the best way to get a compost pile started is to literally get some from someone else and start there. I wish more people around me would do composting so we could share.
I neglected my worms when I had my third child and was so sure they had died. 18 months later my worm tower was full to bursting with alive worms ready to be fed. It amazed me. 18 months without food and they continued their lifecycle without any inputs from me. It was a very happy day for me.
That's awesome to hear. We may need to move them indoors soonish because of the heat.
That's the essence of permaculture, right there with what you're doing. I wish I could help, my hydroponics experience is limited to putting flower cuttings in rainwater and watching them die!