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  • Author Author: dubbie
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I've Been Gardening

dubbie

I logged in properly to Element14 today, for the first time for quite a while, to find 42 notifications waiting for me. Additionally, I didn't manage to finish my entry for the latest Project14 Competition for previously unfinished projects (it was going to be a worm robot) so I'll probably try finishing that later (maybe). I've been away on holiday overseas! Twice! and the garden has been flourishing and needing more attention, plus I have been sitting out in the garden watching the flowers grow (mostly cosmos), drinking the odd glass of wine and possibly a few little sleeps. Life has been good.

 

Still, the days are shorter now, it's getting colder, the garden doesn't need my attention so much, so I am hoping to get some robot building done. I have been given one of these children's battery powered tricycles which I plan to turn into an autonomous outdoor robot. It was broken but I worked out it was the battery (£18 for a new battery! - the whole tricycle only costs £55) and a switch problem - at the moment it only goes backwards.

 

Time for some autumn fun.

 

Dubbie

  • in reply to beacon_dave

    Dave,

     

    That's a good looking lawn. I've just looked out my window to compare with mine and mine seems pretty good as well - which I didn't think it was. Made my day. I looked up the smart compost project. There might be some good points in it for me. I've been thinking of getting a hot composter.

     

    Dubbie

  • in reply to genebren

    Gene,

     

    Your improvements look good. I cannot see my local water company providing coupons to encourage me to use less water. I have more of the opposite problem. I live near the bottom of a gentle slope where the sub-soil structure is mostly clay (as aside of which is that our house, along with everybody else's, is slowly sliding towards the bottom of the hill, although it will be centuries before we get there!) and we get all the rain gradually peculating through our garden. I have put in a simple french drain this summer and I must admit that at present it is doing a pretty good job. When it rains now the lawn is more of a  a quagmire than a bog. I might extend it next summer to see if I can get more of the water to pass through my garden more quickly, then my lawn might only be soggy.

     

    Dubbie

  • in reply to ralphjy

    Ralph,

     

    I did think of applying for the Just Encase Design Challenge, with the idea of a buried compost temperature measurement device, but then I had a reality moment and realised that I wouldn't find enough time to do it justice, plus it wasn't a robot, so I didn't. I'm looking forward to seeing other people's ideas - unless it's already finished and I've missed it!

     

    I too have a plate of slowly ripening tomatoes in the kitchen but I think they'll mostly get there. I built a small greenhouse when I retired (from a kit) and this year it has provided a steady supply of tomatoes, about one per day since the summer. I've probably still have enough to last me until nearly Christmas, unless they go mouldy first.

     

    With regard to solar, I'm thinking of trying out a solar project, using a DFR0559 solar power management module as I have a 5V @500mA solar cell. The winter seems the time to see if it will produce enough power for something useful for outdoors. Maybe a squirrel detector  as we seem to have gained one this autumn.

     

    Dubbie

  • in reply to genebren

    Looks great.

     

    It appears to be the year for doing stuff with lawns. I spent summer redoing my back lawn. It got badly scorched during a hot spell a couple of years ago and it never fully recovered so decided it was time to start over during the lock-downs/work-from-home. It was an opportunity to dig out all the builders rubble that had buried 50+ years ago when originally developing the site, which means in future I can now safely use a lightweight electric garden tiller to turn it over without it kicking back all the time.

    image

    The oleaster hedge at the top right was a recent addition two years ago, and replaces an old garden wall which was broken up and can be seen to the lower left which will form a base for a new shed. The neighbours cats don't like walking on it though and hence the damage to the lawn alongside it - they trampled the new grass seedlings to death using it as a highway between the gardens. image

    With such a small space, it has been something of a 'Tower of Hanoi' project... In theory, with proper planning, it should have only taken 7 moves, not the 70+ it actually took... image

     

    I just need Dubbie Dubbie to come up with a robot lawnmower design so that I to can sit in the deckchair drinking the odd glass of wine... image

  • in reply to dubbie

    "...I also want to monitor the temperature of my compost (I bought a good box to bury in it and that was as far as I got)..."

     

    My neighbour's cats do that... Cats snoozin' on composter bin lid = compost warm.

     

    There is a composting design challenge project in progress here which may be of interest:

    Solar Powered Smart Composter - Design & Component  (Blog1)