The Inventor’s Allotment

I’ve not made anything electronic for the allotment yet, but I thought I’d better document some of my ideas to justify the blog title, and so I don’t forget them…so anyway, here goes:

• Solar power for the shed -
  • Some solar panels on the roof will either run small items directly or will charge batteries for use when the weather’s bad. I may run some LED lighting, power the radio or maybe run some PIC based electronic circuits.
• Solar soil heating -
  • Using old cooling pipes from a fridge I’ll make a solar water heater which then circulates the hot water through pipes laid under the soil to make it toasty warm. I might not need to do this one, but the idea appeals to me. This solar heater is similar to what I have in mind.
• Data logging -
  • Using one-wire temperature sensors from Maxim/Dallas IC and possibly light, humidity and water sensors, I’ll create a data-logging system to monitor various environmental statistics.
• Wireless data link -
  • Our house is only 0.5616 miles from the allotment, as the crow flies, so a wireless link of some kind is not out of the question. Depending on what kind of link I can get working I’d probably use it in conjunction with the data logging system to send back information from sensors.
• Wireless voice communications -
  • I bought a cheap pair of ‘walkie-talkie’ type radio transceivers a while ago. They claim to have a 3km range (line-of-sight) and although it’s quite crowded between here and the allotment, it’s less than a kilometer away so I have some hope of it working. I’ll test that at some point soon. It’d be good to be able to hassle Lucy while she’s down there slaving away.
• Greenhouse climate control -
  • To keep the temperature in the greenhouse stable I plan on making a solar powered climate control system. This would consist of a temperature sensor and maybe a humidity sensor linked to a servo motor which will open and close a hinged hatch in the roof. When the temp rises beyond a preset level the hatch will open and when the temperature falls the hatch will close.
• Automated watering system -
  • This will monitor soil moisture and air temperature then water plants based on the readings. It may be solar powered where possible and the water will come from butts that have collected rain. It will water at night to minimise water loss by evaporation.

Those are just some of my ideas at the moment. I’ll update my progress as I go along and write up new ideas whenever I think of something that’s half-decent. I’m not aiming for 100% practical ideas, some things I’d just like to try out to see if they can be done and for the experience of doing them.

I can’t wait until I have some more free weekends, then I should be able to put some of my plans to the test.

Yesterday Lucy went down to the allotment at about 3 O’Clock to do a bit more clearing while I was forced to stay trapped inside working. When half-five rolled around I hopped on my bike and rode down to meet her. It was the first time I’d ridden there and I was pretty surprised at how quick the journey was. From door to gate it was only about 5 minutes. According to Google Maps Pedometer it’s only 0.6869 miles so it’s really quite close.

When I got there Lucy had done a fantastic job of clearing up the area between the shed and greenhouse, it’s now looking very neat and tidy. I got to work clearing a disintegrated bench away from the fence next to the shed. Clearing the wood from the old bench was simple, but underneath it were numerous plastic sacks that had turned into tiny plastic shards, which now litter the soil. We’ve decided to be very careful about using any plastics on the allotment since nearly every bottle or bag that we’ve found so far has become brittle over time and started to litter the place with coloured flakes.

By the time we left at 7 it was getting very difficult to see, a problem that’ll get worse soon when the clocks go back. It was looking nice though from what I could see in the dim twilight. Unfortunately I don’t think I’ll be able to get back down there this week and the weekend after’s not looking hopeful either as I’ll be in London. I’ll have to try and cram in some more after-work sessions.