Hydroponic Drip Garden for Vegetables, Herbs or Flowers. Here are the items you will need:1 - 27 gallon heavy duty plastic storage box with recessed plastic lid10' of 1/2" PVC pipe5 - 90 deg PVC elbows3 - PVC T connectors1 - 3/4" to 1/2" PVC reducer1 - 3/4" PCV pipe to 3/4" Male Thread connector4 - 1/2" PVC J-Hook Hangers1 - Male Quick Disconnect to male 3/4" hose thread1 - Female Quick Disconnect to female 3/4" hose thread1 - 1/2" hose barb to female 3/4" hose thread 1 - rubber washer with filter screen3' of 1/2" flexible rubber hose1 - Active Aqua PU160 water pump12' 1/4' O.D. drip line hose12 - Drip stakes or drip nozzles with tie down stakes12 - Square Plastic pots sized to fit 3 across top of tote lid1 - 24 Hr timer with 15 minute on/off timing intervals The first 11 items on the list were all purchased from Home Depot and can be picked up at most hardware stores.
The remaining item were purchased from a local hydroponics store in Billerica MA [www.greenlifegardensupply.com]. The Cheap Vegetable Gardener: How to make a cheap soil moisture. Soil sensors can be pretty expensive to purchase but a few minutes and a few cents worth materials around your house you can make your own accurate cheap soil moisture sensor.
UPDATE: Though this still a great sensor, check this post for the latest version of a more heavy duty soil moisture sensor. I mentioned in a previous post that my previous soil moisture sensor did not hold up in my automated grow box update, so I needed to make a new one. After a little research there was the classic science class method of creating a homemade sensor by simply putting two galvanized nails in the soil and measuring the resistance between them.
A major problem with this solution is the soil composition can significantly vary the resistance and keeping the spacing between the nails could be troublesome. After a little more research I came across the method that has been working well for over 50 years. I straightened out one end of both wall hangers the best I could with some needle nose pliers. Hints for a Complete GOURMET GARDEN, on the cheap! - Instructabl. You don't need a big area of soil in order to set up a gourmet garden.
Even if you have a park, you may want to set up small plants in pots so as to leave the bigger spaces for your trees, as I do. If you have a balcony with enough sunlight, then it's perfectly possible to grow aromatic plants as well as strawberries and cherry tomatoes. Check the photos where I show plants of tomato, strawberry, mint, oregano, ciboulette, rosemary, thyme, salvia, etc., all of them in pots. Moisture in pots Note that soil from the pots will lose lots of water during summer and in dry, windy days, even if it's not that hot, so you'll probably have to water the plants more often than you'd do in an outside garden.
One way to protect plants from excesive sun and wind is to set up a number of combined plants in the same pot, and/or to arrange many pots together. Size of pots Strawberries, red cherry tomatoes, ciboulete, tomatoes, and small plants can be grown in rather small pots, may be 10 to 15 cm deep.