I’ve slowly been equipping my Amazon Echo, aka Alexa, with connected hardware, and the next step was a smart light for the bedroom. I wanted a bulb that was full color, required no hub, integrated directly with Amazon Echo and had IFTTT integration. The only bulb that fit that criteria was the Lifx Multicolor Wi-Fi Smart…
Category: Geeky Stuff
Soil Moisture Monitoring with Raspberry Pi
As described in previous posts, I have a self-watering setup with an extended reservoir. The only problem that has come up is that after some time the supply lines become blocked with a biofilm. When that happens, the larger plants can quickly dry out, and any fruiting going on is affected, either by reduced flowers,…
Long term, daytime only, timelapse on Android
I’ve had an old Galaxy Nexus repurposed for monitoring the garden while on vacation, but after a while I realized a better project with this setup would be timelapse of the entire season for the garden. Initially I tried the timelapse feature in the Android Camera app, but after viewing the footage, the long night…
Extended reservoir for self-watering plant containers
I have 6 Ikea Nektarin self watering pots that do great for most plants, but when it comes to growing tomatoes, cucumbers, or other water sucking plants that go through a gallon or more of water on a hot day, the included reservoir is insufficient. I tried the ceramic watering cones while on vacation, but sometimes…
Grafting Tomatoes
So far the hardest part of grafting tomatoes is getting germination predictably on time and estimating growth patterns so the stems of the scion and rootstock are roughly the same size. The actual graft and post-graft care are straightforward as long as you follow steps to ensure a gradual exposure to normal conditions. The two…
DIY Collapsible Tomato Cages for Containers
Update: I managed to find a retail solution that is readily available on Amazon: the tomato arm cage support. The structure below still works, is custom tailored to any need, but the tomato arm cages are more flexible in purpose with a smaller footprint when not in use. Couple these tomato arm cage supports with…