Saturday, July 2, 2011

KidBotanical's Personal Backyard Grow-Entry 1

**Please note, the first few entries of Personal Backyard Grow take place between April and June 2011. Once I am up to date, entries will be weekly with current pictures and video**
     
Anyone can give advice, ranging from what to eat, watch, drink,  and even what to do with your backyard garden. But, how many people can back up their advice with fact and evidence? Here at Backyard Grow, I plan to take full advantage of my unique situation by backing up my claims with one of a kind documentation. This means you, the up and coming gardener, gets access to the best tips and techniques that don't just work in theory, they are proven to work in a backyard setting.



     So then, consider this the introudction to KidBotanical's personal Backyard Grow:
California Dreamin: Garden and Pool in one backyard



     Until I record some videos (its well over 110 degrees outside right now, so this may take a few days), all I have are tons of pictures. What you see above is the finished product of a couple years' planning and labor. I wouldn't call myself an expert or a professional, but to become an experienced gardener takes time, trial, and error, even if they have an encyclopedia of growing at their disposal. Now then, what exactly is this setup? Because of the extreme heat and sun this location faces, it became apparent that my Cannabis crop needed shading, and this is what you see: A durable shade structure built primarily from wood with concrete bases. The shade cloth you see (rated at 22% light reduction) not only eases the Sun's harsh light, but also helps to diffuse and spread the light evenly among the plants. On the top of the garden structure is the same sun shade material, reducing 22% of all light that shines through the top of the structure. If your grow season is uncomfortably warm and sunny like mine (putting it mildly), I would strongly recommend this sun shade cloth, as excess sunlight can damage any Cannabis specimen. 

     The orange plastic fencing you see is definitely optional, but if you have any pets or small children, constructing a barrier (even if it's as flimsy as plastic fencing) will help keep them out of the garden. The next feature of this garden is its nearly automatic watering system, pictured here:
Tubes...Tubes everywhere

Manifold delivering the water, up to 8 plants at a time!



     These tubes are connected to manifolds, and these manifolds deliver water based off sprinkler scheduling. Right now, I'm running over 20 minutes of water per day, divided up 4 times throughout the day. More information on water will be discussed next week and throughout BackyardGrow. Automatic watering is much more valuable when you start working with higher numbers of plants, but hand watering is sufficient for smaller gardening projects.

     Wrapping up week 0, you can see what I use for soil this year, all 6 cubic yards of it:

Not pictured: Countless wheelbarrow loads of compost into the Grow Bags




     This ended up being enough dirt for  28 Cannabis plants in my setup, which makes use of a new technology known as 'Grow Bags'. These bags act as planting pots, but they allow excess water to drain out due their aeration technology. This same technology keeps roots from growing through the bag, as roots cease to grow when they come in contact with that much air. These bags are one of the great gardening innovations available, and are available in many different sizes. Grow bags also help keep your Cannabis specimen insect and weed free by providing a much more protected plant/root area than flora growing at ground level.

A 45 Gallon Grow Bag spread open for all to see



     This concludes Entry 1 for my own Backyard Grow. In Entries 2 and onwards, you can expect to find more high quality media of my garden, including video! Entries 2 and 3 will be in the next week or so, but as soon as I am caught up with the grow season, I'll be updating this my Personal Backyard Grow once a week. Until next time, this is KidBotanical reminding you all to take after your garden, and stay healthy. 


5 comments:

  1. Really cool and interesting stuff. I've been thinking about building a greenhouse in my backyard in the upcoming year. Really looking forward to growing my own stuff.

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  2. Good stuff, I tried a closet grow not long ago...I have good lights but things didn't exactly work out. I'll stay posted you'll prolly address what I did wrong eventually

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  3. Nice post, thanks guy!
    Have a nice day.
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