Here it is folks! A nearly complete model of the planters I've been slaving over. I will be adding a wooden frame around it to make it even more sturdy (although it's pretty sturdy already since it all fits together snugly), and of course adding the plants to them. In the last week I've planted seeds that I'll take out as seedlings to my herder family participants in June.
Here are some cool features of my gardens:
-they recycle water; water poured in the top pipe trickles down all the columns of bottles at once. the pipe on the bottom leads to a container for catching the overflow water. Then this water, which is nutrient-rich from traveling through the soil, can be reused to water the plants again.
-they are designed to lie on top of a yurt
-the black paint on the bottles is to protect the roots of the plants from sunlight
-they are made out of discarded/recycled bottles
-the total cost of materials in each garden is about $6-8
I am thrilled with how these are coming out! They are a huge pain to make, but mostly because I've been making about 70 of them single handedly. I am eager to see what herders think about them, and I don't have to wait long to find out. At the beginning of June I will be heading out to the steppe again to deliver the gardens and provide a short training on growing plants and how to use the planters. I'm picking up the pace to finish everything by June 15th, when Matt will arrive! If I can get it all done I will be able to take a nice break until July, when I head back out to the countryside for mid-term interviews and question answering.
Ok that's all I have time to write now, I really should go paint more bottles...
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