How to create a self-managed vegetable garden ? Answered

Hi everyone !

*** Long introduction ***

My name is Romain, I'm french, sorry beforehand for my bad English. I'm a systems and network engineer and I like to create and design things to improve my day-to-day life.

One of my main concern is about what I eat everyday and I think sometimes it's overly complicated to respond to simples questions : is it a good or a bad product ? is it good or bad for me ?..

To solve this problem I try to learn things about nutrition, how to cook well (without losing a lot of nutrients for example), what are healthy products etc. In France we try to learn to people to eat fruits and vegetables (with a leitmotiv : "Manger 5 fruits et légumes par jour" / "Eat 5 fruits and vegetables a day")

OK. But how are fruits and vegetables grown? with pesticides, chemical fertilizer, etc. :-/ Not cool at all !

Best solution : buy fresh organic products. But it's still more expensive than other (logically).

So another solution : grow your own food

*** Short introduction ***

My name is Romain, this is the summay of my thinking :

want to be in good health ? -> eat good food

want to eat good food ? -> grow your own food

My project / idea :

Create a thing (rack, table, or whatever) to grow my own food (aromatic herbs, some vegetables, fruits) everyday, all year round.

Some constraints :

• cheap but solid
• movable (go indoor or outdoor) / lightweight / can be taken to pieces (-> plant pot on the one hand and rack on the other hand)
• self-sufficient in water
• electrical need only in winter (indoor) / low power -> LED light to help grown for darkest days
• re-usable (no disposable component)
• scalable (possibility to create another same "thing") to multiply size of the garden

Ideas :

• Have a water storage in the top of installation (not too high, to be "easily" filled) but on the top to use gravity to water the plants
• Have some specials lights to help plants growing when winter is arrived
• Have wheel to be movable
• Have sensor to be (a little) connected, for me, not a specialist of cultivation, like light sensor and humidity sensor => which would drive the water valve and light power on/off

My little flat will not allow me to be self-sufficient in food, but to have some precious ingredient for everyday cooking.

So if anyone had the experience of doing all or one part of what I thinking about, I'm open to all suggestions or recommendations.

Thank you,

Have a nice day !