Window Farm Design and Practicals

Our design of our window farm is very unique! Unlike most people who are using normal 2 litre Coke bottles, we are using much larger bottles providing more space for our plants to grow in. We may even be able to grow more plants than other groups!

• we have put together 4 large 2 litre juice bottles, including a filter which we cut circles in the bottom of and stuck the other bottles into from the top.

• We then made sure that they would not come loose by using a hot glue gun to keep them firmly attached  with the hot glue.

 




After that we Cut Large holes into the sides of them for an opening for the plants to grow out of.

We also stuck the top of a smaller bottle to the 2 litre bottles for a filter to pour water into.













We have learnt many new things from our practicals that we have done. We now know the right soil we need and why we need it. We think by doing these abiotic practicals, it helps a huge amount in getting to a good start planting our plants rather than messing around not knowing what you are doing and having to stress! So far so good!

Our Practicals that we did

Prac 1: Soil Composition	Prac 2: Soil classification and Texture	Prac 3: Water retention capacity	Light and temperature.
Interpretation:   We put loam soil in water in a test tube which has been left for 2-4 days. Clay and sand are visible in our picture above as well as a layer of silt. We never knew loam soil was also made up of clay and sand! Thickness of Clay layer: 1.2cm. Thickness of Sand layer: 1.7cm. Thickness of Silt layer: 2.65cm.	Interpretation: We thought that all three soils had different size soil particles, were different in colour and texture. Loam soil: Particles differ in size. It has very good water retention. There are bits of wood and rock inside the soil. It is well aerated. Clay: The particles are very small and fine with a few rocks. If you were to wet the soil, you could roll and make a sausage. It is a very dense soil. Sand: Has large particles. Does not hold water and is loosely arranged. When rubbing this soil between your fingers, it fells very gritty.	Interpretation: This practical showed us that all the different soils contained different amounts of water when wet.  It was mainly due to how the particles were arranged.(eg sand, large particles but loosely arranged).  Our two cubicles weighed 12.6g and 12.4 g. These were filled with Loam and Sand which we damped. In total, the Sand weighed 19.3g and the Loam weighed 17.4g.	Interpretation: We did this Practical, which helped us a huge amount on where to place our Window Farm inside our classroom.  We tested the light, temperature, PH and humidity.
Discussion: From this practical, we had learnt the different elements of loam soil which was very fascinating. Different size particles were also shown.	Discussion: We decided to use Loam soil for our Window Garden. This is because it has good soil retention and has good nutrition in the soil. Loam soil will definitely be our best option.	Discussion: From this we discovered the best soil is Loam soil. It had the best water retention. Loam soil seems to be able to hold water but the water does not drown the soil.	Discussion: After doing this practical, we have found the best possible place to grow our plants. This will definitely resolve in better results of growth in our position. Our plants will get everything they need in order for it to be a healthy growing plant.

Where we think this project is going

In the future, the both of us want to keep building more window farms and encourage other people to also use them. Window farms are great! They will most likely become more popular and more people will start making them therefore changing the way we live today. If this happens, our planet will become a better and healthier place to live in.

Maybe even someday cities will look like this

There are some really interesting videos on vertical farming on YouTube. I will give you some links below:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2nFQOkzEjxQ

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U8O_St95tV8

Who are we?

Hi, we are Green Revolution. This entire blog is run by Max Harrison and Rob Moubray and is all about Window Farms. We go to school at Bishops Diocesan College. We are in Grade 9 and have been assigned to actually build a window farm as well as create a blog. We will try and keep you updated with new information daily. We hope you have a great time reading our blog! Please comment if you wish.

Our design

We have watched lots of videos and seen many different websites showing window farm designs. We have come up with an idea that will hopefully work. It is simple and very easy to create.

This is what we are hoping to build.


























We already have the bottles required for this window farm and will soon be in progress. We will keep you updated.

http://www.windowfarms.com/build-your-own/


This is a really good video on window farms: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PkCuPrsPn_I

http://www.wikihow.com/Build-a-Window-Farm

Information from the biology talks.

Window farms take up very little space and don't require a lot of land.

They are usually grown in small boxes, bottles or even pots, and because they are in such small containers, they can grow easily in the wildest places.

it is true that some people use recycled water for their window farms but not just recycled water, but water from fish bowls.

• when you grow your plants in the ground = more space/ less work
• when you grow your plants in a pot = less space/ more work.( as you have to keep your eye on it and meet its needs)

When you work with vertical gardens it is easy to make it very fashionable, because there is not a lot of land used, meaning you can focus on minor detail.

 Although plants will only successfully grow if the Roots are kept in the dark e.g. a black tray, black soil, black wrapping ect.

It is essential that you always grow what you want to eat!


this is a picture of plants being grown on the roof of a bus.

Making a window farm/the items required

Making a window farm can be very easy and extremely cheap.

Window farms require certain items such as:

• a pole (something to keep your window farm straight and connected too)

• Either 3 or 4 (depending on how big you want it to be) plastic bottles (1.5litres)

• A 1 gallon bottle for the bottom used as a base.

• Cable tires to keep the bottles connected to the pole.

• an air pump needle, air pump and air tubes.

And for the growing procedure:

• a  sponge
• clay , pebbles or soil.
• a small cup
• a knife
• tape
• and obviously what every type of plant/vegetable/fruit you want to grow. (make sure that what ever it is it will be able to fit into the 1.5 litre bottles)

This is an image of what your window farm should look like if you use the items above.