Window Garden Design

Design: 

Chosen Plants:

The original packaging of our seeds -
Photo taken by Josh Seymour.

The BioBuddies - after a prolonged period of doubt, controversy and debating - decided on the two plants that we would be planting. We decided that seeds would be a more exciting progression to observe than seedlings, given that it's easier to track their advancement of growth as no part of them had been previously grown. Perhaps, a few weeks from now, blossoming chilies and carrots may be visible within our Window Garden. We chose these specific seeds as our soil is acidic (the pH 5,75 is
, which is suitable for carrots and chillies. Our potting soil is also ideal for the growth of vegetables.
By Josh Seymour

Watering and Filtration Systems:

Diagram Illustrated and
Annotated by Jay Sinha. 

Cotton wool filtering unabsorbed water.

Every week, at least one member of our group, will check on our plants every Monday and Wednesday Open Period and  every Friday, after the last lesson of the day and water the plants appropriately. However, in the course of our absence, during the holidays, our watering system will be a piece of rope attached to a large bottle of water. The rope will absorb water from the jug, the water will travel up the rope and the soil will absorb the traveling water. The plants will therefore achieve all nutrients needed, proving our system to be effective. We chose this method, particularly, as Simi suggested that it would work during the course of our absence. He assured us that the rope would absorb the water and the water would travel up the rope and be distributed amongst all the seeds. However, it must be noted that this isn't the safest watering system as there are no guarantees - touch wood! Any excess-unabsorbed water will drip past the rope, at the very bottom, and undergo a filtration process: our cotton wool - this allows any unabsorbed water to pass through to the other seeds beneath purified (the cotton wool acts as filter paper), until the filtrate gets all the way down into the bowl beneath the window garden. The filtrate will then be redistributed to our soon-to-be-carrots/chillies so that no water, or minerals, is wasted.
By Jay Sinha

Recycling of Water:

Water collected via filtration system,
which is later recycled into plants.

Josh also came up with the ingenious idea of recycling water. He noted that any unabsorbed water, via the Rope-Watering-System, would simply drip past the gap, in the bottle cap at the bottom, onto the window counter. So we decided to place an extra container beneath our window garden and collect all the wasted water and to not only save us from a complete mess but also to redistribute the water back into our soon-to-be-plants. This will save water, recycle water and, most importantly, return all the nutrients back into the plants.
By Jay Sinha

Construction and Installation of Window Garden:

Assignment of Roles and Soil:

Jay hanging up the Window
Garden onto the cable ties.

Our Window Garden wouldn't have been finished on time if it weren't for the excellently executed Division of Labour:

Josh- Cut plank of wood and bottle containers to appropriate size and drilled holes through bottle caps.
Jay- Attached Window Garden to cable ties and supervised installation process.

Simi- Nailed bottles to wooden plank, attached hooks to window garden and placed rope through bottle caps.

Euan- Planted soil and seeds, placed cotton balls in each container and supervised construction process. He also purchased all necessary items for the construction process.

The Big Call -
We finally came to a decision - our soon-to-be carrots and chilies will be absorbing nutrients from Potting Soil/ Mix and Euan was sure to buy and apply a sufficient amount of soil, to our seeds, to ensure the growth of our plants. This can be viewed via the photographs of our finished window garden.
By Simi Mehlomakulu

Abiotic Factors: 

Finished Product!Groups names
are listed at the top corner. 

We believe that the position, within the Biology classroom, of which our Window Garden is placed is
ideal. The lighting will be good for the current Summer Season as our Gardens will experience light throughout the day. Later on, during the Autumn Season, the intensity and the time of shine will vary slightly. However, due to our wooden design the leaves of our herbs may grow out slightly darker in order to absorb maximum sunlight. However, we are certain that what will be available, will be enough.
The temperature, within the classroom, is (and will be) ideal for our plants. Not too cold, or too warm. Overall, we are certain that there aren't many environmental factors that will tamper with our Window Garden's success in the future.
By Euan Groenewald

Edited by Jay Sinha