This week I built an indoor herb starter garden.

I found and 3D-printed some seed planters that consist of two halves that
snap together. When it's time to transplant, the two halves can be separated
to allow easy removal of the seedling, and then they can be put back together in order to grow more seedlings. There is a third piece that fist to the
bottom of the pot to facilitate drainage. I designed and printed a bracket to keep all of the pots stable with respect to each other (so no single pot can tip over).

I also bought 5 capacitive soil moisture sensors and wired them, a 16x2 display, and an LED to an Arduino Nano, then programmed it to monitor the
soil moisture. The display cycles through the 5 sensors, displaying pot
number, plant name, low-moisture threshhold, and current moisture moisture level. The plant name and low-moisture threshhold are hard-coded for each pot. If the moisture level of any pot drops below that pot's low-moisture threshhold, then the LED will light and a watering-alert indicator will show
on the display when that pot cycles around. The cables included with the sensors were somewhat short, so I also built a support for the sensor protoboard that attaches to the aforementioned bracket and keep the
electronics above the water level.

I will almost certainly need to adjust the threshholds over time, as they are currently a best guess based on vague descriptions ("slightly moist," "when
the top is dry to the touch," etc.) I planted oregano, thyme, basil, and rosemary (the latter in two pots). Upon reflection, I think I should have planted the same plant in all 5 pots, but set the threshholds at different values and see which plant did best. I might do that next time, or I might build a second garden.

Jeff.

--- Mystic BBS v1.12 A46 2020/08/26 (Raspberry Pi/32)
* Origin: Cold War Computing BBS (21:1/180)

On 19 Jan 2022 at 11:12p, Jeff pondered and said...

This week I built an indoor herb starter garden.

sounds cool.

I found and 3D-printed some seed planters that consist of two halves that snap together. When it's time to transplant, the two halves can be

have you found the design to be good Jeff?

I also bought 5 capacitive soil moisture sensors and wired them, a 16x2 display, and an LED to an Arduino Nano, then programmed it to monitor the soil moisture. The display cycles through the 5 sensors, displaying pot number, plant name, low-moisture threshhold, and current moisture
moisture level. The plant name and low-moisture threshhold are
hard-coded for each pot. If the moisture level of any pot drops below
that pot's low-moisture threshhold, then the LED will light and a watering-alert indicator will show on the display when that pot cycles around. The cables included with the sensors were somewhat short, so I also built a support for the sensor protoboard that attaches to the aforementioned bracket and keep the electronics above the water level.

That sounds really neat. I have not played with Ardunio gear but it sounds like it would be something ideally suited for what you have used. Are there scripts along these lines you can download from other Ardunio users or is this something you just whipped up yourself ;-)

moist," "when the top is dry to the touch," etc.) I planted oregano, thyme, basil, and rosemary (the latter in two pots). Upon reflection, I think I should have planted the same plant in all 5 pots, but set the threshholds at different values and see which plant did best. I might do that next time, or I might build a second garden.

I agree, same plant in all pots may have been the way to go, but then given the way you went you get more herb goodness :)

Best, Paul

--- Mystic BBS v1.12 A47 2021/11/06 (Linux/64)
* Origin: Agency BBS | Dunedin, New Zealand | agency.bbs.nz (21:1/101)

On 24 Jan 2022, Avon said the following...

I found and 3D-printed some seed planters that consist of two halves snap together. When it's time to transplant, the two halves can be

have you found the design to be good Jeff?

Pretty much. Nothing's sprouted yet, and I did lose a batch to an over-exuberant dog. I made several improvements, such as a retaining ring
that holds 5 planters together so that no single one can tip over, and a bracket to hold the electronics above the water level. I'm currently working
on some clips to attach to the sides of the planters to keep the moisture sensors in place.

That sounds really neat. I have not played with Ardunio gear but it
sounds like it would be something ideally suited for what you have used. Are there scripts along these lines you can download from other Ardunio users or is this something you just whipped up yourself ;-)

There was a script by another user, for one moisture sensor, but then I built on that and added features that I wanted. The part that I didn't really
think of, but that the other user's project addressed, was to calibrate the sensors by taking a reading in the air, then a reading in a glass of water,
and converting everything between those two readings into a 0%-100% scale.

I agree, same plant in all pots may have been the way to go, but then given the way you went you get more herb goodness :)

I've created a new batch of planters and plan to plant all of the same seeds
in these. I'm waiting on more sensors and seeds; I've decided on Chinese 5-color peppers.

Jeff.

--- Mystic BBS v1.12 A46 2020/08/26 (Raspberry Pi/32)
* Origin: Cold War Computing BBS (21:1/180)

On 23 Jan 2022 at 10:34p, Jeff pondered and said...

Pretty much. Nothing's sprouted yet, and I did lose a batch to an over-exuberant dog. I made several improvements, such as a retaining ring that holds 5 planters together so that no single one can tip over, and a bracket to hold the electronics above the water level. I'm currently working on some clips to attach to the sides of the planters to keep the moisture sensors in place.

aha the old 'the dog ate my herbs' problem :)

There was a script by another user, for one moisture sensor, but then I built on that and added features that I wanted. The part that I didn't really think of, but that the other user's project addressed, was to calibrate the sensors by taking a reading in the air, then a reading in
a glass of water, and converting everything between those two readings into a 0%-100% scale.

all good, yes that's a thoughtful insight to consider for any others following in your footsteps.

I've created a new batch of planters and plan to plant all of the same seeds in these. I'm waiting on more sensors and seeds; I've decided on Chinese 5-color peppers.

cool, well that sounds like you certainly have a fun project going on there and thanks for sharing the details. :)

--- Mystic BBS v1.12 A47 2021/11/06 (Linux/64)
* Origin: Agency BBS | Dunedin, New Zealand | agency.bbs.nz (21:1/101)

On 24 Jan 2022, Avon said the following...

That sounds really neat. I have not played with Ardunio gear but it
sounds like it would be something ideally suited for what you have used. Are there scripts along these lines you can download from other Ardunio users or is this something you just whipped up yourself ;-)

The code is pretty straightforward, really, if anyone wants to do something similar. The only things that aren't are that pin 13 is the "alert" LED -- to let me kow that something needs watering, ping 15-19 are the analog inputs
from the moisture sensors, and text coordinates for the 16x2 LCD display are
in Y,X format.

-----
#include <LiquidCrystal.h>

LiquidCrystal lcd(12, 11, 5, 4, 3, 2);
char *plants[]={"1 Rosemary", "2 Thyme", "3 Oregano", "4 Basil", "5
Rosemary"};
byte levels[] ={ 10, 20, 20, 30, 10};

void setup() {
Serial.begin(9600);
lcd.begin(16, 2);
pinMode(13, OUTPUT);
}

void loop() {
byte i;
int raw;
int percent;
int alert;

alert=LOW;
for(i=0; i<5; i++) {
lcd.clear();
raw = analogRead(15+i);
lcd.print(plants[i]);
lcd.setCursor(11,0);
lcd.print("(");
lcd.print(levels[i]);
lcd.print("%)");
percent=map(raw, 550, 285, 0, 100);
lcd.setCursor(0,1);
lcd.print("Moisture: ");
lcd.print(percent);
lcd.print("%");
if(percent<levels[i]) {
alert=HIGH;
lcd.setCursor(15,1);
lcd.print("*");
}
delay(2000);
}
digitalWrite(13, alert);
}

-----
Jeff.

--- Mystic BBS v1.12 A46 2020/08/26 (Raspberry Pi/32)
* Origin: Cold War Computing BBS (21:1/180)

On 24 Jan 2022, Avon said the following...

Pretty much. Nothing's sprouted yet, and I did lose a batch to an over-exuberant dog. I made several improvements, such as a retaining that holds 5 planters together so that no single one can tip over, an bracket to hold the electronics above the water level. I'm currently working on some clips to attach to the sides of the planters to keep moisture sensors in place.

aha the old 'the dog ate my herbs' problem :)

Haha, yeah. :) He didn't eat it, though. It seems that the Achilles' heel of the whole setup is the power cord. He snagged a foot on that and sent everything flying.

Jeff.

--- Mystic BBS v1.12 A46 2020/08/26 (Raspberry Pi/32)
* Origin: Cold War Computing BBS (21:1/180)