Not too big, not too small; not too high, not too low - just the perfect size!
I might possibly finally found my "Goldilocks principle" size of a terrarium for limited space urban gardening for vegetables , especially for those who stay in a unit with to limited sunlight.
If you have read my previous posts before I have been doing within my ability to keep the one less junk on earth awareness keep going, so after a few experiments, I chose a 5L used water bottle that no longer is needed my office had during water cut 2 weeks ago.
Don't forget to make 2 small holes at the bottom
Light weight, medium size; but it took me a few mistakes to find the perfect height cut for the bottom in order for just enough soil to plant enough Brazilian Spinach, easy to harvest and not too heavy if hanging is needed.
I used PVC pipe seal tape around it not only it serves as a firmer hold at the bottom, it avoids too much sunlight into the soil causing moss growth that could potentially suffocate the roots.
Wait... you mentioned hanging earlier... With what?
I'll try to show you later. 😅
After a few tries I have found out you actually do not need a lot of soil if bi-weekly harvesting is done, and the soil around 2 inches thick would suffice for quite a bit of Brazilian Spinach cuttings.
The bottom part would be fish meal and organic soil; or if you have old soil from an unused pot, filtering it through a sift to make the soil softer without clunks then mixing with fish meal fertilizer would work too. Then cover the rest with organic soil if possible, because they are usually pre-mixed with compose.
You can also opt for pittmoss it would also be ideal because cuttings can produce roots much easier, but because it's soft soil more soil might be needed a little more.
I took some of my 1.5L bottle sized terrarium Brazilian Spinach over to plant here when I was harvesting its leaves as salad; and once those are stick into, much water is needed to keep the soil thoroughly moist for the first time.
Just like the 1.5L bottle size terrarium, the upper body of the bottle requires some side cuttings in order for it to fasten unto the bottom part of the bottle where the Brazilian Spinach cuttings were planted.
The bottle will remain concealed in this manner with 2 tiny holes at the top so that its little atmosphere will be least interrupted except harvesting, and if watering is needed, the top bottle's cap (the blue one) is opened for watering.
What's the best water for the plants?
For Malaysian environment, the tap waters are highly chlorinated; therefore either rain water from the thunderstorm or overnight rice water would be the best and it doesn't need daily watering unless the surrounding is too dry.
The whole bottle can be fasten with string so that it doesn't get detached easily. If fastened well enough, because it is relatively light, it can be hung by the window that has more sunlight or move to areas that has better sun for the season.
So what happens next?
Behold.... 2 weeks later...
Notice the way how the blue string fastens the bottle? That would keep the bottle in tact and hanging friendly!
This bottle was hung outside the window ledge for optimum sunlight as Brazilian Spinach loves a lot of sun, and I only added rice water once every 2-3 days. You noticed that because of the terrarium method, the bottle itself has its own little atmosphere with its own microbes helping it to grow on its own. You can see that there's actually water moisture in the bottle itself; therefore if it's fair weather and good sunlight and occasional rain, the bottle doesn't really need much watering.
After 2 weeks, is it ready for harvest?
This definitely is enough for 3 person's portion as sandwich greens!
Otherwise it is enough for 1 person's salad matching with a hard boiled egg.
Don't sue me. I love a balanced diet. 😅
Besides the Bread and Cheese, the patty was home made and the salad green was perfectly yummy for an open sandwich!
What about you?
If you have any watered bottle used, would you turn it into something worth bringing zero carbon footprint, healthy, still full packed with nutrients food for your own?
Thanks to @pwdfarmability 's guidance and pointers to ensure my vegetables stay healthy and bug free at the moment! 1% earnings here will be to bless their account since @sam.hsuu is swamp with work and totally no time for posting here.
Until then
