Garden update

I want to show you a small update from my garden.
Yesterday, 16.06.2013, i've spent some time in my garden and i manage to do some photos and a video tour of my garden. The video will be available latter on this day (i think after 6 pm local time).

When i was shooting photos with some of my cucumbers i manage to catch a bee inside the cucumber flower :). This is the first place were i have cucumber planted and the plants are bigger than the rest of my cucumbers. I also have cucumber inisde the big green house and in the back of my yard.

Chicken incubator - update

This morning i have been waked by a noise from the incubator....
after wrestling for 30-40 minutes trying to fall asleep again i went to the incubator and this guy wake me up:

Garden update

I know that i haven't posted anything on my blog for some time but i have been very busy with work (at work and at home) and now i want to show you how my garden looks like and a small update with what i have done lately.

Chicken incubator - homemade

The story began last year when by mistake i saw one video on youtube with one homemade incubator and it was interesting and i started to watch more videos regarding this subject.
After a day or two on youtube i began reading about incubators and the conditions needed to incubate eggs. While i was watching those videos i was paying attention to what kind of materials were  used and at the design of the incubators.
I realized that i had almost all the parts already at home so... in one day i've started working at my homemade version.

Now i have some tomatoes

Tomatoes are planted

After I almost managed to complete construction for the big green house, still must make them the door, I managed to plant tomatoes. In fact I have planted tomatoes two days ago but I was very busy at work and I could not post anything on the blog ....

All it needs it's a door....

Big green house

My seedlings are getting bigger and i'll have to move them soon so even though yesterday was sunday i've started my day with a big cup of coffee and i was thinking at the big green house watching the frame from my patio.
While i was finishing my coffee ideas came to my mind regarding the last steps of the build. So prepared with some ideas i've prepared the tools that i used to finish the build and start working.

Almost complete - big green house update

I know that i haven't posted anything on my blog for a while ...but i have been really busy at work and working at my big green house.
Last weekend we had Easter celebration and i haven't did anything ... that was a wierd period for me because usually i do something around the house or in my garden. I'm not used to doing nothing...

Germination - step by step

I had used the term germination in my previous posts but i did not explain how i did it.
So today i'm making a small tutorial  about germination and how you can do it yourself.

 To make this process you will need:
- paper towels
- a glass with water
- a ziplock bag

Big green house update

Big green house update:
Although it was Saturday i did a lot of things including:  homemade tool (full article on my blog), I went shopping with my wife and daughter , and I worked at the big green house .....
To begin working on the big green house I had to cut planks from a big piece of wood to achieve this I used the table saw.

 After i had the planks i began working on the actual frame of the big green house.

First tool

A while back James Neal posted a tool good for gardening and i I thought it was easy to do so this is my approach to make that tool:

I've started this task with a paper template and that template i transfer it to a sheet metal that i had laying around...
Next i've prepare the tools that i'll use to make my own gardening tool:
- angle grinder
- hammers
- welding machine
- different disks for the angle grinder.
- safety glasses.

Radishes out - more room for tomatoes

So yesterday i've spend some time in my garden and prepared the space used by radishes in the small green house for new tomatoes seedlings.
After the radishes have spend the monthly period inside the green house they reached this level

We had some radishes that were good for eating but some plants did not grow as good as the others... I think the reason for that was the space was not enough they were to close one to other.

Garden (re)arrangement

Garden (re)arrangement

From my last post i've changed my mind about some decision for this year:
When  i've made the small green house i wasn't going to use the one from last year ... the plan was to test with this one and see what happens but: i've worked almost one day to brake down the old green house and make some changes on the design and rebuild it.

The interesting thing for me was that i've learned something about the green house while i was dismantle it - the structure wasn't stiff enough and some planks was bent due the forces involved. So the first thing that i've done when i start rebuilding the green house was to add more pylons. The next thing that was to trim the pylons to have a good propensity for the roof. Next step was to connect the
side pylons to the middle ones and this give the structure a good stiffnes.

Samsung HD103SJ repair

Yesterday, 30.04.2013, before my program ends i ran into a problem one Samsung HD103SJ (1 TB HDD) was not working...

So i took that HDD and connected to my computer but nothing happend i couldn't see it in device manager... i've checked the cables to be connected properly and they ware connected ok.
I've rebooted the computer and entered in bios to see if the motherboard is seeing that HDD - no luck there also.

Sony Vaio VPCS13L9E hdd replacement

The laptop started to be slow like an old computer... so i've started to test what can be the problem with different tools.
So after running a lot of tests i decided that i'll have to change the hdd from this laptop because the one from the laptop is failing and it will crash soon.

Blooming trees from my garden

Hello,
I want to show you the trees from my garden:

Cherry has many flowers even if it is small. Last year he did a few cherries but this year I think I'll be different :)

 It has nice and big flowers.

New pots in the green house and update

Busy Sunday i've worked at my new green house (for that i have a separate post) because i changed some stuff from my last build and added more pots inside the small green house.

Even though it was Sunday working at the new green house and planting seeds of peppers was a relaxation, an exit from the daily routine - and my only day off in which I can handle gardening because of my schedule.
 

How to check pH levels from your soil

If you have plants that aren't growing well you can consider to check the pH level from your soil. To do this task you can buy kits and determine the pH level from your garden but i prefer the easy way: using things that I already have.

You can check the pH level from your soil all that you need you already have in your house.
The pH level of your soil can determine what plants will grow and what plants will not grow there.
Neutral pH value is 7.
Most plants prefer pH between 6,2-6,8-7 but blueberries like soil with pH over 7.
So you will need two cups , vine vinegar, sodium bicarbonate, water and some soil from your garden to determine the pH level.

Small update for the green house

Small update for the green house

I haven't post anything on the gardening section because i have been busy in the last period with work and rebuilding the green house from last year (for this i'll have a different post)
In my small green house now i have also flowers i've used some boxes to plant the seeds: hyacinth, and some red flowers i don't know how their are called but i hope that my wife will like them.

 
The plants now are bigger than in photos, because i took them a while back (5-6 days ago).
But in the next picture you can see my flowers .... actually one of them - one hyacinth.


This photo is with radishes - they have grown very good i think that in one month i can cull them.

How to fix an lcd monitor

The story:

One lcd monitor that is not showing anything but the power led is on. By removing the cable from the source (video card) normally on the screen there must be a warning that there is no video source connected.

Note:
If you are disconnecting  the cable from the video card and you have an adaptor on the cable you should remove that adaptor. From experience i know that if you have an vga-dvi adaptor on the cable that warning regarding the video source is not showed.

The cause:

When the power led is on but on the screen you don't have anything usually the problem is bad capacitor or a fuse.

Bad capacitors

The story:

One of the guys from the security company that is protecting the company that i work for asked me if he can bring me his computer because is not working and it is making some weird sounds.
After a few days he brought his computer in one bag and left it in my office...he did like this because he was in the night shift.

Powering the computer

After connecting mouse, keyboard, monitor i have pressed power button and waited for something to happen, for some sounds because the guy from the security said that after powering up the computer it's  starting to make sounds -  and i heard the speaker beeping.

After removing the side panel of the case i could see the components and notice that on the motherboard there are 4 capacitor damaged:
6,3V - 1800uF - 2 pcs
6,3V - 2200uF - 2 pcs

Watering system for the green house

Watering system 

Now that the green house is complete and the seeds planted I need to figure a way to water the seeds without having to spend a lot of time doing this. After researching on internet for watering systems I came up with my approach to this task:

Ok… I know that this is only a diagram and that I will have to build it but this is my plan so far.

How does it works?
The system have a water supply (water tank or water from a hose). The water pass through a valve and then reaches the reservoir were the water will be mixed with liquid fertilizer and then delivered to the seeds / plants.
The setup of that valve is trial on error because this valve will determine the amount of time needed for the water rezervoir to be filled, this can be translated in: how much fertilizer will be in the water:
 - if it has a low speed the floater valve will stay open for a longer period of time;
 - if it has a fast speed that valve will stay open for a shorter period of time
.... so you can ajust that valve for your needs.

Last snow ....

Last Snow...

The weather took an unexpected turn not very suitable for my plants. At the end of March we had snow... probably the last of this winter. 
The "good" part of this change was that i have seen the green house in this condition and i am pretty confident that i can use this one in the winter also.

 From the roof i have brushed about 7-10 cm (3-5 inches) of snow and the roof was ok.

Green House Arrangement

Green House Arrangement

If you have read my previous post you all ready know how my green house looks like if not i advice you to read it because this post is related with my first one, and you will find information about the construction and materials used for the green house.

It`s time to plant some seeds inside and for this task i`ll need to arrange the space inside my green house.
So... the first thing that i`ve done was to use the left wood from the build and made a board long enough from one side to the other. To this board i`ll attach the dividers so i`ll know what seeds are planted in that area of the green house.
I`ve placed this board about 35-45cm (17-20 inches) from the back of the green house because i`ll use that space when i`m inside to water the plants. The next step was to rake the soil were i`ll plant the seeds latter on.
After i had finished this step i had prepared a mix from water and fertilizer and watered the soil. I had repeated this step also the next morning.  The panels from the green house were closed so that heat can accumulate inside.

Almost done (at least for a while) i had put dividers inside the green house. Next thing that i have done was to get the seeds and plant them in the soil.

Green House

Green house

....a bit of history
Living in a house have some benefits and one of them is space. So my plan is to use that space and practice what i`ve seen and what i`ve learned. Now that winter has passed i want to use the space from my garden.
My previous attempt to build a green house has teached me some stuff regarding construction:
 - the roof must have a high propensity otherwise the water will not flow fast enough and the plastic foil will deform.
 - it must have a good ventilation, and a way for the insects to get in and pollinate the plants flowers.

What happend with my last green house?

Last year when i`ve build my first green house i did not know the stuff from above so... my tomatoes have grown almost 2m (6.5 feet) in height but i did not had good results - there was no way for the insects to get inside and pollinate the flowers.
One other aspect of that green house was the roof - it was not sharp enough so the water will not stay long on the plastic foil ... so i had some watter bellys on the foil when was raining.

....this year