{"id":1175,"date":"2020-09-22T06:16:00","date_gmt":"2020-09-22T10:16:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/drsmith.blog.yorku.ca\/?p=1175"},"modified":"2020-09-22T06:16:00","modified_gmt":"2020-09-22T10:16:00","slug":"indoor_gardening","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.yorku.ca\/professor\/drsmith\/2020\/09\/22\/indoor_gardening\/","title":{"rendered":"EECS 1011 Minor Project: Grow a Plant"},"content":{"rendered":"

Students in our EECS 1011 \"intro to programming class\" will be working on growing plants throughout the semester as part of their minor project. \u00a0Students will connect their Arduino-compatible Grove board to the plant to automate the watering process.<\/p>\n

\"Youtube<\/a>

Youtube video of automated plant watering with the Grove board and Matlab: https:\/\/youtu.be\/cWtiHE9ZS58<\/a><\/p><\/div>\n

Students may choose to grow something from seed or to continue to maintain an indoor potted plant. \u00a0If you need to buy supplies, it shouldn't cost you more than about $20 to get started with soil, a pot and seeds. A potted plant can start at $5. \u00a0A packet of radish seeds? \u00a0$2. \u00a0There's no need to buy expensive hydroponic systems, grow lights, etc.<\/p>\n

Are you a student in the class and are not sure where to start? \u00a0There are certain keywords that are helpful when searching online: \"container gardening<\/a>\", \"indoor gardening<\/a>\", or \"seed starter<\/a>\". \u00a0There are five places that I can recommend from which that you can consider getting plant supplies:<\/p>\n

    \n
  1. A friend or relative. \u00a0There are probably lots of people within your network who garden. \u00a0Ask for recommendations.<\/li>\n
  2. A florist. \u00a0You know, the place that you go to buy roses for your mom or that special person in your life. \u00a0They also tend to sell potted plants perfect for growing indoors.<\/li>\n
  3. A garden centre<\/a>, either stand-alone or attached to a hardware store. \u00a0You can get 1-5L of indoor \"starter\" potting soil, a small pot and a base (or a kitchen plate) for the pot to prevent water from leaking out onto your table or floor. \u00a0Search for \"seed starter\" at Home Depot<\/a> or Home Hardware<\/a> or Lowes.<\/li>\n
  4. Your grocery store. \u00a0Check this video out : https:\/\/youtu.be\/cOcMVmR8ziE<\/a><\/li>\n
  5. Online. Use DuckDuckGo, Google or your favourite browser.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

    Gardeners are generally really happy to share tips and ideas. \u00a0Like here<\/a>. \u00a0Or here<\/a>. \u00a0Or Here<\/a>. Or here<\/a>. \u00a0Or check out YouTube! \u00a0In Ontario, there's a call-in show at 12 noon on CBC radio, with a gardening session once a week (like this episode on indoor gardening<\/a>).<\/p>\n

    In Toronto area consider visiting\u00a0the Evergreen Brickworks<\/a>, or Toronto Master Gardeners <\/a>\u00a0or Young Urban Farmers<\/a>. \u00a0If you don't live in Toronto, there are probably similar types of venues around you.<\/p>\n

    Types of plants that I would recommend? \u00a0If it's already growing and in a pot, choose whatever looks good to you. \u00a0If you're starting from seed, choose something that will germinate in 1 to 2 weeks. \u00a0But if you don't have much experience Thinking about growing things from seed indoors? \u00a0Check these out:<\/p>\n

      \n
    1. See this YouTube video: https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=DeLjnFTDjFc\u00a0<\/a><\/li>\n
    2. Struggles with growing stuff inside<\/a>. \u00a0Recommendations for things to buy, lighting, etc.<\/li>\n
    3. McKenzie \"Herb Garden Grow Kit\" (all-in-one herb growing setup @ Home Depot<\/a>)<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

      I'll add more tips as I think about them here.<\/p>\n

      \n

      James Andrew Smith is an associate professor in Electrical Engineering and Computer Science Department<\/a> in York<\/a>University's Lassonde<\/a> School. \u00a0He lives in Toronto, Canada. \u00a0While on sabbatical\u00a0in 2018-19 with his wife and kids he lived in Strasbourg, France and taught at the INSA Strasbourg<\/a> and Hochschule Karlsruhe<\/a>\u00a0and wrote about his\u00a0personal<\/a> and professional<\/a> perspectives<\/a>. \u00a0You can find him on\u00a0Twitter<\/a>.<\/p>\n

       <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

      Students in our EECS 1011 \"intro to programming class\" will be working on growing plants throughout the semester as part of their minor project. \u00a0Students will connect their Arduino-compatible Grove board to the plant to automate the watering process. Students may choose to grow something from seed or to continue to maintain an indoor potted […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":762,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_kad_blocks_custom_css":"","_kad_blocks_head_custom_js":"","_kad_blocks_body_custom_js":"","_kad_blocks_footer_custom_js":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[54],"tags":[120,138,212,225,235],"class_list":["post-1175","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-pedagogy","tag-eecs1011","tag-gardening","tag-plants","tag-seed-starting","tag-soil"],"taxonomy_info":{"category":[{"value":54,"label":"pedagogy"}],"post_tag":[{"value":120,"label":"eecs1011"},{"value":138,"label":"gardening"},{"value":212,"label":"plants"},{"value":225,"label":"seed starting"},{"value":235,"label":"soil"}]},"featured_image_src_large":false,"author_info":{"display_name":"drsmith","author_link":"https:\/\/www.yorku.ca\/professor\/drsmith\/author\/drsmith\/"},"comment_info":"","category_info":[{"term_id":54,"name":"pedagogy","slug":"pedagogy","term_group":0,"term_taxonomy_id":54,"taxonomy":"category","description":"","parent":0,"count":28,"filter":"raw","cat_ID":54,"category_count":28,"category_description":"","cat_name":"pedagogy","category_nicename":"pedagogy","category_parent":0}],"tag_info":[{"term_id":120,"name":"eecs1011","slug":"eecs1011","term_group":0,"term_taxonomy_id":120,"taxonomy":"post_tag","description":"","parent":0,"count":4,"filter":"raw"},{"term_id":138,"name":"gardening","slug":"gardening","term_group":0,"term_taxonomy_id":138,"taxonomy":"post_tag","description":"","parent":0,"count":1,"filter":"raw"},{"term_id":212,"name":"plants","slug":"plants","term_group":0,"term_taxonomy_id":212,"taxonomy":"post_tag","description":"","parent":0,"count":1,"filter":"raw"},{"term_id":225,"name":"seed starting","slug":"seed-starting","term_group":0,"term_taxonomy_id":225,"taxonomy":"post_tag","description":"","parent":0,"count":1,"filter":"raw"},{"term_id":235,"name":"soil","slug":"soil","term_group":0,"term_taxonomy_id":235,"taxonomy":"post_tag","description":"","parent":0,"count":2,"filter":"raw"}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.yorku.ca\/professor\/drsmith\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1175","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.yorku.ca\/professor\/drsmith\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.yorku.ca\/professor\/drsmith\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.yorku.ca\/professor\/drsmith\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/762"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.yorku.ca\/professor\/drsmith\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1175"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.yorku.ca\/professor\/drsmith\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1175\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.yorku.ca\/professor\/drsmith\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1175"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.yorku.ca\/professor\/drsmith\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1175"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.yorku.ca\/professor\/drsmith\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1175"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}