New Years is over! Another year. ungh! Onward!!
Most readers might assume that, except for the fish pond in the floor, the accoutrements presented thus far resemble most any tiny home built to date. However, it is with the Slide-Out that most of the differences occur. The Slide-Out will contain my garden, water purification, toilet, shower, and entry door. This post will address the Garden.
The Garden
While looking at the interior of the slide-out, it took a bit to imagine nearly 60 plants growing on just one wall. But, that was just what I was working on. First, of course, the insulation, and … oh yea! I forgot to plan for the toilet. There is a composting toilet, that will take my kitchen and personal solid wastes and transform them into compost for the plantings.
The ledge (there’s one on each side) needed to be closed in just tall enough to afford some covered plantings, yet leaving enough wall space for the vertical-tube planters to hang on the wall.
First, I placed the rough toilet, then built the box-walls. Next was the wall sheathing over the insulation. The thing is, the toilet base was far more difficult, as I had to bridge the low-wall to the wall behind it in order to secure the toilet seat. With that done, I could proceed with the wall sheathing.
With the construction in wood, I had to consider the issue of continuous water flowing, feeding the plants, and then draining … somewhere back into the fish pond. Soooooo, the next step is to install the pond liner in the boxes …
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First, behind and beneath the toilet, then in the box on the other side … I’ve seen both video and live demonstrations of installing pond liners, but never one in such a small space. It was WAAAAAY more difficult. That being said, I did finish with reasonable results.
Lighting Preparation
Planning for lighting in an enclosed greenhouse is problematic. Now try that with one that has no windows, and a high probability of absorbing much of the light that is there. So, a new piece is called for. I had purchased some mirrored-mylar film some time ago, and decided to apply this mirror to the walls and ceiling of the garden space. It SHOULD reflect much of the light back into the room – so the theory goes, anyway.
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This much was more than enough for one weekend ….