Basement Farm Framework: Version 2. Part 1

Or, how Dave spent his summer instead of Blogging.

During the month of July, 2011, I found most of my spare time spent in various garden work.  I had moved the remaining containers in the basement garden outdoors, transplanted the last of the container plants.  The outdoor garden in the back yard was full of weeds, and I didn't have the time needed to take care of that issue.  It seemed that using all the compost from last year included lots of grass seed, and to pull everything out would take hours that I don’t have.

Also, I had made plans with my friend Chuck to help me build my "version 2.0" basement farming framework.  He is much better with woodworking tools than myself, but we both agreed I needed a design before we start building it.

I downloaded a CAD software package for my iPad and completed some basic design sketches.  I learned a lot from last winter's indoor farming "prototype" to understand structure, support and size.  Weight distribution and drainage was important.  At one point last winter, a small, rusty table collapsed while I was working downstairs, forcing me to quickly drain and disassemble half the prototype before I could even replace the broken table with a more sturdier one.  Fortunately, not much spilled out of the tray so my wife wasn't the wiser until the system was up and running in a few hours.

Where I have been doing my basement farming, there are two medium size west facing windows about 4 feet above the basement floor, I positioned the basement garden to capture late day sunlight, and would continue to use a similar position with the next design.  In the original design of 2.0, I had three independent sections, where the middle section could be removed to drop the height of the frame when the plants got too large.  I calculated and purchased the wood needed the weekend before Chuck was to come over, and arranged to review the design with him in an early morning breakfast before going to work.

I have known this man since grade school. Both Chuck and I had degrees in Engineering from Northeastern University.  We car pooled together to school for many years, and after he graduated he got a job at the same mini computer company where I was working.  While we went to the same school and worked in the same department, we never worked on the same project together.  Most of the people I knew agreed he was one of the best engineers in the group, and I was looking forward to finally work together with him.

I reviewed my design with him, and he asked some good, probing questions about my assumptions behind the design.  He asked asked some fundamental questions, like “Do you really need that much wood?” I learned long ago the art of collaboration through constructive criticism.  This is a core practice of any engineering team. Questions like this are constructive, and should not be taken personal.  The goal I was working towards was a simple easy design. Once I shared the design with others the path to that goal became clearer, but not what I originally expected.

We both agreed that this design needed to be solid, and the trays holding the planters needed some special work for support and allow drainage.  Aside from that, he questioned everything, throwing out some "What if" scenarios that I didn't think about.  It boiled down to a basic concept; I was using too much wood in my design.  Even taking my own basic issues into account, a simplified design would be easier and quicker to build, and use less wood.  These were good points, and I found myself needing to redesign the system within two days before Chuck would be over to help build it.  I spent the motorcycle ride home from work mulling over his points and reworked some of my basic design to become a single unit.  When Chuck came over on Saturday, a new set of plans where completed, but we “Improvised” some of the design on the fly. 

We started working on this mid-morning, and by mid-afternoon the framework was in place and what was left was more assembly than construction.  Chuck had to leave, but I continued my work into the evening. I installed wheels on the bottom to simplify moving, and had the trays positioned on the frame with the proper angles.  Within a day the frame was completed, and I had half the purchased wood left unused, and needed to be returned.  I started to plan for the following weekend where I will set up the watering and plant the next harvest.