what would you grow in a 12" tall heated growing space ?

I'm planning a new dwelling build (99% earth and straw) with a 12" tall sub floor growing area, perspex will be on top suppoted with stilts, the light will enter through a 8' circular (insulated with nanogel) skylight in the center of the ceiling, supplementary light will be provided mostly at night time using grow lights.

As a dwelling it will be heated all the time, i'm thinking bell peppers growing up the walls to a height of 14' from the sides of the sub floor growing area, the bulk of the sub floor growing area is left, any ideas ?

I was thinking sweet melons, like rock melons, what do you think ?

All veg which can be grown in the UK climate (Hertfordshire), will be.

Thanks!
Mike

 

Not quite sure what you are asking.

Difficult to picture what this would look like

 

It all sounds most peculiar to me ... trailing tomato/cherry tomato plants?

 

Sorry I was unclear, for all intensive purposes imagine a 12" heated (about 23c) (not so) cold frame with a height of 12 inches, what would you grow ? do you think sweet melon plants, like rock melon plants, wouldn't mind being limited to a 12" height ?

Thanks !
Mike

 

Cantaloupe melons can be grown on the ground and dont ramble too far.

Some of the watermelons get very big.

 

I can't answer your question about what to grow, but I'm very intrigued about your house plan. It sounds very eco.

How did you get on with planning consent? I've always wanted to build an eco house on my land but from the research I've done it seems that planning rules are prohibitively restrictive, and despite rumblings from the government about sustainable housing, the planning rules seem to tell a very different story, basically limiting you to the type of architecture that is common in the area, so in the case of my land that would be sandstone walls and slate roof.

From what I gather, they also want to know how you will power the house, how you will deal with sewage etc. It seems the guidelines don't generally allow for off-grid ways of doing things.

I wish you success with your project, and would love to hear how you get on.

 

JWK: Yep indoors, I would be standing on the perspex floor, under the perspex floor I will grow some thing, likely melons, the melons will have about "12 of height to grow.

Light is from the large sky light (8' diamater) in each room, extra light mostly during the night is from grow lights.

clueless1: It is not illigal to build a dwelling with out planning permission:
http://www.tlio.org.uk/chapter7/diy-planning-handbook

If some one objects to it to the council, they make you apply for retrospective planning permission, if the dicision goes against you than you can appeal, and appeal again, than appeal to the secretary of state for the environment, the whole process takes longer than 2 years before they can order you to demolish, that is the worst case scenario.

According to The land is ours campaign, in only three cases they know of people had to demolish their build, two where the self builders had a personal (name calling etc) dispute with the planners, and one where a guy shot the planning officer (that will do it).

The building technique i've chosen uses earth and is very quick / cheap to self build with volunteers, using no tradesmen, in the worst case scenario, at the end of the 2 years it is easy to dismantle and transport every thing used in the build (straw bales / monolithis rubber sheet etc), and return the sub-soil used in the build back to the land, and the plot would be returned back to how it was before the build.

The land can than be sold, and you can repeat some where else, if no one objects before 4 years (as long as you make sure you can prove it has been substantially completed for 4 years), the build cannot be onforced upon.

I've built a small dome using the earthbag method, it was one of the most fun experiances I've had, I wouldn't mind deconstructing / reconstructing every two years myself, though considering it will be built on agricultural land and well hidden away from public paths etc, also almost completely covered in organic matter (to blend into the landscape), it is very likely that no one will mind it being there for at least 4 years.

If you are interested in the building method etc pls feel free to send me a private message through the forum.

Best Regards,
Mike

 

Hi Mike,

Thats very interesting. Will you take any precautions against rats digging through it ?

We had about 300 mice, one rat and a cat getting in during our conversion:DOH:

Oh, Clueless, I did a thread on ours while you were away from the site so you probably didn't see it.

Click Here to have a look

 

Ziggy, good question,

It will be covered in EPDM rubber (1mm) which is covered in earthen plaster + organic matter, so hopefully the rats will leave it alone... do rats like rubber ?

 

How are you going to grow 14 ft peppers in a space only 12 inches in height?

 

Thanks Mike. I had a little read of the link, and will be reading it more thoroughly later. It seems to be exactly the sort of info I've been looking for for the past two or three years.[hr]
Cheers for that Ziggy. Had a quick look, looks good and interesting. I'll have another look when my eyes are working better, my eyes are the first thing to go when I get tired

 

I know what you mean Dave, i'm on my last legs too after a weeks work & a 2 hour drive home. Anything you want to know about ecobuild, well you know where to ask



Mike, rats will chew through anything if they can smell food. Most cob buildings have a layer of broken bottles in the first lift, to deter them. If they get in they can undermine the entire building so its worth taking precautions.

 

JWK: Thanks for the advice, the build is planned, not completed yet, I'll make apost with pics once it's done, which should be by the end of summer this year.

Daitheplanet: Each room will be 14' tall, the perspex floor will end before it hits the wall to allow the climbing peppers up it.

Clueless: No problem, glad I can spread the info, TLIS campaign also run a free advice line, but they like you to have read the DIY planning handbook first, to avoid the most frequent questions.

Ziggy: Thanks for the advice! I hadn't considered rats, I'm sure they could get through the rubber if they wanted, they would be into straw bale than, where they could make a comfortable nest ! =/

I could include broken glass in the first foot of the earthen plaster, ofcourse being very carefull not to poke it too far through and puncture the rubber. It could be well hidden with the 1' tall trough that would have climbers growing out of it (and up the wall).

The trough would be 1' away from the wall, so they couldn't stand on it and attack above the 1'st foot.

Rats / mice are a scary prospect, how did you get rid of yours ?

I'm not sure if the rats could tunnel through such compressed earth, the cured compressed earth would be as tough as sandstone, Cob is much less compressed, maybe a weird experiment is in order.....