The Zimbabwe book project
  • About the Project
    • Objectives
  • About Zimbabwean Schools
  • TEAM - how you can help
    • Tait Chirenje
    • Patrick Hossay
    • Justine Ciraolo
    • Kelsey Everett
    • Chrissy Schairer
    • Go Fund Me Page
    • Getting books to NJ
  • US School Collections
  • Photos & Videos
  • Contact us
  • Related development projects
    • Food Production >
      • Hydroponics etc
      • Growing Mushrooms
      • Chicken Rearing
      • Worm Farming
      • Goat Rearing
    • Energy
    • Zim School Projects
    • Other Skills

Building a greenhouse

1. Building a greenhouse in one day (13 mins)
​2. What type of greenhouse should you build? (23 mins)
3. Time lapse hoop house construction (5 mins)

GROWING SEEDS so as to not waste money buying  seedlings!

One of the most unnecessary expenses most of us has is the purchase of seedlings from garden centers. This expense is totally unnecessary since growing seeds is very easy. These video start from cheap methods to some pretty sophisticated ones.
1. A 10 minute tutorial with household containers and windows seals.
2. Making your own grow lights for indoor germination systems (12 mins)
3. Growing tomatoes from seed to harvest​ (4 mins)
4. Growing seeds in a basement using artificial grow lights (14 mins), this video explains grow lights in detail (7 mins), and even more detail here (8 mins).
5. Making your own potting soil (5 mins)
6. Money saving tips for gardeners (15 mins)
​7. How to build a garden box (8 mins)

rain gutter system

1. How to set up a productive rain gutter system (7 minutes), with improvements here (7 mins)
2. Part 1 of constructing your own rain gutter system (14 mins)
3. Examples of gutter grower systems (6 mins)
4. Rain gutter system modification from Germany (4 mins)
5. Root basics (17 mins)
6. Potato grow bag experiment (7 mins)

laundry baskets and other containers

1. A 3 minute video showing how you can grow strawberries in a laundry basket.
​2. Stand-up planter box (9 mins) 
3. Strawberry crate towers for $20 (9 mins)
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 HYDROPONICS AND AQUAPONICS

This section deals with both static and low flow hydroponic systems. Although they seem very challenging on face value, hydroponic system are some of the most efficient and productive systems in the world.

Static systems: these do not involve any water movement or pumping at all. The following video demonstrate the technology that we would like to adapt to the ZImbabwean situation. We are currently testing them at our New jersey facility.
1. Hydroponic lettuce (3 mins)
2. Floating hydroponic system in Florida (19 mins)
​3. Desk top hydroponics (3 mins)
​4. Sewer pipe strawberries (90 secs)
​4. Self-sustainaining 55 drum hydroponic system (11 mins) or this zig-zag vertical column (7 mins)
​5. Intro to aquaponics (Purdue University, 15 mins) 
​6. Aquaponics (9 mins), using the design by this guy (17 mins), but powering the system using solar batteries.
Slow flow systems involve the use of a pump ( a small submersible 6W pump is usually sufficient). The following videos provide more information
1. "A" frame slow flow hydroponic setup for basil (7 mins)
2. Different variation of the A frame hydroponic system (7 mins)
3. Low flow hydroponic system with wide troughs (11 mins)
4. Growing tomato plants using Dutch buckets (19 mins)
5. Hydroponic strawberries - tower (7 mins) - we could print this on a 3D printer, create a mold and reproduce them.
6. Making Dutch buckets for hydroponics (9 mins) 
7. Construction of a hydroponics grow house (5 mins)

​hanging water bottle gardens

Hydroponics (both low flow and zero flow) systems are efficient, but the truth is that most farmers will not be ready to make the leap because of the unfamiliarity of the method and the high initial costs. Simple ideas like the hanging recycled bottle gardens shown here may be a good start:
1. Recycled water bottle wall garden (3 mins)
2. Recycled water hanging garden  (5 mins)
3. More variations of the wall garden (17 mins)
​4. More fabulous designs (3 mins)

vertical grow gardens

Vertical grow systems take many forms, including aeroponics. A more detailed description will be posted here in due course.
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The types of crops grown in vertical systems depend on the complexity of the system you are willing to set up. For example, the height, number of portals and nature of crops all depend on how often you intend to water them (either by hand e.g. using 2L plastic bottles or via a plumbing system that incorporates pumps).
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