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Welcome to the Gardinette wiki!
Gardinette is a hardware and open-source software platform for automated at-home agriculture. Gardinette uses a raspberry pi (or any other SBC that supports all the requirements, including i2c, PWM, and a 3.3v logic level), a custom printed circuit board, and modified off-the-shelf sensors to run the open-source software which measures environmental variables and adjusts several actuators accordingly. Currently, the default Gardinette sensor suite includes a DHT22 temperature and humidity sensor, a capacitive soil-moisture sensor, and float sensor. The default Gardinette actuator suite includes a 12v pump, two 12v fans, and a relay (expected to actuate lighting if necessary). Using the included hardware, Gardinette is able to autonomously support an individual fruiting plant within any suitable growing environment. Specifically, Gardinette is tailored to indoor hydroponic plant growth; however, Gardinette does not include any specific enclosure or growing environment. Instead, Gardinette is able to be retrofitted to any currently existing growing setup to provide full automation of the plant growth. That means whether you're growing inside in a tent, inside in a bucket, or outdoors, Gardinette is able to be adapted to automatically grow your crop of choice!
I came up with the idea for Gardinette while trying to grow peppers indoors at my apartment during college. Initially, I had simply placed the peppers by a window hoping for results, but my apartment got so little light that the plant struggled. Additionally, I always became complacent and forgot to water the plant regularly. That was when I realized that I needed something to remember for me. That's when I bought my first high power LED and pump and began building an automation system around it. After several hardware and software prototypes, here we are!
Please Note: All statements regarding the production release of Gardinette are subject to change at any time.
Upon production release, Gardinette will come with almost everything you need to get started, as well as the option to include a growing LED light. This will include the raspberry pi and pre-loaded micro-SD card, the printed circuit board, a plastic enclosure for the electronics, a 12v pump, two 12v fans, a float sensor, a DHT22 temperature/humidity sensor, and a capacitive soil-moisture sensor. To use gardinette, simply mount the plastic enclosure in a convenient location on/in the growing environment. Then, insert the pre-loaded micro-SD card into the raspberry pi and attach the printed circuit board to the raspberry pi. The raspberry pi assembly can then be closed within the plastic enclosure. The float sensor is mounted through the wall of any chosen water storage vessel (the sensor self seals and prevents leaks). The pump is placed in the bottom of the water storage vessel. The temperature/humidity sensor is placed in a location within the enclosure that is representative of the growing environment air (i.e. not right next to a heat source or vent). The fans can be mounted according to ideal ventilation locations and can essentially be placed wherever the user desires; however, it is ideal to have one for intake and one for exhaust. The soil moisture sensor is placed directly into the growing media. The user's chosen light (or the optionally included one) can simply be plugged directly into the outlet on the enclosure. All sensors must be connected to the correct corresponding port on the enclosure. Once the assembled kit is powered on, the OLED screen should power on and begin displaying information about the conditions within the growing environment. Pressing any of the buttons will "wake" the screen to a menu which allows the user to change lighting and watering time; desired temperature, humidity, and soil-moisture; and hours of light. Pressing the left and right buttons will scroll between options, while pressing the middle button will select that option. After a 20 second timeout, the screen will revert to displaying information. Additionally, Gardinette will automatically begin to log all of the environment data to view how the data changes over time. The user will also have the option to remotely adjust their growing settings and view the data logs from the Gardinette website. This feature is still in development.
Gardinette works out of the box and requires no adjustment from the user. Once the grow environment is set up, the user can simply sit back, and refill the water reservoir periodically. For more options, the user can also easily adjust their settings on the Gardinette device itself, or remotely via the Gardinette website, in order to fine tune their settings.
Gardinette is open-source, and modifying the platform to fit your personal needs is strongly encouraged. To help further this goal, extra input and output ports will be included to encourage technically inclined users to experiment with their own sensors and actuators.