Its been a few months since the completion of the Bamboo framed Polythene Skinned Geodome was constructed and I wanted to summarise how things went during the first season.
Setup - Watering was supplied by an external tap / hose / battery operated timer and distribution kit as described below.
Tuning in the amount of time the water was switched on, number of times per day, the size and drainage of each plant pot led to some plants being overwatered. After adjusting the sequenece over time the system worked very well ...even during the extended periods of absence from the house,dome.
Environment
Once the water was sorted the other big variablke is temperature. During sunny days the inside of the Geodome rose to the high 30's such that any work to be performed inside became almost impossible. (think Sauna!) During overcast / windy days the dome sat around the mid 20's and probably got no lower than 18 degrees or so during the Spring, Summer nights. Excellent growth conditions for most plants and a very pleasant place to be when the sun wasnt high in the sky.
Vegetation
Plants chosen for dome season 1 were
1) tomato plants started from seed in house and planted out into Geodome as established plants. Succeeded very well and gave a substantial crop for many many weeks of lovely sweet cherry tomatoes. A definite success and next year would propose to have maybe 4 plants instead of the 8 or 9 that took up a lot of space this time around.
2) This abundance of crop was also true of the aubergines and courgettes which again yielded well and took up a lot of space.
4 courgette plants and 9 aubergine plants will be replaced by 2 of each next season.
Apart from these vegetables a variety of flowering plants were successful placed in a circular pattern around the perimeter.
In general , everything worked regarding growth. A major problem was the overgrowth resulting in vegetation pressing up against the walls of the dome leading to biological growth of some sort. Indeed the dome had a high humidity due to high temperature/ abundant water supply and condesnation on the inside during the colder nights. Ventillation will be increased slightly over the 4 ~ 24cm diameter grilled vents currently in place around the bottom of the polythene dome and 2 at the very top.
Goals -
Somewhere to sit and chat on moderate days. This was acheived largely in that when the sun is out you wont spend time in a dome anyway. When the sun wasnt out ...it was largely a nice place to be and could be very nice to share a couple of beers with frineds,family etc during the darkest of covid times.
Growing Plants Excellent growing conditions for plants. No birds and few insects to nobble production. However that aslo means restrained pollination wrt tomato plant flowering / fruit production ...so a few spells of fertilisation using cotton buds, water paint brush were required to get production underway.
Sustainability - well, until the storm came along, next post, all was well withstanding some pretty nasty weather conditions without flinching. I do think storms will be more regular and prove very difficult to survive and therefore I'd recommend a removable cover to allow for short periods of outrageous conditions.
Satisfaction Acheived - Yes and No. It was great to go through the whole process andget the thing up and running and working well. However, it was stressful and utterly deflating to see the dome eventually give in to the extreme forces. On further examination even the manner of destruction was ...not so bad...and rather satisfying in the end that little was actually lost.
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