Steak Tomatoes
Likely beefsteak-style tomatoes: big fruit, big leaves, and a plant that needs support as it grows taller.
- Needs lots of sun: about 6-8+ hours.
- Likes steady watering, not big wet/dry swings.
- Question: which tomato pot dries out first?
This is just garden.srikrishnan.work
Toronto rooftop field station
Rooftop Garden Lab
A small family science project: watch tomatoes, peppers, and snow peas grow, save field notes, and use a tiny sensor kit to find out what the rooftop is telling us.
The field kit: one box, one soil probe, one air sensor, one light sensor, one memory card.
Meet The Rooftop Plants
The first real subjects are tomatoes, hot peppers, and snow peas. The exact pepper variety still needs a photo or label check, so the site treats it as a mystery pepper for now.
Hot Peppers
Could be banana peppers, Hungarian hot wax, or another long pepper. A photo will help us identify them.
- Likes warm sunny spots.
- Container peppers can dry out quickly.
- Question: do peppers like the hottest rooftop corner?
Snow Peas
Cool-season climbers. They are fun because kids can watch tendrils grab supports like tiny hands.
- Needs something to climb.
- May slow down when Toronto heat builds.
- Question: how fast can one tendril find the trellis?
What We Will Measure
The sensor kit does not “solve” the garden. It gives clues. The kids still do the scientist part: noticing, guessing, comparing, and asking better questions.
Soil moistureIs this planter getting thirsty?
TemperatureHow hot is the rooftop near the plants?
HumidityIs the air dry or damp today?
LightWhich spot gets the most sun?
PressureWhat is the weather background?
The Build Timeline
Order Day
The sensor parts are ordered. We start with a website and a mission board.
Kid Kickoff
Pick plant names, make first guesses, and draw what the field kit will do.
Parts Arrive
Build the logger indoors first. No rooftop test until the bench test works.
First Lab Run
Try one short rooftop reading and compare tomato versus pepper clues.
First Activity: Plant Detective
1
Choose the first two plants
One tomato and one pepper. Give them public-safe garden names, not people names.
2
Make a prediction
Which plant will be hotter? Which soil will be drier? Which one gets more sun?
3
Draw the sensor path
Box → soil probe → light sensor → air sensor → microSD card. The drawing becomes the first lab artifact.
4
Bring one question back
Example: “Why are the pepper leaves smaller?” or “Does the wall make this pot warmer?”
The 10-Week Lab Arc
The project can grow slowly: first a garden journal, then a sensor notebook, then a tiny public science page, then a data story the kids can explain to someone else.
Notice
Choose plant names, draw the field kit, compare leaves, and write first predictions.
Measure
Run short sensor sessions. Compare tomato, pepper, and snow pea spots.
Explain
Turn readings into simple charts. Ask what changed after watering, heat, or rain.
Story
Turn plant-only photos, predictions, and readings into one clear weekly garden story.
Invent
Choose a new experiment: shade versus sun, watered versus dry, or tomato versus pepper.
Field Notebook
This is the first working loop: choose a plant, make a prediction, add one observation, attach a plant-only photo, and keep the dated note on the website.
Add A Garden Note
How Saving Will Work
The live page can save notes in the browser today. To make notes appear for everyone on every device, the next build connects this same form to Cloudflare storage.
Device Notebook
Predictions and plant photos save to the garden website. If the network fails, the page keeps a temporary local copy.
Shared Garden Log
D1 stores dates, plant names, predictions, captions, and today’s optimized activity photos.
Parent Review
New public notes should wait for parent approval. Keep face photos, school details, and exact location off the public site.