Thermal Mass Idea
I was not sure where exactly to post this question, passive
solar,
gardening, hydroponics, biophilic design, or upcycling as what I want to do applies to all. But I thought the knowledge I most need to
answer my question would reside with the thermal mass folks.
Here’s my problem. I have a long great room of kitchen, dining room and family room along the south side of my house. There are 2- 5’x5’ windows, 1 4’x4’ window and a sliding glass door. I love the light and warmth. However, this is a home that was not constructed with any thermal mass other than drywall…even the floor is
wood over a crawl space. So, usually by noon, the room is too warm and the blinds are closed. Eventually, I would like to add some decorative rock to the long wall on the north side of the room, but with the cost that is a few years out.
So, my idea is to make window gardens in the 2 largest windows and have the container bottles be as close together as possible. My question is to the best growing medium to use – most of the mediums I have seen are regular soil, to straight
water, to some other hydroponic medium. I obviously want to have the most heat stored. A brown soil would absorb the heat better than water, but I could obviously paint the bottles any color I want.
Please, any advice about growing medium or any other thoughts on this
project would be greatly appreciated.
