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EXPERIMENT 5 Converting to a Solar Garden
You will need: the weatherized house and leftover materials from Experiment 4; eight 2¼" nails; aluminum foil; a small screw eye; six 2-pound coffee cans; flat black paint; six to eight 3” or 4” pots with various herbs or other small plants.
In the winter, a solar garden needs something to collect and store the sun’s heat for release during the night. Our “something” will be water. .. water in coffee cans. The cans will help the water absorb heat better if they are dark and nonreflective. That’s the reason for the flat black paint. So begin by painting the cans inside and out.
While they’re drying, you can put up the roof. For that job, the instruction numbers below correspond to the numbers on the drawing.
•	NAIL ROOF BASE TOGETHER. • 4 pcs. furring 18¾” long • 4 pcs. furring 40” long • 1 pc. plywood 22” x 40” (interior cutout dimensions: • 14¼” x 32¼“)
•	ERECT RIDGE SUPPORTS ON ROOF BASE (anchor by nailing upward through roof base; make sure supports are centered). • 2 pcs. furring 12” long • 4 nails 2¼” long>
•	CUT OUT CARDBOARD TEMPLATE FOR MARKING RIDGE AND ROOF-BASE ANGLES ON RAFTERS. •SAW RAFTERS TO LENGTH. • 8 pcs. furring 17¼” long
•	MARK RIDGE AND ROOF-BASE ANGLES ON RAFTERS. SAW ANGLES OFF. • Cardboard template from Step 3 • 8 rafters from Step 4

EXPERIMENT 5

Converting to a Solar Garden