Yardoponics!
© a.k.a. MBR
Firstly, seeing as the person's yard is fenced and facing to the west, and we are in the northern hemisphere, I plan to build the unit adjacent to the north wall for maximal Sun exposure.
Rather than planning to build the flow-plane of the hydroponics growing bed at ground level plus a few degrees which could require digging a hole in the ground for the reservoir, we will use old pails with planks on top to support our tray. A large Rubbermade™©® container will be used for the nutrient solution storage chamber and a "paddling-pool" will be used for the tray itself.
Once the pails, planks, wading pool and reservoir are erected, a fish-pump will be fitted to the tray through a thru-hull fitting using clamps, pipe, and/or tubing and it will subsequently be controlled on a line using a GFCI breaker circuit to prevent accidents from happening.
The substrate of choice for our hydroponics unit will be Perlite with a little Peat, Dolomitic Limestone, and Vermiculite mixed in for balance.
We will be using a commercial grade multi-purpose hydroponics nutrient fertilizer formula mixed according to the manufacturer's directions and applied and monitored accordingly using common sense.
A very strong (~2X) fertilizer nutrient stock solution will be mixed in the reservoir and used to "cauterize" or "burn-in" the plastic components and media for half a day to reduce any chance of phyto- or other possible bio-toxicity and to condition and prepare the media. The solution will then be discarded on ornamental plants.
Tomatoes, Eggplants, Corn and other plants will then be planted in the tray and grown to hugeness.
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