Monday, May 20, 2013

Vertical Gardening-Transplanting

Well, this week I have spent my garden time transplanting plants into bigger containers. Today I just did the watermelons. I wanted to try hanging watermelons, so I snagged my strongest plants and went to work. I used larger containers such as a 2 liter bottle, half gallon jug, and a juice container. I cut the bottoms of them off. This part varies on how much you want to cut pertaining to the size of container and what type of plant you are transplanting. Next I drilled my hanging wire holes, one on each side at least 2 inches from the cut end. Then I drilled to holes in the back so I could thread another wire in the back so I could have a pretty sturdy planter. I threaded the wire through, 18-20 gauge is good, I used 16 on most. The wire I cut for the back I had to measure and make sure it would be long enough to attach to the fence. My sunflowers are really starting to take off, so is my corn. I need to plant more corn though, they do better when they are in a sizable crop. My pocket gardens are going slow, but the Beef Steak tomatoes and cherry tomatoes just started to grow. Who doesn't love huge juicy tomatoes? My sweet Peas Well, there's more, much more, but until next time. Growing food, is like growing your own money :)

Tuesday, May 07, 2013

Vertical Gardening Pt. 2

So this week has been fun in the garden. I researched and asked around about what I could do with my burn barrel ashes. Well, I was told it makes great soil when mixed properly. So I cleaned out my fire pit and burn barrel and mixed it in with the soil everywhere. I've already seen a lot of improvement on the growth of some of the plants :) So apparently, the people before us had a lot of things in the burn barrel. I've ended up using one of the wooden pallets has a showcase shelf for the strange objects I have found. Hopefully, we'll have chickens soon. I'm trying to fit it all into our budget :) Plus, it'll be nice to have fresh eggs, and extra income coming in from the eggs :) Other than that, we've moved the fire pit and I've set up the old spot where the fire pit was initially, filled it in with dirt, then planted a ring of flowers with a walk in space, leaving plenty of room for a small chair/bench. I'm planting flower vine plants, morning glory is one of them. I want an enclosed flower space for meditation and prayer. Here are a couple of sprouts that are coming up:

Monday, April 29, 2013

Vertical Gardening For THIS Beginner

So I've decided to do a vertical garden this year. Just for a hobby. I'm getting some laying hens too, but that's for another post. I've done tons of picture and idea searching for what kind I can afford and would enjoy doing. Well, first I took a look at doing raised beds or slanted vertical beds with the use of wooden pallets. I plan to paint them all a bunch of fun colors, the set them up individually, depending on how much space each plants needs. Right now as you can see it is just holding up baskets. The next idea I wanted to do was use the cotton pocket "shoe" holder , the kind you hang on the back of a door. What I have done with these so far is fill them with dirt and write in permanent marker which pocket has what plant seeds. Now I am currently waiting on more pallets and scrap wood to build a hanging stand for it. Finally, what else I am working on when it comes to a vertical garden is the awesome use of recyclable materials such as plastic bottles, milk jugs, cans and I plan to hang them all on a piece of plywood that I painted. Well, until next time. Have fun!