self-watering containers

Today I made self-watering containers, from scratch.  I put them out on my deck next to my EarthBox Ready-to-Grow kit -- which I put together at the start of June (blame the cool weather -- we still haven't reached 80 -- and my fear of fertilizer for the limited growth of my plants.)

If you look online, you will find a lot of advice on how to make self-watering containers using 5-gallon food buckets or 15-gallon plastic storage bins.  I took that advice and tricked out a Home Depot plastic pot because I wanted something a little prettier for my deck.  I wound up with the kit for expediency's sake.  I had tomatoes that needed planting and all my supplies last month -- but no will to move forward with my project.  The EarthBox kit was very easy.  The hardest part was pulling the sticker off the perforated base that separates the soil from the water.

I think the EarthBox kit was also less expensive than my home-made version was for the same growing space.  But I stand by my project.  My self-watering pots are cuter....

So here is what it took to make them:

• 2 plastic containers
• 2 Ups-A-Daisy planter inserts
• length of PVC pipe
• a power drill with router and drill bits
• cotton string to use as a wick for the water
• 2 cubic foot bag of potting soil
• dowel and styrofoam balls to make water indicator

This is how my helper and I put the pots together.  After enlarging one of the holes (so the PVC could fit), we put the Ups-A-Daisy insert in place and ran 4 strings from top to bottom.  We added a length of PVC (cut at angle at the bottom -- you could also just drill some holes in it so the water can get from the top to the bottom.)  Next I drilled some small overflow holes into my container so I wouldn't have to worry about flooding.  Then we filled our pot with water up to the insert (the EarthBox kit suggested this -- my guess is it helps keep the soil from falling through the holes.)

Then we added potting soil and plants, moved the wicks toward the center, clipped the wicks, and finally covered the wicks with additional soil so they wouldn't dry out.  (Please send happy thoughts to the poor pepper plant below....)

Finally, we made our water-level indicator by putting a stryofoam ball on the end of dowel and clipping it until it fit just inside the PVC pipe.   

Now I know if the dowel does't float to the top, I need to fill the container. I also will put a little landscape fabric cap on my pipe to keep water-breeding bugs out of my pot -- I don't want to have dinner with them on the deck.

I am hoping these fancy pots will give my container garden a fighting chance with my chaotic life.  Now I just need to figure out how to fertilize appropriately....

going where I didn't want to go...

Today I stretched hose under the deck so I could set-up a soaker hose for a small, summer-veggie, raised bed.  I got the task done -- but it didn't look fun.

From either direction:

When you are a scaredy-cat with a big imagination -- even this is a tight space.  I seemed to make it through unscathed but then I am never really sure until a day later when the bug bites show up, or don't.

Mother and daughter day

I spent a fun afternoon with my kindergartner in the garden today.  Together we put on a number of finishing touches to our raised veggie bed.  Our first task was to mark off squares for our square foot garden.  I decided to use ground stakes to do this since they were precut and in the lengths I needed.

To get the job done, we laid down two tape measurers and used 2x2 as a guideline to put our 2 foot stakes down.  Here is my daughter making sure things will line up.

Lately she has been really interested in becoming a scientist so she had a great time being technical and exact with her measurements.

After we placed the stakes, we set them into the dirt on their edges to make them more stable.

Afterwards, we placed two 1 foot long stakes perpendicularly to make our one foot square boxes.

Finally, we cut 1/2 inch PVC to length to make hoops for our bed -- my daughter even used the saw herself!  Then we put them in place and added the clamps we will use to hold down our cloth once the plants are in. 

And we were done.  The project turned out much better than my free-standing cold frame -- and my daughter was very pleased with her contribution (and so was I!)  Now we can't wait to plant....

The raised bed is ready to plant

Well, the weather turned from short-sleeves to sweatshirts and hats overnight -- dampening our gardening enthusiasm.  Nonetheless, we managed to finally fill our large raised bed with our best approximation of Mel's mix (basically a self-mixed potting soil made of multiple composts, peat moss and vermiculite.)  The mix made sense to me since my raised bed is basically a very large container.

The light and fluffy mix is begging to be planted.  So I am probably lucky that the weather changed so quickly or I might have turned my tender veggie sprouts out too soon.  I will have to read up on this but I think the plants can go out once they have true leaves and/or their roots break through the pellets. 

I imagine it would be be best if I harden, or leave the pellets outside protected, for a day or two before I plant them out in the soil.  To help me harden my pellets, I am thinking of building a small square frame and covering it with a heavy, clear(ish) plastic sheet -- kind of like a smaller version of My Tiny Plot's peach frame -- so I am ready when the time comes.

In the end I am happy that the weather has bought me a chance to regroup.  And I am also pleased that the colder weather is bringing rain.  I am sure my new strawberries will appreciate it since I am a lazy waterer (my soaker hose still isn't attached to the faucet!)  

Set-backs and set-ups at Scaredy Cat Farm

I think I got a bit overwhelmed.  Last week when I said that I wasn't going to tackle my weeds until my fruit starts arrived and then I would only have to "order compost, do a thorough weeding job, plant the new fruit, lay down a soaker hose, and cover the whole thing with 2" of compost," my heart sunk.  That was the list for just one of my beds.  My big raised bed still needs to be filled with soil and have some sort of water system put in place.  My small raised bed also still needs soil and water -- plus sturdy trellises so I can grow vines upright. And then I kept getting turned around by my planting schedule.  It was complicated since I aspire to succession planting and four season edibles.  When I ordered my seeds, I didn't even think about seasonal varieties: that you might be able to plant spinach or lettuce year round -- but some varieties flourish in winter and others in summer.

My kindergartner was asking me if I knew what a put-up was the other day.  I didn't.  And it took two days before it came out that a put-up is the opposite of a put-down (ie. a compliment.)  So as I come out of my funk, I am dwelling on my set-ups rather than set-backs.

Set-up number 1: Our large raised bed is in the ground.  It even has holders installed in case I am ever ready to try a hoop system (and then I would "only need" to buy and cut 1/2 inch PVCto length, buy and cut the row cover, and figure out how to secure it so it doesn't blow away -- so maybe in the fall....)

Set-up number 2: I managed to get a few inches of soil into the bottom of our structure.  Plus, I remembered there are teenage boys around here.  I could probably hire one to get more of this task done.  (I am using composted sod for the bottom foot and will be buying better raised bed soil for the top foot.)

Set-up number 3: I did manage to design a planting schedule.  I even allowed myself to pick out a few more seeds to get me through the winter.  And I have decided that just because you can plant in Februrary, it doesn't mean you have to.  I will get started in March.

Set-up number 4:  I let someone else get me a huge headstart on my soon-to-be renovated, time for a nap/cup of tea/good book relaxation area.  They took out the diseased, overgrown fotinia that was turning our eaves into a condo development for young animal families and the arborvitae I never warmed to -- and soon I will regain shade and privacy with plantings of narrow, clumping bamboo, woodrush, and hostas.

Set-up number 5: The end of 'false' spring and the return of the rain predicted for this week has been exaggerated.  There have been plenty of sunbursts to sustain me -- and though they probably won't last (the air is a lot crisper than it has been in a while), I might even be ready for 'real' spring when it comes.