A Reclaimed Gardening Organizer

I'm not much of a crafter, but I do enjoy finding new uses for items that otherwise would make it to my local thrift store. 

Today's idea is the perfect reuse of the obsolete CD case.  You may be like me and have your entire library of music on iTunes.  I have not popped in a store bought CD in ages.  Recently I was cleaning after having my floors refinished, trying to pare down what I have and realized that I was wasting precious storage on four huge CD cases that I had not opened in probably 3 years.  It was time they get donated...when I realized the perfect reuse!

Some of my biggest garden failures stem from losing the little ID sticks that you get when you buy the plant...you know: the ones that tell you what the plant is called, how much sun and water it needs and when it should bloom, as well as the temperatures it can sustain and proper planting procedures.  I usually leave them on my kitchen counter until they start bugging me and end up in the trash.  In fact, I'm in some sort of purgatory with a flowering bush I bought from Greensgrow Farms here in Port Fishington in Philadelphia, trying to figure out if it's dead or it simply is just a Spring bloomer but cannot find it online anywhere!

So my obsolete CD holder becomes the perfect way to store these ID tags!  The clear pockets make seeing the tags a cinch and the sizing is almost perfect to hold 3 smaller tags.  The larger tags can be snipped at the bottom, not losing an ounce of text, where the tag used to stick into the soil. 

Ta da!  

What in the World is Killing My Plants?!

Every novice gardener can tell you that it isn't just as easy as sun and water to make a garden grow.  Unfortunately, there's a certain level of sun and water needed, as well as proper drainage, good soil and sometimes in the city, a small miracle! 

City gardens are challenges for a number of reasons but the fact that we have stray cats walking around as well as dogs, birds, squirrels and even opossums makes growing stuff way more challenging. 

I recently attended a class on container gardening with Alice Edgerton at the NKCDC's Garden Center on Berks Street in Fishtown, a great little resource for the Fishtown neighborhood here in Philadelphia.  Alice suggested many solutions to common problems in the garden. 

Is your problem birds or cats?  You can apply netting around the garden area/containers that comes in a roll from a garden store.  Neither like to snag themselves in the webbing so they'll quickly become disinterested. 

Dog and cat repellents work wonderfully but since they wash off when it rains, you have to remember to coat the plants and soil again after a heavy rain.  This would be particularly helpful for any plants that line the city streets or in your own backyard with your dogs.

Growing Lavender, Geraniums or Rue apparently deters cats as well.  I have noticed since I have planted Geraniums and Lavender, I have seen no cats digging through and/or pooping in my plants or flowers.  Keeping soil moist as it should be deters cats as well.  They do not like moist soil...apparently my dog is not the only one that doesn't like to get his paws wet!  

Marigolds work to keep bugs away from tomatoes and peppers.  Plant some in the middle of a container and for some unknown reason, protect from multiple types of bugs.  Marigolds are annuals so they need to be replanted every year.  They may self-seed and come up again, but nevertheless are cheap and could potentially add a shot of color to your vegetable garden. 

Just because the leaves on your plant on brown or yellow, don't assume you're not giving them too little water.  Check to see if the soil is draining properly.  Pots without drainage holes need them drilled or hammered in (see my last post on how to drill holes into clay pots) and pots with single holes can sometimes clog up!  The first sign a hole is clogged is one I just noticed in my Azalea plant:  the water is still sitting on top long after I have watered it.  My next step in remediating this problem is digging up the root ball, obviously being careful not to disturb it, and making sure something isn't blocking the drainage.

A great way to insure that soil doesn't drain out the bottom is by putting a piece of newspaper or coffee filter on the bottom on the pot or container. 

Let me know your successes and failures in keeping pests and pets out of your yard. 

Creating Holes in Clay Pots!

Drilling drainage holes in clay pots has been something that always alluded me.  I picked up these sweet little herb pots at Lowe's for a cool $2.99 that annoyingly did not have drainage holes last week.  I am afraid when I drill holes that my container will break.  I embarked upon learning the correct way to do it. 

First, you will need a drill.  I have a cordless Bosch Brute 18V "Tough Hammer".  It performed fantastically for this task although I imagine something cheaper could do the trick.  Drilling clay with a glossy finish requires Diamond ground carbide bits.  I did not think my pots were glossy but I was getting nothing but smoke and frustration with my regular bit so I purchased three diamond ground carbide ones.

To avoid cracking the clay, you'll need to buy a handful of bits and drill each through, slightly increasing the size each time.  For this task, I purchased Bosch diamond ground carbide bits in 3" long, 1/8 diameter, 6" long, 5/32 diameter and 6", 1/4 diameter.

You can avoid burning yourself or starting a kitchen fire by wetting the clay surface and putting oil or water on the drill bit as well.  (Obviously don't do this with it plugged in, if you aren't using a cordless drill.)  I used olive oil on my drill bit and a bit of water on the clay pot and both worked just fine.

Once the drill bit is tight in the drill, start slowly--verrrrry slowly---drilling with the smallest bit.  If you are having a problem keeping the bit in one spot, using a few layers of masking tape over the hole.  Once the hole is significantly started, you can drill faster.  Make sure you are not using the weight of your body or your arm to drill the pot.  Let the drill do its job.  I made this mistake when I started in with the 5/32" diameter drill and ended up chipping the bottom of one of the pots.

I quickly realized that you do not want to put tons of holes in the bottom--the more holes, the more likely it is that you will crack the bottom or cause it to crack during Winter months.  As you can see here, I started off with many and decreased them to 3 per pot.   

I was drilling on top of granite that I wasn't afraid of chipping but if you are not, you may consider stuffing the pot with styrofoam or something to stop yourself from jabbing through the pot when the drill makes it all the way through the hole.  There is a good chance you may break it at that point or damage the surface underneath. 

Note that I kept a wet paper towel next to the drill.  I made sure to wrap the bit and let the heat come off before I changed out to the new drill bit.  I also made sure to continue to wet the surface of each pot before drilling again.  No smoke! 

Presto!  Basil, Thyme and Parsley are ready to be transplanted into their new homes without any fear of root rot! 

Update:  Hypertufa form was built this week...however, I got sick and it's been raining.  Creating hypertufa is definitely an outdoor job so this may get delayed a bit!  

Wait, I Thought I Just Needed to Water This Thing!

Part of the fun of gardening to me is finding unique plants to spruce up my yards.  This means tossing out the idea of most run of the mill annuals like Petunias and Geraniums.  Unfortunately, my limited experience in gardening consisted previously of helping my mom maintain those flowers by water, watering some more, fertilizing and dead heading the Petunias, ie. taking the dead heads off the flowers to create many more blooms.

It turns out, dead heading most flowers is crucial to getting fuller blooms.  My mom was recently in town and told me I had to dead head my front flowering bush.  I did not understand why it would bloom, I would pluck the spent flowers and it would not bloom again.  It turns out that you need to reach beyond the head of the flower down to the stem and pluck from there.

She also gave more advice with regard to its size:  it is getting a bit unruly and spindly.  Here I thought this is just the way things grow.  But it turns out that by pruning back the plant, it will do the same thing as dead heading: it will make the plant thicker and fuller and avoid it overtaking its space.

A few weekends ago, I transported my lavender, which had taken over its cute little pot that had cracked due to an extremely cold Winter, to a larger wooden crate with plenty of drainage.  I read that lavender likes full sun and mine has gotten it.  Its new crate will also allow it to have a deeper root system.  As much as my lavender has grown though, it has done little in the way of flowering into the type of lavender you see dried in stores.  I wondered what I was doing wrong.

So I went online and found my answer:  I need to prune back the flowers so it doesn't overtake it's space...or at least I should have done that year 1.  Year 2 it would have come back fuller.  Now, it still smells lovely but the flowers ended up in a vase in my bathroom and the lavender will hopefully be a more mature, fragrant part of my garden next year.

If you are planting lavender, remember the soil should not be overwatered.  Lavender likes to be dry.  Because of the full sun requirements and the dry soil, it's a perfect choice for a lazy, city gardener like me or perhaps someone with a roof deck with limited access to water.  Just don't forget to prune!

My instructor from the gardening class at Terrain said it's wise to check your garden every morning, carrying around a pair of pruning scissors, cutting off and dead heading what needs to be removed, to supplement your normal watering.  It not only makes for healthy, fuller plants but also makes them immediately look much healthier!!

Hello and Welcome!

Hi all and welcome to my very first post.  I'm jumping right in!  Yesterday I attended a workshop at Terrain at Styer's in Glen Mills, PA on hanging basket planting.  This is what I created:

The class was taught by a very knowledgeable horticulturalist that works at Terrain, who has more of a design-focused approach to gardening.  I think the results above speak to that.  Hanging baskets are a form, of course, of container gardening.  So while you may notice that my container doesn't hang, with a few modifications it could but I believe I'm going to leave this lovely creature on the ground.

The instructor taught us a very important concept in creating any basket:  the more plants/flowers the better.  Just when you think that you can't fit anymore and they're going to crowd one another out, add one more.  The results are amazing.

The fundamentals of a good container, I learned, are having a thriller (a bright, high plant), a filler (a medium height bulky plant) and a spiller (something that will come over the sides and creep).  This is a very important point--you will be able to see this in all of your favorite container creations.

Once you grasp that concept, you can begin to think about color--sometimes a monochromatic color palette is great or an opposing primary color group.  Think about what colors you have outside of your home and complement or work with those.  In my case, I have an abundance of purple and red and I've worked those as well as yellow and white earthy tones into my side yard.

Think also about the style of your home and your own personal style.  Are you a Victorian lover with antiques  about...or do you tend to be a Traditional fan with darker woods and simpler pieces...or do you prefer the modern minimalist approach?  There are plants that work well in every style and some that are more modern on their own work well in more Victorian-type groups as well, like the grass I used above.

Texture plays an important part of container gardening as well.  You could keep all the textures the same or go for three stark different textures.  One of my favorite examples of texture is the Lamb's ear...the possibilities are endless there.

If you garden in an area where you'll be sitting a lot, you might also consider scent.  It might be nice to incorporate a plant with a pretty fragrance or one that might attract butterflies or such.

Lastly, you will absolutely have to consider the spot where this container will go.  How much sun does it get?  I tend to have a full sun side and rear yard so anything I plant must be suitable for these conditions.  Because containers do not hold as much moisture as the ground does, be prepared to water twice a day.  Our instructor discussed a drip irrigation system but that is a little crazy of a concept to me.

My container is a wire basket from Terrain; my apologies if that is not entirely visible from the photo but forgive my iPhone camera quality!  I lined my container with sheet moss, which I first wet and then wrung out before placing in the container, making sure to place the green side out.  Because I have full sun, the moss is going to dry out.  If I had shade, the moss could be the sole liner, helping hold moisture in the container, cutting down on the amount of water needed.  However, in my case, I had to add a coco liner to the inside, which is hidden by the decorative moss on the outside and the potting soil on the inside.

Terrain uses an organic potting soil mix in a huge bag for $16.  It's apparently all that Longwood Gardens uses.  She explained that in Miracle Gro Potting Mix, no one really knows how long the fertilizers last and it's chemically based...so they've had better results at Terrain using organic fertilizers in this organic potting mix that isn't "pre-fertilized".

Most of my containers are planted with Miracle Gro or some other brand of potting soil.  Her arguments were tempting enough to make me consider purchasing the brand we used and see how the plants do with that as opposed to Miracle Gro soil.

Our final word of advice yesterday was to not immediately immerse our plants in the sun after they had been disrupted.  Since I don't really have a shady spot, my container is sitting in my house on my counter, awaiting return to the sun tomorrow, out of the way of the potential TORNADO we are supposed to get!!

Later on this week, I'll be making a hypertufa trough and will post my recipe and results!