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DIY Plant Stand with Grow Light
Being a frugal gardener, I don’t have the money to shell out on upwards of $200 plant stands with grow lights. I have a window with a decent amount of afternoon light, but the seedlings do tend to get leggy as they strain for the sun. Today, I put together a system using a shelf I already had and a light that cost me only $17. The shelf was from Target, and originally cost me another $17. So the total…
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Morning Garden Walk: Mystery Greens and Pest Problems
At the end of summer, I started scattering seeds: radishes, parsnips, romaine, arugula, spinach, bok choy, baby butterhead, black seeded simpson, carrots … you get the picture. Every seed packet that allowed fall planted was scattered over several plots. As I waited for seeds to sprout, and as they failed to or the sprouts were shriveled in the heat, I seeded more. I added straw. I watered. Then, the tropical rains came. I had no idea what was planted where,…
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Upcyled Tomato Stakes to Folding Shade Trellis
I’m a roll creating vertical growing space in the garden. Here we have 12 55″ tomato stakes converted into a folding shade trellis. The stakes from Logan’s were inexpensive, and I already had wood screws on hand. The two end verticals are spaced 45″ apart. The laterals are spaced 10″ apart. The concept is that vining plants will grow up the ladder side, which faces south, providing shade for lettuces that like cooler temperatures. I’m hoping this will give me…
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Melondome Rhymes with Palindrome
Yesterday I was looking at the cantaloup vines thinking how crazy it was to be wasting nearly 20 sqft of garden space on three piddly cantaloups. I watched a neawly discovered YouTube channel: growingyourgreens.com, and John packs in huge amounts of veggie plants on his 1/10th acre lot by growing vertically. After a conversation with some Twitter pals, I decided to tidy UP my canteloup vines and create the “melondome!” I found several pieces of used steel remesh behind the…
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Upcyled Tomato Stakes to Fan Trellis
Earlier in the summer I purchased several packs of 5′ wood tomato stakes from a home improvement store. There were four stakes leftover, which were set aside in the garage. I have a bean/squash/cucumber tunnel that is rapidly outgrowing itself, so I decided to convert the stakes into a fan trellis. This took no more than 10 minutes. I used a handsaw to cut one stake into 3 segments approximately 2.5′, 1.5′ and 0.5′ in length. I then arranged my…
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Upcycled Sink to Garden Water Bowl
Every time go to garden stores, I can’t help but stop by the water plants and wish I had a place to plant some. Water features are almost always my favorite spots in gardens, and for awhile now the Man and I have been thinking about putting in a fountain. Well, we still haven’t installed a fountain, but we do have a water bowl! Thanks to a trip to the Habitat ReUse Store, we acquired a free sink, sans plug.…
