DIY UpCycled Vertical Planter

After doing so much renovation work on our house, there’s quite a few bits and pieces sitting around that didn’t get used.  A couple of windows, two sinks (yes, two sinks–don’t ask), and a gable vent.  What’s a gable vent, you ask?

That’s a gable vent.  It’s supposed to vent our attic.  But we thought–eh, no thanks, vents are overrated.  (JUST KIDDING–we wound up using a different vent than this one).  The second it went in the ‘leftovers’ pile, I knew I wanted to plant it–just look at it!!!  It’s begging to be planted.

The first thing I decided to do was remove the flanged edges, because they are a little sharp and added an unnecessary element of mortal danger for a planter.  In my opinion.  They are just spot-welded on in a couple of places and with a flathead screwdriver and hammer, it’s pretty easy to pop those suckers off.  And gloves.  Wear gloves.  Sharp edges.

The edgeless vent looks much cleaner….

….and much less finger-cutty.

At this point, I strung a heavy-duty wire along the upper edge of the backside of the vent (just strung it through the grating), as I intended to hang the finished product.  I neglected to get photos of this step.  FAIL.

The next step was to line the backside of each vent pocket (there is metal grating across the entire backside of the vent).  I decided to use coffee filters.  I wet them and stuck them inside each section along the inside of the grating.  I also neglected to get photos of this step.  Double FAIL.

I then filled each section with potting mix, and selected my plant material.  I decided to go with succulents, as I intended to hang this on a fence and knew I would forget to water it most of the time–so I needed to go with something that would cut me a little slack.  Yay, succulents!

For the ‘stripes’ I chose two different types of sedum, and then as an accent I tucked in some random echeveria and aeonium ‘blossoms’ (at least I think that’s what they are–I am no succulent know-it-all and these were unhelpfully unmarked at the nursery).

That bottom ledge wasn’t very conducive to planting, so I decided to display some seashells on it. Seemed like a good idea at the time.

I should probably tell everyone that I laid this flat for a couple of weeks for the roots to take hold.  I should probably say that.  But I did not.  I am impatient.  I packed those suckers in there and hung it on my fence post-haste.  It’s holding up just fine!  But for best results, you might want to let yours sit and marinate flat for a bit.  I’m just saying.

I love this so much that I think I am going to go to Lowe’s and get me a few more of these vents and hang several along this section of fence.  The expanse of white fence makes me nuts.  I must fill it with randomness and apologize to no one!!!

Scrap Wood Garden Edging

We have a very long driveway.  Along this driveway runs a very long planter bed.

This is what it looked like when we bought the house:

So originally, we built a raised bed of pressure-treated wood to hold in all the dirt.  For the last few years, it’s looked like this:

Nevermind the squirrel-hunting hijinks happening here (and also nevermind the pre-renovation ramshackle garage).

When we acquired the chickens, there was a whole lot of this going on in those beds:

And this:

It looks bad, I know. This looks like roadkill. But this is a seriously contented bird lolling in the warm dirt.

And this:

And so, most days, our driveway winds up looking like this:

And this:

Because of some very serious neat-freak issues, this just wasn’t working for me.  The obvious solution is to fill the planters with so much vegetation that there is no free dirt for the ladies to get into….but this is a huge bed to fill, and, though I am working on it, I needed a quicker solution (and also, I happen to get a kick out of watching their dirt bath antics).

Enter our ever-expanding piles of scrap wood:

With so many projects going on all the time, we are constantly collecting remnant wood….in fact, most moments, we are completely overrun with scrap because I refuse to throw it away.  So when we can come up with a use for it, especially a cute use for it….I get unnecessarily excited.

The scrap that I used for this started in all shapes and sizes: slabs of plywood, bits of 2×4, planks ripped off the side of the old garage, cedar fencing, and more.  You may remember this photo from a previous post about our scrap pile.

I selected my victims and cut the wood into completely random bits, all roughly around a foot or so tall (but sometimes as short as 6 inches tall, just to get a really good gap-toothed vibe), varying widths.  There was really no rhyme or reason, at all.

Then I gathered up all my miscellaneous cans of leftover house paint (my theory was that these were all colors I had used throughout the house and garden and so, therefore, they’d coordinate.  Right?  Right.), and painted them randomly and sloppily.  A lot of these pieces already had old paint on them–I slapped new paint on a few of them, but mostly left the old weathered pieces alone.  Also, I left quite a few pieces completely unfinished.

I wanted the paint finish to be patchy on these, because I want them to weather a bit naturally–I like the look of old, chippy weathered wood.  Obviously, if you want these to last a good long time, you’d better seal them up really well and not follow my lead.  But I want mine to weather.  I may seal them once they’ve aged a bit.  We’ll see.  I get distracted pretty easily.

After the bits and pieces dried, we screwed them in, in random order to the inside edge of the pressure-treated wood curb.  Obviously, not everyone has such a curb–I share my recipe for a stand-alone version down below.

The real point of this edging, for me anyhow, was to keep the chicken dirt bath spray somewhat contained.  Remarkably, it’s totally working!

The chickens don’t seem the least bit fazed by it.

The varying heights of the edging allows for some very lazy bug picking maneuvers.

Squirrel hunting is a much tidier affair now that the edging is in place. Chance approves (actually, it’s quite obvious in this photo how much he could actually care less).

We are currently in the process of turning our back garden into a ‘Chicken Garden’; what was once my enchanting, flower-filled oasis has literally gone to the birds.  As part of this do-over, I want to use this scrap edging back there, as well.  The only problem is, there’s no wood curb to attach it to….we needed to modify it so that it could be free-standing.

From Home Depot, I grabbed some cheap garden-variety garden edging that comes in two foot strips that click together on the ends.  I also got me some metal garden stakes.

For my purposes, the metal stakes needed a couple of holes drilled into each of them (though I am sure there are stakes that come like this, I just haven’t found them yet).  This is a little time consuming, but easy enough with a metal drill bit.

Now lay out your wood pieces and attach the plastic edging to their backsides with an industrial stapler.  Let the pointy side of the plastic edging stick out beyond the bottoms of the wood pieces–this goes into the ground and helps stabilize the whole thing.

Now screw in your stakes, one on each end of the two-foot length of edging.

Finally, pick your spot, and pound that sucker into the ground.

Unfortunately, the Chicken Garden is a work in progress….you’ll see the final results of this edging project when I do the reveal post on that.  Soon!  Very sooooon.  Bear with me.

Scarecrow Hawk Deterrent

I have to say, for the record, that every time I go out into the yard, this thing gives me a start.  The dogs spent fifteen minutes barking at her when I first put her out.  The chickens?  They couldn’t care less.

But the lady-scarecrow seems to be doing her job quite nicely; since she has been in the yard, the neighborhood hawks have not.  Coincidence?  Maybe.  But I like to think my well-dressed friend has something to do with it.

We’ve had our flock for about a year now, and in that time, there have been a couple of isolated scares that mainly consist of the girls taking successful cover, and me running and screaming like a psychopath through the yard to spook those crafty hawks off.  But then, all of a sudden, about a month ago, the attempts began to happen frequently–almost once a day.

That’s when I saw this:

The view from our ‘chicken yard’ of our neighbor’s big tree.

Don’t see it?  Let’s look closer:

Well, looky-there.  Those hawks went and built themselves a little penthouse with a view.  Of my chickens.  That dark mass in the tree is a big, fat hawk’s nest.  *&#$*%&!!!!

Immediately, I went online and started researching how I might be able to thwart their efforts without bringing harm to them or to my chickens (hawks are federally protected animals and killing or even hurting them comes with a hefty, hefty fine, at the very least).  I have always admired the red-tailed hawks around here–I find them to be incredible birds and wouldn’t ever dream of harming one–I just wish they’d take their incredible somewhere else at the moment.  So that’s what I was after in my research: hawk deterrent….come on, internet!

The best, most reliable deterrent I found, of course, was to completely pen in your chickens.  This is a no-brainer, and in an ideal world, I would have a big, spacious, fully-enclosed, state-of-the-art free-range yard for my girls, but as I live in the suburbs, I am not allowed to build this sort of structure, and I am not willing to keep them cooped up in a tiny run.  So that’s out.  Beyond the no free-ranging option, the internet was rife with suggestions about small modifications you can make to your chicken yard that may, or may not help deter aerial predators; among these are things like setting out an owl statue (as birds of prey are territorial and will often steer clear of another bird’s property), putting out flags or banners in the chicken’s area that will flap in the breeze, stretching string across the chicken yard with streamers attached (though I feel like this poses a threat to any hawk that gets bold enough to still attack–it seems likely that it could get tangled in string or wire that is implemented like this), and I even read one account of someone having success hanging a disco ball in the chicken yard.  I’m not going to lie, I heavily considered the disco ball.  I might still put up a disco ball.  I think the question is, why wouldn’t I put up a disco ball in my yard???

Ultimately, I found many accounts of scarecrows working.  Theoretically, hawks won’t attack with a person standing in the yard (of course, there are exceptions to this rule, always), in fact, there has never been an attempted chicken-murder while I was in the yard–it always happens when I am inside at my computer (probably on Facebook), and when I hear the chicken alarm call, I go tearing outside usually just in time to see the hawk flying away empty-taloned.  I like to think that my presence in the yard helps.  So the theory is that if you make a scarecrow, and move it around every couple of days in the yard, the hawks will believe it to be a real person.  This was definitely worth a try, in my book.  It would be inexpensive, quick, and hey, it sounded fairly logical.  Game on.

I decided, ultimately, that I would use a mop as the backbone of my scarecrow.  Why?  Because, digging way back into the depths of my childhood memories, I vividly recall the decorative scarecrows my mom used to make at Halloween–always a Mr. & Mrs. Scarecrow, and the Mrs. always had mop hair.  Little did she know it, but my mom had her finger on the pulse of cutting-edge scarecrow-building.

I attached the mop to two 4 foot garden-variety garden stakes.  The first was attached lengthwise, to give the scarecrow appropriate height, and also to have a ‘stake’ end to be able to drive into the ground.  I attached it with two pre-drilled screws along the length of the mop handle.  The second stake would be attached perpendicular to the mop handle, to act as arms.  It was secured with one pre-drilled screw right into the center.  To keep the ‘arms’ from pivoting too much, I then secured the intersection with tightly-wrapped wire:

Next, I took some plastic sheeting (leftover spray-paint tarp) and bunched it up and stapled it to the mop handle in such a way that it would give her a bit of shape–I knew I was going to put her in a dress, so she needed to ‘fill it out’ up top, and then have a bit of petticoat action going on below.  I then arranged her ‘hair’ into two ponytails, securing them with twine.  Finally, it was time to dress her; I selected an old dress, button-up shirt, hat, gloves, and neckerchief.  I stapled the shirt and gloves into place, but everything else seemed to stay put well-enough to leave alone.

This is when I decided that she needed some accessories….I planted a little red hanging bucket with petunias and moss and stapled this to her hand, and at the same moment, decided I wanted her to be holding a bit of her skirt (I like that she looks like she’s dancing, but really, this is purely scientific–the skirt billows more in the breeze like this–more predator-spooking action!).  And finally, I felt like she needed some sparkle (again, to deter hawks), so yes, I gave her some earrings.  What.

The girls approve of my accessory choices.

Is this a fool-proof predator-deterrent method?  Probably not.  But scarecrows have been implemented by farmers to spook birds for thousands of years.  So I’m giving it a go.  As I stated before, it could just be coincidence, but I have not seen a single hawk since putting the lady-scarecrow out.  I move her a bit, every morning when I go to let the girls out (as allegedly, if you leave it in one place, the hawks will get used to it and no longer see it as a threat).

At the very, very least, I get a good laugh from it every time the Texan goes into the yard and has a heart attack because the creepy thing has moved again.  Good times.

Chalkboard Plant Markers from Old Gift Cards

Do you ever feel bad about throwing away your old gift cards and club cards?  Is it just me?  Well, so, I didn’t chuck them.  I kept them like a total nutjob because I thought, “These could be used for something.”

I’m a crazy person.

I finally figured out what that something is!  With a coat of chalkboard spray paint, they are magically transformed into mini chalkboards.  Go figure.  Re-purpose a plastic fork (also hit with chalkboard paint to match) as a holder, and use a white grease pencil (more weatherproof than chalk) to mark and decorate it.  It’s that simple.

My trusty grease pencil. Laying on a rug that is shamefully full of dog hair. Look away!

Stick that fork in the ground– it’s done!

The Farmhouse Hummingbird

This post is a little different for me….so if you’d rather not hear me rambling like a buffoon about a hummingbird, I warn you to turn away–turn away quickly!!

Let the pointless gushing commence.

All right–there is a longish back story to this, so bear with me here.

A good portion of my day is spent (hard at work, I swear) at my computer.  Command central is a little nook carved out of one end of my kitchen.  My desk is pushed up against a large window, so as I work, I am looking out said window into a thicket of shrubbery (which is great, because if those green things weren’t there, I’d be staring into my neighbors’ bedroom window, which, I think we can all agree, is rather awkward).

My workspace, for better or for worse.

To my immediate right is a set of double french doors that lead out onto our deck and to my immediate left is the open kitchen-dining-great room–and all the way down at the front of that great room, on this same wall is another french door leading out onto our driveway.

I am in the habit of leaving the driveway door open quite a bit for the dogs to come in and out as they please (though this has become a problem recently, as the chickens have also discovered and entitled themselves to this privilege).  Many times, I also leave the door next to me open, as well, to get a nice cross-breeze action, but if it’s a little too chilly, I keep that one closed.  One morning last spring, I was doing just this:  working at my computer, with the door to the deck closed, and the one to the driveway open.  All of a sudden, I hear the tell-tale hummingbird air-strumming, and look up in time to see that a little hummingbird has zipped through the driveway door, streaked through the kitchen, and just as I realize what is about to happen–PLINK!–it runs into the closed deck door.  But fortunately the little hummybird was unharmed and buzzing at the windowpanes of the french door like an angry bumblebee, trying desperately to get outside.  So, carefully, I reached over and opened the door–problem solved, right?  Nope.   The little frantic thing just kept buzzing at the backside of the door and couldn’t figure out to fly around it.  Finally, it perched on one of the dividers, and sat there, exhausted, it’s little chest heaving.

Of course, in my panic to help the bird, I didn’t stop to take a photo. But this was where the tiny one was stuck, perched on one of the window dividers.

Tentatively, I reached towards the bird, and when it didn’t fly away, I very carefully scooped it into the palm of my hand and stepped out onto the deck–pausing for a moment to marvel at the fact that I was actually holding a hummingbird in the palm of my hand.  I opened my hand, and the bird sat for a moment, blinking at me.  We had a little moment, the hummingbird and I.  I was able to look her over very carefully–see her gorgeous colors winking in the sun.  Wish I could have gotten photos!  And then, in an instant, she was zipping away into the garden.  I say ‘she’, because I certainly hit the research after this interaction.  It seems to me that she is either a Rufous or an Allen’s Hummingbird, either a juvenile or a female, by her coloring.  But I’m going with ‘she’, because that’s just what I’m going with.

Immediately (starting later that very same day), I began to notice that every time I was in the yard, there was a certain hummingbird (because we always have quite a few around here) that would come and hover close to my head–which is something that had never happened to me before in the garden.  When I could get a good glimpse, yes, I was certain it was the very same little hummingbird (although in my research, this type of behavior is sometimes exhibited by territorial males when a person is in their ‘space’).  But, nonetheless, this little bird was very fascinated with me, whatever the reason may be.  I wish I could describe better the experience of being inspected by a hummingbird: there you are, minding your business, and suddenly it is like a pressure change in your ear that you kind of notice, but don’t notice, and then all at once, you’re hearing the hum of the wings, and feeling the movement of the air, and then you look up, and there is this beautiful little creature, right in front of your face.  Amazing.  Not once has this, or any of these birds territorially attacked me, and yet, here is this little one, coming in for a closer look.

Fast forward to the present.  I work at my computer every morning, and then periodically throughout the day.  Starting at six am, every single morning, I look up and I see this:

This photo makes it look farther away–in reality, the bird is about 3 feet from where I sit.

I know it’s probably not, but I swear this is the same bird.  She flits in and sits on this exact branch every few minutes.  She watches me as I move around, but does not startle.  She preens and fluffs and stretches her wings and rests, and it is the cutest dang thing in the whole world.

Further research has revealed that this behavior (returning to the same covered, resting spot) is indicative of a female bird, as well.  The males tend to rest on a branch or a power line out in the open (which I see around here all the time) while the females tend to pick a covered, protected resting spot.  I’m hoping that if it is, indeed, a she, that she builds her nest here where I can see it.  That would make my whole year.

I realize that I have romanticized this situation a wee bit–I’m sure that all of these incidences are not actually the same bird.  I get it.  But I like to secretly think it is.

I would love to hear from anyone who has a bit of hummingbird knowledge!  Meanwhile, I’ll just be here, at my computer, smiling at my little recurring office visitor like a loon.

An Early Start to Seed-Starting

Shame on me if I don’t seize the opportunities that this temperate Southern California climate bestows.  I know it’s probably painful for some of my frozen-over friends out there watching me start my seeds (outside!) right now, but–how much worse would I be if I wasn’t taking advantage of this???  It’s okay if you need to look away….I understand.

I am always looking for new ways to go about my seed-planting; in previous years I have started them in egg cartons, pots, commercial starting trays, straight in the ground (gasp!), and multiple other methods that have had varying degrees of success and failure.  Lots and lots of failure, people.  This year, the experimentation continues….with toilet paper rolls (in addition to a few traditional seed-starting trays leftover from last year).  Ooooh yeah!  I get real excited when I can re-use something (especially ‘trash’) that I already have.  Especially because, allegedly, you can just pop these suckers into the ground whole, and they will biodegrade.  So, like a hyper chipmunk, I have been scavenging and hoarding TP and paper towel rolls beyond the bounds of proper decorum.  But that is only part of the experiment.  The other?  Starting my seeds in large plastic bins.  I first saw this idea here, and knew immediately that I must have it for my very own!  Not only do the bins help protect the fragile little babies, they make it easy to move all those itty-bitty pots around to your heart’s content.  Too cold at night?  Bring them inside.  Not enough sun?  Move them to a warm spot.  BRILLIANT.

I may have gone a little bit overboard at Baker Creek Heirlooms when I ordered, and those crafty, wonderful people throw in freebies, too:

I make no apologies!!!

Because of this raging mass of seeds, it is extremely important to me to be able to mark them accurately, once they go into their ‘pots’.  But the markers?  They must be cute.  See how I made these weather-resistant seed flags over here.

And so begins this year’s experimentation….(and let it be stated for the record that I’m not claiming that any of this is gonna work!  Let’s find out, shall we?)

After purchasing several clear-ish Rubbermaid storage bins from the HD (Home Depot, that is), it was time to get crackin’.

Miniature greenhouse? Who’da thunk it?

A single bag of my foraged rolls.

The toilet paper roll prep was fairly simple.  Typically, I see this done where you fold the bottom of the roll up to create a little pot, but I wanted to make my rolls go as far as possible, and it seems like that wastes a perfectly good half of a roll.  So I cut mine in half (or in 5ths for the paper towel rolls) instead.

But how then, does one keep the soil inside the roll?  With a tiny square of paper towel, that’s how (1/16th of a single piece of paper towel, to be exact).  Cut (or rip, as I did) your small piece of paper towel and stuff it inside the TP roll so that it pretty neatly fills the inside of the ‘pot’.

With two fingers push the paper towel fragment down to the bottom of the TP roll.

With the bottom of the ‘pot’ sitting on a flat surface, fill it with seed-starting mix and tamp it gently down.

Now plant your seed of choice according to the seed-packet instructions, and line ‘em up military-style inside your bins.  Be sure to mark them as you go!

With a working combination of toilet paper rolls, seed trays, and storage bins…. I haven’t even come close to planting all the varieties I bought.  ARG!!  Back to Home Depot with me.

Weather-Resistant Seed Flags

Here we go again with my pennant/bunting obsession in life!  These are an off-shoot of last year’s Weatherproof Seed Banners made from duct tape.  Don’t get me wrong, those worked great, and there is an endless supply of super cute designer duct tapes available these days–but this year, I decided I wanted something a little less duct-tapey.

The supplies are simple: bamboo skewers, clear packing tape, and some sort of craft paper (I used Martha Stewart’s rolls of craft paper–I have no idea what this stuff is for, Martha–but I am using it for seed flags, a-thankya-very-much).

I love Martha’s craft paper rolls for this because they are kind of water-resistant to begin with, are printed on both sides, and are about the right width for this specific project. But probably any other scrap-booking or craft paper would work just as well.

Start by cutting your chosen paper to whatever length you want your little flag to be–I went with about 1-1/2 to 2 inches long.  Write whatever info you want on it with a permanent marker.

Next, pull out a length of clear packing tape that is slightly longer than your piece of craft paper, and apply it to the front side of the paper making sure to leave about a quarter of an inch overhang on the left side (there will be overhang on ALL sides, but the left side is the important one).

Next, apply another length of tape to the back side, justifying it slightly so that that left overhang of the front piece of tape still has it’s sticky side exposed.  This effectively laminates the piece of craft paper, but leaves a flap of sticky tape on the end that will be affixed to the bamboo ‘flagpole’.  Now trim all edges of the excess tape except that over-hanging left side.

Trim all excess tape and swallowtail the ends by cutting into the craft paper.

Now, take that exposed sticky tab and wrap it around your bamboo skewer and back against the backside of the flag.  For extra insurance, you can cut another little length of tape and just stick it along the backside to hold the flap in place.  Or, if this is all too complicated (and I didn’t articulate well!), don’t leave a left-side flap and just use a separate piece of tape to tape the flag to the pole.  It all looks pretty much the same!

Repeat with multiple colors and patterns of craft paper.

Allow your chickens to check your work.

***Millie Approved***

Mark away!

I must say that I doubt these things would stand up to really serious weather–but they do hold up quite nicely to the gentle watering that goes along with starting seeds.  And they’d make great cocktail stirrers, for the record.  Cheers!

Bring on the Compost!

Well, I finally got my behind in gear and officially set up to officially start composting.  This is something that I have been taking real lazy attempts at over the years (always with the idea that I could definitely do better), but after reading Chris McLaughlin’s book, Vertical Vegetable Gardening, (buy this book, people, it’s got the best small-space gardening tips and is getting rave reviews beyond just mine), my composting fire was lit.

I don’t have a lot of extra space around here on this little suburban lot, and I really have gone around and around as to where I wanted to locate the compost.  Ultimately, there was really only one spot that I could make it work, for better or for worse, and that was this one tiny stretch of planter area along our driveway.  Which is painfully out in plain sight.  So first, and foremost, I knew that, whatever composting method I chose, it needed to be inside some sort of container….furthermore, I needed to come up with a way to make this, what is essentially a trash site, cute.  Priorities, you know?

The other thing I don’t have much extra of is funds.  There are all these fancy compost containers out there (which are ugly, btw), but I could not fathom spending any more money on this thing than was absolutely necessary.  So, because I happened to have two 30-gallon galvanized trash cans that were sitting around twiddling their thumbs, they got the job.  I had space for three, so I did wind up going out and buying a third one, but hey, it was still my cheapest option.

The girls, ever-underfoot, thoroughly assess the soil at the selected site. Their findings indicate a compost deficiency.

After I had selected my location, and the girls had assessed and approved it, I proceeded to dig holes in the dirt roughly the size of each of my compost cans.

Gertie checks the size of the hole.

I’ve read it’s a potentially beneficial thing to have the cans slightly submerged in the soil with holes drilled across the bottom and bottom sides that not only allow for drainage and aeration, but also for beneficial microorganisms to come and go.  So I wanted to submerge my cans (that came out wrong) as much as I could.  Which, as it turned out, wasn’t very much….this is a pretty shallow planter, and I could only get them submerged about four or five inches.  So I drilled holes across the bottom of each can, and up only a couple of inches on the sides.

This drill bit is no joke. And, btw, keep a dust-buster handy if you attempt this–the slivers created from drilling through metal are a serious hazard–especially if you have chickens in the yard who want to eat anything shiny. And also, lock your chickens up while you are doing this. And don’t wear flip-flops. I’ve said my piece.

Once everything was drilled, I fit the cans into each of their spots, and back-filled so that they were as buried as possible.  I had already set aside a mound of composting materials to start my first batch, so my #1 bin is almost full.  The idea, here, is that once one is full, you move on to the next, and hopefully, by the time #3 is full, #1 might be ready to use.

From some scrap lumber that was sitting around the yard, I made a fun sign to hang on the fence (see how in a tutorial coming soon), that hopefully will not turn out to be false advertising.  In addition, I made some little scrap-lumber number plaques for each can….because there are just so many of them that I might lose track.

I seriously can’t plan this stuff….these girls just know how to get a good shot.

Allegedly, the ground around compost bins is supposed to get really good and fertile, so I intend to take advantage of that and keep things planted around the cans.  Despite the best efforts of the poultry.

I’ll be interested to see how quickly that kale becomes a salad bar for the chickens.

Oh, yes, and off to the side, of course, there is this:

This? This is not compost. This is where the dog poop goes.  I can understand your confusion.

This is our adorable new counter-top composter that I picked up from World Market. It makes it a lot easier to get kitchen scraps out to the compost zone when you’ve got an cute container for them. I’m such a packaging sucker.

So is this the best composting system in the world?  Nope.  I can assure you, it is not.  Will it be good enough?  Maybe.  I’ll have to let you know.  One major thing I took away from Vertical Vegetable Gardening is that I shouldn’t stress over the compost–I should just let it do it’s thing with minimal fuss (hopefully).  If I stick to an approximate 50/50 mix of brown and green ingredients, theoretically, the compost magic should happen.  Theoretically.  For an easy break-down of how composting works, as well as a straightforward list of acceptable brown and green materials, pick up a copy of Chris’ book.  Because I’m not sharing mine. 

A Great Read: Vertical Vegetable Gardening

Christmas came early for me this year with a sneak preview of the amazing Chris McLaughlin’s newest book: Vertical Vegetable Gardening (officially launching on New Year’s Eve). Let me tell you something here: I know some stuff when it comes to gardening–I’m no horticulturist, but I know stuff.  This book?  I learned me things.  Things that have changed me forever (like the ‘Caveman Sun Blueprint’, but I’m getting ahead of myself).  With a disarming mixture of practical knowledge and wit, Chris not only enlightens us on the space-saving fun and functionality of vertical gardening, but delves into the mechanics of healthy, organic gardening practices in a refreshingly approachable way.

My over-eager post-it note-taking skills at work.

The real guts of Vertical Vegetable Gardening, is, of course, vertical vegetable gardening.  Chris sings the praises of growing things up instead of out, and for me, living and gardening in my snug 7500 sq foot lot, this is pure, unadulterated genius.  She not only divulges what types of veggies and herbs are great for growing upwards, but how to also integrate those that are ‘vertically challenged’.  The book is chock-full of plans and directions on how to build simple supports, containers, and displays, and for anyone who is not so handy, suggestions on which ready-made options to buy.  My gardening-senses are tingling….I feel some projects coming on!

A painfully blank expanse of Farmhouse fencing that I think is just begging for a hanging gutter herb garden (see pg. 36 in the book for an example).

Another expanse of fence that I have already strung with wire to entice the Morning Glory vine….I’m thinking with a little more wire (and a Morning Glory haircut), this might be a perfect spot for some beans to ramble up in the spring.

My pile of salvaged, leftover, and scavenged materials that I just can’t wait to turn into some sort of funky vertical garden elements.

But Chris is so very much more than her space-saving vertical vegetables….I adore her take on composting.  I am new to the practice (and, rather fixated on it, at the moment), and subsequently, I have done a lot of research on it as of late, trying to ascertain the composting ‘path of least resistance’.  There’s a ton of information out there, and it is usually so overwhelmingly scientific that the cogs in my brain jam up and the little hamster abandons his wheel for a two week hiatus in Barbados.  I digress.  Chris humanizes composting so brilliantly that I seriously want to hug her.  She doesn’t fuss over her compost, she doesn’t take its temperature daily like it may be ovulating–and with a couple of her easy-to-grasp guidelines, it turns out just fine.  I can handle that!  The hamster’s island vacation has been cut short.  He’s not even tan.

Oh, post-its, how I love thee….

I mentioned the ‘Caveman Sun Blueprint’.  Yep, just another priceless nugget of brilliance I am taking away from this book!  I have long-struggled with tracking the sun patterns in my yard, in fact, I have wasted many a day writing endless lists of which beds get what amount of sun/shade at what time of the day.  No more.  The blueprint is such a better way!  How does it work, you ask?  Well, you’ll just have to read the book, now, won’t you?  Muhahahaha!

Vertical Vegetable Gardening is available thru Amazon and all other major book sellers on December 31st (available now for pre-ordering)!  Check out Chris McLaughlin on her website www.ASuburbanFarmer.com, on Farm Chick Chit Chat, and follow her on Facebook and Twitter for more on the life and times of this funny and brilliant suburban farmer-lady.

Fronch Porch Festiveness

Another batch of holiday decorations to share!  I’ve already posted pics of our light display, but I thought I’d show how it all looks during the daylight hours, too.

My twist on a holiday color scheme? Coral, mint, and cream. These are some of my favorite colors and a subtle nod to the iconic Christmas red, white, and green. The tart coral-orange of the front door is echoed in the rocker pillows and rug, while shades of mint show up in the wreath and the ceramic pots planted with glorious cream poinsettias.

The wreath has undergone a few changes since I first put it out….originally it was filled with little white pom-pom embellishments, but sadly, a five-day-long rain extravaganza kind of did those in.

Now, in addition to some strands of tiny rice lights, the wreath is sporting a festive banner made from paper stencil letters (from Home Depot), coated in mint-green glitter and strung on baker’s twine.

I really love cream-colored poinsettias. And red ones, and pink ones, and multi-colored ones….this year, I practiced some Herculean restraint and just went with the cream. Throw in a few white pansies, my standard porch lanterns, and my dad’s childhood show-riding boots, and we’ve got ourselves a nice, quirky little vignette.

Love them boots.

The twiggy window stars look adorable during the day, and strung with rice lights, look great at night, too!

The front planters get a dose of holiday color with the addition of cream poinsettias, white pansies, and white ornamental kale tucked in amongst the preexisting lavender and sage.

And let’s finish this post off with another glimpse of how it all looks lit up at night….Cheers!