EG's Self Watering Planter Idea Implemented!

Back in January, EG from Our Engineered Garden shared yet another one of his awesome creations--a self watering planter (or a self watering container; SWP or SWC). I instantly loved the construction of these SWPs because of the fact that they use recycled/inexpensive items, and each container only uses one bucket instead of the traditional "bucket in a bucket" method (you can find instructions for that method here and here).

Last year I received a bunch of kitty litter buckets from a very generous Freecycler, and planned on making SWPs with them but never got around to it. Frankly, I'm glad I didn't because I have a better understanding of how things will grow in my garden, and can now make more using EG's method.

I bought a couple floor tile squares at HD for $.65, and blew through those while doing a few trials of cutting incorrectly and drilling holes that were too big. I later found $.45 tiles at Lowes.

My redneck work area in the garage...

We don't have a tool bench or a table top that I could get all crazy on with the exacto knife, so I used cardboard LOL.  And, nooo, I won't be spray painting my containers gold... When I traced the yogurt cups for the wicking basket hole, it was way too big (or small depending on the side traced). The top to the spray can was a much better fit.

The tools...

I've used a hack saw for previous PVC cutting projects, but after someone at Lowe's cut my 9ft PVC pipe in half by squeezing a pipe cutter 3 times and after I picked my jaw up off the floor, I came home with one. I love this tool! I'm not strong enough to get a good back & forth motion going through PVC so it's always a pain to do. The pipe cutter was still hard to use. Actually, I ended up setting it up on the ground and stepping on it HA! (Not shown is whatever tool or bit DH will let me use to cut the holes in the lids.)

Because of the smaller width of the bucket, the yogurt cups overlapped the wicking basket hole/area.

Overlapping solution: cut the top sections of the containers.

Tada!

I will be using kabob sticks stuck in wine corks as my water level indicators.

I can't wait to see how growing bush cucumbers, baby bell and white habanero peppers in my SWPs will turn out!

Lastly, this week EG showed us how he is implementing his SWP concept with a large storage tote. Perfect timing, since I brought home these 18 gallon lime green totes (what? they were on sale!) two weeks ago! Now I can make two. Yeessss...

Thanks for sharing your brilliance with us, EG!

Seedling Update

When I pulled my broccoli and lettuces on Monday, I was ready for it. Then when I blogged about it yesterday, I felt really down about my spring crops coming to an end. I mean, who wouldn't feel a bit sad about pulling plants that are still green? So, to bring the mood back up, I'll update you on the summer seedlings I have so far...

I moved my setup closer to the south facing window...

My tomatoes are a bit leggy, so I was going to start over (which are in the covered pots) but now I think I'll stick with the first batch and give the second batch to a friend who wants to garden but won't start from seed. I'll repot the tomatoes this weekend.

Basil and peppers...

I was lucky enough to only have one plant out of everything not germinate--a yellow Baby Belle Pepper, so it's a bit behind the others, but that's no biggie since it's going into a container.

This weekend I will also be starting my Isabella Charentais melon seeds.

Lastly, I thought I'd done something wrong when I sowed my Chionodoxia bulbs with my crocus and hyaciths last fall because they hadn't shown up... Lookie what I noticed underneath the Crocus leaves!

Stay away, you slugs!

Happy Pinch Me Day!

For some reason, I always forget to wear green on St. Patrick's Day, and inevitably, someone pinches me...

A perfect example of forgetting to wear green? My centerpiece:

It may be St. Patty's Day, but I'm ready for Easter! ;-)

Garden Update

It's amazing how much things have changed in the 10 days since I was last in the garden. It feels like I missed out on the last part of spring, and stepped out into summer! The past few days have been in the 70's, but throw in the blazing sun on my south facing concrete garden, and my soil's temps are around 85 at the peak of the day.

I spent a large part of my free time (ie the LO's nap) outside yesterday cleaning up, and clearing out. Here's what's goin' on...

I hilled up my 1st round of Russet mini's. They're already almost to the top of the bucket! I may need to come up with a way to extend the bucket's height. Maybe by cutting off the bottom of another bucket and attaching somehow. Any suggestions?  The rest of my potatoes are slow-going thus far... 

The left side of my SFG: Garlic, onion, shallots. I've trimmed all of the alliums several times over the growing season, and they look wonderful, don't they?

Close up of the shallots...

Yeah, above ground, they're pretty, but these two shallots (from one seed) are what they looked like when I pulled them out. I don't know what went wrong here. I even fertilized them once--maybe twice with a diluted solution LOL.  I also pulled a garlic plant, and it looks the same.

I'm feeling a little defeated by the alliums because I planted them back in October, and they should be ready around now. Either way, I'll have to pull them in a few weeks to make way for my tomatoes.

The right side of the SFG growing the peas and broccoli... I don't know why, but the left two broccoli plants grew very large, but not a SINGLE florret grew on either one of them! What the heck?

My peas are becoming infested with aphids. I think it's due to the heat and the compact space. I also have carrots squeezed in between the broccoli and peas, so in an effort to get the peas and carrots to mature, and because I was tired of the broccoli not producing, I pulled the broccoli...

Here is my last brocooli harvest of the season.

My lettuces in the salad table bolted some time last week. *sigh* This was my most productive part of the garden this season, so I'm really sad to see it go. I've cleaned out the lettuces, and moved the table to a shadier, cooler part of the yard to see if my carrots will mature. I pulled one, and it's the length of my index finger, but as skinny as a pencil. Here's hoping they'll fatten up a bit!

 I've decided that this coming fall I will probably either grow only lettuces or a combo of lettuces and cover crops to improve my raised beds soil.

A Lovely Week Off

After some lovely time off, it's back to the daily grind. When I posted ten days ago about my birthday, I mentioned my younger sister visiting... Well, she brought a wonderful surprise gift with her--our mom! I almost jumped outa my socks when I saw her standing beside the car!

I'm on the right

To ease back into gardening, blogging, and normalcy, I thought I'd share a few pictures I took of wildflowers along the path to Battery Spencer in San Francisco...

Mey-er Birthday

Yesterday was my birthday, and I decided to make it a lemony sort of day. I planned on posting this last night, but these got in the way...

Meyer Lemon and Clementine Margarita

 

I started my day with a bit of frivolous birthday shopping at Target where I got this fruit basket to match my paper towel and napkin holders (lemons not from my tree)...

Next I stopped by OSH to get materials to replant my Meyer lemon tree. It's been in a nursery pot since I brought it home last May. Here's what it looked like when I removed the tree from the container:

The tree is mostly healthy, and there weren't any signs of root rot from all of the rain we've been having. I cleaned and trimmed the roots...

...And repotted in a mix of Redwood Soil Conditioner, peat moss, and perlite (4:1:2) with a bit of 10-10-10 slow release fertilizer and dolomite lime thrown in.

 

There is new growth all over the tree but unfortunately, most of them are covered in aphids. I will be applying a paraffin spray to the tree today.

Lastly, my little younger sister is arriving today from the east coast, so tonight I'll be closing out my birthday celebrations with her by making Meyer Lemon Bars (and maybe a few more margaritas).

I almost forgot! I picked my first ever home-grown flowers! These Hyacinths make the whole house smell lovely. The lazy susan you see there was another of my birthday purchases. I've always wanted one...

Harvest Monday

It's Monday again? Where did the time go?

For my Harvest Monday participation, I snipped a lot of cilantro, and my first Green Arrow Pea pod.

My cilantro came from the left bucket. I'm letting the right two go to seed for coriander...

 

Apparently the fungus gnats have invited aphids to live in the cilantro, so I soaked the leaves to remove them (I get plenty of protein in my diet, thank you). Gave the clean leaves a ride in the salad spinner, chopped, and froze. I harvested about a cup of chopped cilantro.

  

These babies tasted great!

 

Happy Monday!

Growing Potatoes

Sometime back in September (before I decided to downgrade my seed supply), I bought seed potatoes from Irish Eyes. I purchased a pound each--the minimum I could get--of Russet Burbank and Sangre Mini-tubers. In October I began trying to sprout the seeds hoping to have them growing in dirt in November. When I say "try," I mean I did every trick and tip I could find to get those little buggers to sprout. Nothing happened! Sure, maybe I bought potatoes at the wrong time of year for my zone or maybe I bought the wrong kind of potatoes to over-winter here... I'm a gardening newbie! What can I say?

Anywho, I forgot about those potatoes until the end of January when I was cleaning out a cabinet where I happened to store the other seed potatoes, and guess what? Every. single. one. of those potatoes was sprouting! Wha? I thought storing in a dark, cool place prevented sprouting?!?!(enter another newbie excuse here)

 

On 2/1 I planted two of each variety in my kitty litter buckets. Since it's our "rainy season," in addition to drainage holes in the bottom of the bucket, I added holes going up two of the four sides. I'm hoping once it gets hot out the holes won't cause the soil to dry too quickly...

My Russet Burbank poked through the soil on 2/21 (pic taken on 2/27). The Sangre mini-tubers, are about to break through the soil surface.

Meanwhile, I checked on the seeds I'd left in a paper bag by a south facing window since December, and they looked like this. Interesting how the same potatoes have sprouted differently under different conditions...

I sliced this set of seed in half and let callus over for a couple days before planting today in another set of buckets. I don't recall the soil mix from the first set of potatoes, but today's were put in a 4:2:1:0.5 mix of Compost w/manure, peat moss, vermiculite, perlite.

Once the potato vines reach 4 inches, I'll cover them up, and continue doing so until they outgrow my buckets.


While searching through my plethora of bookmarks for something totally unrelated, I found these three pages of information on growing potatoes in containers and garbage cans.

Growing Potatoes in Containers

Growing Potatoes in Pots

How To Grow Potatoes in a Garbage Can


Oh! I was able to pass the remaining seed potatoes on to others in my community. Here's hoping for great success to all!

Wordless Wednesday--Babies

Indoors

Sown 2/10

Whirlybird Nasturtium

 Viva Italia Tomato

Pearson Tomato

Cameo Basil

Creamcicle Gazania

 

Outdoors

Hyacinth

(if only pictures could smell)

"Paternal Twins"

Carrot sown 11/5/09; Sweetie Baby Romaine sown 1/22/10

  

Plums

Meyer Lemon

PS If you've followed for a while, I thought I should let you know that my two Meyer Lemons shown at the bottom of this post were killed in the line of duty (either by children, or by my careless moving indoors during a few frosty nights in December).

Off Topic: Viral Eye Candy For The Ladies

Just a quick blog side-step and eye candy for the ladies out there...

I'm sure you've seen the new Old Spice video that premiered during the Super Bowl, and shows regularly on TV, right? You know, the one with the hunk of a man, Isaiah Mustafa (enter drooling here)... I love loVE LOVE this commercial! I have deep down belly laughs whenever I see it, no matter how many times I see it. I just crack UP! Thinking about this commercial makes me giggle!

The Man Your Man Could Smell Like

I found this post/article about the commercial today, and just spent 20 minutes watching the video there on how the commercial was made. I don't expect you to watch the long video, but I felt compelled to share it--and I needed to document it for myself LOL.

Now back to gardening.

My Local Farm's CSA

In January I came across the website for Local Harvest. Local Harvest is a place where people can go to find farmer's markets, farms/farm co-ops and CSA's in their community. Through this site I found a farm in my city offering CSA (Community Supported Agriculture) shares--and they're only 4 miles from our house. The idea of eating produce that is locally grown, and certified organic ta' boot sure seems appealing...

For $30/week, for 22 weeks, here is what the one and only CSA in my city will provide each week:

June: 2 lbs White Nectarines, 1 ½ lbs Apriums (80% Apricot 20%Plum), 1 lb Donut Peaches 1 head Butter Lettuce, 1 bunch Romanesco Cauliflower, 1 Rosemary Baguette, 2 lb Zucchini, 1 lb Fresh Green Beans, 1 bunch Basil.

July: 1lb White Peaches, 1 ½ lbs Pluots (80% Plum 20% Apricot), 1 Tomato Basil Focaccia Bread, 1 basket Cherry Tomatoes, 2 lbs mixed Heirloom Tomatoes, 2 Heart of Romaine Lettuce, 1 bunch Broccoli , 1 bunch Carrots, 1 ½ lbs mixed Summer Squash, 1 ½ lbs sweet red Onions.

August: 1 Melon (over 15 varieties), 1 basket Cherry Tomatoes, 1 Fresh Fruit Tort, 1 ½ lbs Mixed Tomatoes (over 30 varieties), 2 lbs Sweet Pepper (over 17 varieties), 1 lb Eggplant, 2 lbs Zucchini, 1 head Lettuce, 1 bunch Beats, 1 lb Green Beans, 1 bunch Radishes.

September: 1 Watermelon, 2 lbs Sweet Peppers, 1 Chocolate Raspberry Tart, 2 lbs mixed Heirloom Tomatoes, 1 ½ lbs Yellow Peaches, 2 lbs Summer Squash, 1 bunch Thyme, 1 lb Snow Peas, 1 basket of fresh Strawberries

October: 1 ½ lbs Pomegranates, 1 ½ lbs Apples, 1 head Lettuce, 1 Caramelized Onion Baguette, 1 Butternut Winter Squash, 2 heads Broccoli, 1 bunch Basil, 1 lb Green Beans, 1 basket Cherry Tomatoes, 2 lbs mixed Tomatoes.

The list of foods the CSA offers seems like a lot of food for our family of 3.5, and also a lot of things we don't normally eat. This prompted me to begin keeping track of how much produce we go through, and what it costs. Tracking my buying/produce serving habits almost convinced me to not join the CSA, but I think I have come to realize come to terms with a few things that have changed my mind.

1. We rarely eat produce that's organic. It just seems so expensive, and I think I've been brainwashed by the shiny non-organic produce, so the more natural looking items don't look as appealing.

2. We lack variety in our fruit and vegetable eating habits. Here is what we go through in a normal two week period:
Apples
Bananas
carrots
Broccoli
Sweet peppers
Onion
Mushrooms & sometimes spinach, but mainly for my breakfast omelets
During the spring/fall, strawberries and grapes
During the summer, lettuces

3. I don't serve enough fruits and vegetables to my family. On average, we have 4-5 dinners with veggies. I make sure the boys get fruit with lunch and most afternoon snacks, but not veggies, and not for myself (DH is in charge of his diet while at work).

Since we don't currently eat a lot of what will be offered, I've asked myself many times if signing up for the program is a good idea... I think this will be a good opportunity for us to expand our horizons. If I see the produce the CSA is offering in a store, would I buy it? Probably not. But I'm confident if I am "forced" to bring the produce home, I'll use it, my family and I will adjust our taste buds to the new offerings, and we will be healthier because of it. I mean, it's not like they're telling me I will need to serve my family durians (barf bag anyone?).

Do any of you out there who aren't able to supply your family with enough home-grown fruits and veggies participate in a CSA or farm co-op? What do you think about the program?