Wine Crate Container Garden - DIY up-cycle

Earlier this week I was giving a presentation on container gardening with a focus on Herbs. When I give garden workshops I like to have something live to use as demonstration so I decided to up cycle a wine crate into a container garden. 

Wine Crate Herb Container Garden - DIY

There are a number of how-to websites that simply treat - drill holes - plant. This didn't seem to be quite sufficient for a container that I hoped would last all summer outside. I keep in mind that wine crates are designed for one time use; they are not the best wood out there and are usually not constructed very well. Therefore, I decided to do a few things differently than others propose. My technique includes:

DIY Holiday Ornaments

Folded Fabric Ornaments

Over the years I have been inspired to create homemade holiday ornaments. My grandmother was exceptional at this creative effort! I think this year it was a combination of things - first I'm feeling nostalgic, next I continue to want my children to have reminder each Holiday, and lastly, I wanted to clean out my craft room :)

Please see below come of the items created! All are fairly easy to make with simple tools such as glue gun, sewing machine, and scissors!

Alternative Deer Repellents - DIY

I'd previously blogged about the challenges I had been having keeping the Damn Deer out of my garden.  I keep a fence that works very well. However, as I started the woodland restoration that now hugs their trail, my love-hate relationship with this plant predator has continued.

Bad smells keep Deer Away. 

Recently folks have suggested some alternatives to the chemical sprays I have been using. This spring as tulips, hostas, iris, and chokeberry are starting to come out. I'm trying these out - the more potential deterrents the better!  If I can make my precious bits of green plants taste and smell terrible - unless they are starving, the deer should just move on (to my neighbors yard!)  One downside of a treatment that relies on taste (like the pepper spray below) is that the deer must taste the plant to discover they don't really want to eat more.  So there will be some nibbling with this method along. Another reason I like using combos.

Just keep in mind that everything needs reapplication. Make sure to treat the plant completely! Rain and time take away the smell and taste. I do not put these treatments onto food crops by the way. My vegetable garden is safe inside a fence (mostly) - although the bunnies do make a mess. That's another blog. 

Review of Tour at "The Plant" vertical farm in Chicago

For some time I have been eager to get down to the Back-of-the-Yards neighborhood and tour The Plant - an experiment in vertical farming located inside an old meatpacking facility. How cool is that? Well - for me it turned out to be not so cool, it was an outing that I do not recommend at this time.  I bet in 3-5 years it will be an awesome venue.

OK - what I liked about it. The fundamental premise of the organization and the mission it serves. That's what got me there. I wanted to see the hydroponics lab too!

Let me give you an over view of the tour - which ran about an hour, and cost me $20 for my friend and I.

- Introduction (15 minutes) - in the lobby area I was provided an overview of The Plant organization and facility. The tour guide also educated visitors on the closed loop system and linkages between various parts of The Plant that are planned or anticipated future developments. Key here is future - much of The Plant facility is still in a state of disarray or construction. The introduction presented essentially the exact information which is available on the website. Visual aids were pages from printer taped to the wall. :(

- Review of future brewery location (10 minutes) - we walked to a large room, full of rubble, which will eventually house a brewery. Here there were posters on the wall discussing the principles of anaerobic digestion, and we were provided an overview on this science. We also looked out the windows to the vegetable garden below. 

The Plant, Chicago - hydroponic garden - 2013

- Tour through lower level - (12 minutes) he we walked by an area where mushrooms were grown. The door was shut, there was nothing to see.  We then went into the Hydroponic garden to see floating beds of lettuce and other greens and tanks that housed the tilapia.  There was another brief discussion of the principals of the vertical farm (same material reviewed previously).  While there were folks working here and discussion of the science and study occurring - we were not treated to any additional insight to their learnings. The set-up itself seems kludgy - well I'm used to touring manufacturing sites with lots of automation and sleek equipment, maybe this is as good as it gets.

Hydroponic greens - The Plant, Chicago

Fish tanks, Hydroponics garden, The Plant

- Tour of food production areas (20 minutes)  - Here we walked through old meat preparation areas and old smoking units.  We learned the plans of the organization for this space. I was hit by the very strong odor still remaining from the smokers. The most interesting part for me was that one of the individuals on the tour had worked at this facility back in the day when it was meat processing. His stories were excellent - if not a bit gory at the same time.  We saw two areas in current production of baked goods. This was a very lean operation for small scale production.  If you've toured the Eli's Cheesecake Factory here in town, you will understand the low volume nature of this test-kitchen.  

The Plant, Chicago - old smoker room. 2013

The Plant, Chicago, future shared kitchen space. 2013

- View of Anaerobic digester - look out the window to see the machine which we learned of earlier.  This will eventually be used to generate energy from food and plant waste material. Great idea! 

the Eisenmann anaerobic digester, The Plant

That was it. End of the tour. I had hoped to see more items in operation or to learn more about their findings.  I wanted to know more than I learned on the website. I was disappointed. That said - I do support the mission and direction The Plant is going.

If you do head to The Plant for a tour, pop around the corner to Garfield Park Conservatory afterwards for a bit of green, it will round out your day :) 

For some reason, singing the Oscar Mayer wiener song...

Teresa Marie

Harvesting Hydroponic Garden - The Plant

Up-cycling DIY Coffee Table - pallets, fence posts and fruit crates parts

Anyway, today I was inspired by this DIY project.

A friend quickly put together the frame of a box from pieces of a fruit crate and pallet. I liked the added detail of putting little handles on the sides. Then cut up a square post to make the legs. Viola - I have a new coffee table.  I brought this home and had to put my little touches on it.

I grabbed the hand sander and went over all the surfaces and edges to make sure that there were not rough edges or potential for slivers.  I also checked to see if it was level - which it wasn't, but a little sanding fixed that right up.  I was about to apply a coat of stain, but was halted by my daughter who liked it just the way it is.

DIY Coffee Table from Pallet & Crates

Pallet and fence-post Up-cycles Coffee Table

Quite rustic - and lovely for the sun room. It matches the end tables which are fruit crates :)  but not so much the Victorian couch. Well eclectic is nice right?

It all works for me!  Give this project a try.

Teresa Marie

Easy Composting Bin from Garbage Can

It's something I've been doing my whole life. My Grandfather got me involved.  My mother and father were fans. Now it's just part of life - yup, that save the earth trend of composting.

We have always taken all grass clippings, leaves, and plant food scraps and put them into compost in our yard. Then each spring and fall it gets rototilled into the vegetable garden, and that soil also gets dispersed around the yard.  Over the years it's really helped improve the soil (and the crops!)  in addition to reducing the amount of trash.  Then, our village recently increased their attention to our "compost pile" and despite the best intentions, some neighbors were complaining that it was unsightly.  So rather than pay for yard waste bags and stickers, we sought a creative and frugal outlet. 

We already had one container and had previously tried a tumbler without success.  I never did tumble the materials - so that was not a good investment.  Some of the containers are so fancy and expensive.   I readily admit that I am not savvy in the ways of composting.  I just put stuff in, it rots, I use it ;)  My dad had a compost container made out of wire stretched around large cement blocks.  He never turned it or minded it much at all, and that worked just fine. I know that I'm not doing this the best way - but it gets the job done, and we don't have to get fancy.  Looking around for raw materials - we immediately thought of two large garbage container that the village had deemed too large for use.  Eureka - we made our own compost bins from recycled garbage cans!

Making Holes for Air Flow - July 2011

 One thing to keep in mind is that as the plant matter starts to decay it will generate heat and moisture.  Here you can see we are putting holes in the bottom of the container to allow moisture to drain out.  I think there is probably a balance between wanting it to drain and not to dry out.  I'll have to see how that goes.

Finished Garbage Can Compost Bin

This is the final garbage can compost bin - we ended up putting about 100 holes around all side and on the bottom.  I like that this container is on wheels, which will help us get the compost to the garden.  We also considered just cutting the bottom off the garbage can all together. I think if we do fill this up with compost it might be too darn heavy to tip over. We can always make that adjustment next year if we need to do so. 

Store bought Bin, and new re-purposed bin ready for duty.

We hid the second container on the side of our yard and will use that one exclusively for grass cuttings and other yard waste. It is tucked up behind some honeysuckle and big hostas, so I'm hoping that our neighbors of the city don't mind too much.

Today I'm singing something trashy! LOL

Any advice let me know!

Teresa Marie