Rev...That sure is a beautiful Clematis!
Will they allow you to place your pots against the wall? 2 nice big pots with trellises would really give you some impact...
I've lost my container garden! Need ideas
OMG, kat, that is so cool, lol. But you forgot the hanging baskets and the clematis up the poles, lol.
Neato!!
Nope, can't put anything on the sidewalk because fire code prohibits it. But it would have looked great! I can put a gynormous pot in betwen the pillars with a container trellis and then two pots on either side.
Voss and 3J! HAHA! I know...it's a little cheesy but it does give you a bit of an idea on how things might look!
Okay, here's another view...with some beautiful Clematis in the middle of the posts and some stackers on the sides. If I was limited to 4 pots I would really have a hard time...However, the stackers would really give you a great variety of plants. This is only showing 2 levels...you could stack them up to 8!
Kat
(Thanks Judith...this is fun!)
Beautiful Clematis you have there Lady! hehe
I don't think it's cheesy. It would be quite an investment to get all the pots, soil, plants and whatnot. It's great to have a decent idea of how it will look. Plus we get to help her plant them, lol.... well, kinda.
Gee, I'm tempted. Looks great!
Hey, 3jsmom, it isn't THAT far from Kentucky to Denver, hint, hint!
Judith
With 4 kids, it would be very far, lol.
LOL!
Judith - Don't forget about MGs! Since they are annuals and have a short life span, you could grow a different cultivar every few months. :-) Mine are all grown in pots with a teepee made of poles.
Maybe that's what I should do the first year until I get on my gardening "feet." I love growing MGs, but haven't really had enough sun for them. And Becky has tons of seeds, wink, wink!! LOL
You'll have some for sure, Judith!!! :-)
beckygardener: That is a pretty morning glory. I haven't grown them but have some wild ones that come up in my blueberries and raspberries. I think it would be a hard decision to pull if they looked like that beauty :). Do the morning glories grow up a net? I thought about making a net and getting an annual climber to shade the porch. I think my gran used some kind of bean or peas for it when I was a kid.
Hi 3jsmom31 - Morning glories come in many cultivars and species. The wild ones are usually invasive in my zone (10a), so I refrain from growing them here. But the Japanese I. nils are very well-behaved and have HUGE blooms. The only down side is that they usually wilt by noon (hence their name "morning" glories! lol) They will grow up just about anything your provide for them. The Japanese use string and nets to shade entire sides of buildings and it looks amazing! The I. nil species don't get overly invasive in growth and don't usually come back as volunteers since the seeds don't survive in freezing temps. They thrive best in the heat of summer as they prefer the longer days of sun and the heat of summer months. The majority of MGs are annuals, though there are some perennial vines as well. The Japanese cultivars like rich and fertile soil and like to be keep watered regularly in well-drained soil. So in other words, they do like a bit of royal treatment, which is why I grow them in pots. They are very easy to grow in ideal conditions. They are my favorite plant family out of all the plants I grow. And color combos on the blooms are infinite. New ones are created every year by Japanese and American gardeners. I just love them! (Can you tell? LOL!) I use 3 poles in each 5 gallon pot to form a teepee for them to climb. Usually 6' poles that I shove right down inside the pots. When the vines reach the top of the poles, I just wrap them around and around. They are gorgeous in bloom!
Hey, I have a great Idea to get your new Year started!! I am going to call it a Garden Care Crow.
I am going to start with a sturdy wood frame, Old Jeans, an Old Denim Jacket, Old Boots, a Small Bucket, Gloves and a Hat. I am going to assemble the frame as an
A frame and screw the old boots to the bottom of the A frame through the backs of the boots.
Then fasten the jeans and denim jacket together with gloves attached to the arms like hands. Then attach this whole thing to the A frame, tying the legs closed with the old boot laces and attaching the legs to the boots.
Lean the whole thing against the fence, or a good sunny place, fill the whole thing with good growing dirt. then Cut slots for plants in various places up the legs, arms, torso and shoulders. Plant my favorite flowers and veggies. Place a short pipe in the bottom of the bucket and stick it where the head should be and put a hat on the bucket.
I can remove the hat to water, then replace it to cover the whole thing.
How about that, Pictures to follow.
Actually, I am thinking of doing this as a fundraiser for our Haiti, Hope for Kids School Scholarship Program. It costs just $250 to sponsor a kid for a year in school; no school in Haiti is public. Everyone pays to go to school.
I will charge $300 for each Care Crow, and you will sponsor a Haitian kid in school for a year Plus have a neat conversation piece to boot.
What is your opinion?
Have a Very Great Sunday!! Paul
This message was edited Dec 20, 2009 9:28 AM
Nice fundraiser! Wishing you much success. I've sponsored a boy in Haiti through World Vision for almost 5 years now. He's getting an education and has grown into a fine young man. I am very proud of him and all his accomplishments. His family has been affected by AIDS. Father died from it and his mother has it. Not sure about the children in the family. I know my sponsorship means the difference between life and death for this family in one of the poorest countries in the world. Even after my family and I continue to experience our own financial hardships from this terrible recession, I refused to give up sponsoring this child. I consider him part of my extended family and will continue to support him. :-)
I give to sponsor children in Rwanda. My church has a partner relationship with a group there and we hear from them regularly. They hear from us too. We have their pictures on the wall at church. If you happened to see "Hotel Rwanda" you'll know what a devastated country it is and how much it means to support these children.
lonejack, wish I had enough room to use your idea. But obviously I'm limited.
Becky, do you use bamboo and tie them at the top to form a tepee? I used to use bamboo to shore up my clematis in pots.
Here's an idea! Maybe I can send out Christmas gift hints to my two boys - lol. Costs too much for me.
Oops! Forgot the pic...
Forgot to save it in jpg. Here it is.
Third try and I'm out - lol!
Judith - Nice planters! Yes! I would definitely hint around to your children for nice planters for Christmas. I was also going to suggest growing veggie plants. This year I am determined to try growing veggies and fruits in containers. Strawberries and watermelon and cantalope, as well as tomatoes, cucumbers, beans, snap peas, sweet potatoes, etc. I figure I might as well provide some fresh fruit and veggies for my family and save some grocery money in the process. If you grow edibles, hopefully your neighbors won't pick them before you do! LOL!
I do use bamboo and also the plastic coated rebar poles that are sold at Home Depot. I do tie them off at the top to make a teepee shape for the vines to grow up. This works out great so far for me. This year I am going to try growing veggies vines up the teepee poles in containers as well. :-) I love a challenge and trying something new! :-)
I get my 5 gallon plastic white containers for free from a fast food restraurant that just throws them away. The containers are originally used to transport pickles in. So I just clean them out and drill a few holes in the bottom of each bucket/container. They even have handles on them. Love them! Perfect size for container gardening and the white color helps keep the roots of my plants from absorbing too much heat and frying from the intense sunlight here in summertime. :-)
Hi all,
revclaus, here is a container that you can build for less than $15.
Paul.
I like your use of the tubs. I have to move a big plant into a bigger container and that will work really well for it. Thanks :)
Becky, my son is a catering chef and has access to those 5 gal. buckets. I could always ask him. I'd rather grow flowers than veggies. Been there, done that.
Paul, the tubs are a great idea. I remember seeing them somewhere.
revclaus - Those 5 gallon buckets worked great for me this year! You might consider trying one to see if they would be a good container for you as well. :-) If so, you'll have an endless supply from your Chef son whenever you need one! :-) Sorry to hear that you can only have 4 containers per the apartment rules. You will definitely need to have LARGE containers so that you can do mixed plantings so you'll have lots of different plants growing and blooming! :-) That would be tough for me as I have been so fortunate to have expanded my garden beds instead of condense them. Though I am using containers more and more. My garden soil here is awful.
So ... you've done veggies before? Any helpful hints you could share? Did you grow any in containers? That's what I am having to do because my ground soil is horrible. This will be a first for me to growing veggies and fruit. Something new to try to grow! LOL! I love a challenge! :-)
Becky, start a thread on soil improvement, it may be cheaper/easier to amend your soil than to buy bags of miracle grow each year or 2.
I like those tall blue tubs for flowers. I like the idea of clematis and morning glories -- not in the same pots, of course. Do you think if it worked out that some of the other residents might want you to put some planted tubs in front of their houses? Just thinking. You can't be the only one there who loves flowers, but you may be one of the few with patience and knowledge to grow them.
Hi all,
If someone doesn't want blue tubs, they come in other colors, Light green, Yellow and Red. You can also paint them with a plastic paint any color you want.
I have seen some people use some of the lattice around their tubs. You could buy some
burlap or other cloth and drape it down to the ground around the tub.
These are just some ideas.
I used the same idea and used 1/2 wine barrels set in notches in my front fence.
I grow flowers, tomatoes, and blueberries in the barrels.
Paul.
Great idea, Paul!
That is a neat idea, Paul! I am a lazy gardener. Well, not really, but I hate assembling things! I am dangerous with a drill! LOL! I was at HD recently and decided to price some of the items you listed to build your blue container. A bit more expensive here in Florida (which I suspected). It would run about $20 - 25 to build it here. Florida has been hard hit by this recession, so that is out of my budget right now. But ... I have been getting FREE pickle container/buckets from the fast food places. (They just throw them away!) I have my dh drill holes in the bottoms and they are good to go! They are also white, so reflect the intense heat here. I may just fill (recycle) disposable 1 pint water bottles, fill with water and a liquid fertilizer mix, and turn upside down in each container to water my plants. :-)
Here is a photo of some of the containers that I had placed temporarily in a 3-tiered raised bed. But they can be placed strategically behind shrubs, fences, next to a shed or an entrance. And you are right, they can be painted with a spray paint designed specifically for plastic. :-)
Say. I like those pickle buckets. Which fast food places do you get them from?
pajaritomt - Any place that sells pickles on their sandwiches or as a sliced piece with their meals. Any restaurant in fact, not just fast foods. Just go in and introduce yourself and tell them what you are looking for. Most should be pretty nice about it. Ask them to save them for you and you will pick up once or twice a week. They will not hold them indefinitely for you because they have to keep their restaurant clean and clutter free. But ask when they get shipments and when they dispose of the containers and tell them you will come by to pick up the empty containers. Or give them your name and phone# to call you to come get them. My dh was bringing home 1-2 a week, and he works at a busy fast food restaurant. Be sure to put a tarp down in your vehicle so that the pickle juice doesn't get all over your vehicle carpet or all over the inside of your trunk. You don't want that smell in your car. LOL! Then just drill several holes in the bottom. My dh uses a 1/2" diameter drill bit to make a fairly large hole each time he drills. You want plenty of drainage to prevent root rot. It has also been suggested to drill on the side of the bucket about an 1" up from the bottom. That might be a good idea too since any holes on the bottom might get stopped up or clogged from sitting on the ground. Just some suggestions. :-) It's a good way to recycle instead of these containers winding up in a landfill. :-) They also have nice, sturdy handles on them to make them easy to move. :-) I love mine! Over several months, I have acquired about 30 of them. I am also planning to put some inside each other to further insulate the roots from the heat in August/September here. They are a nice, sturdy 5 gallon container that doesn't tip over when filled with dirt. I love them! And the best part - They are FREE!!!!
This message was edited Dec 24, 2009 11:59 AM
Drywallers use tons of mud and it comes in buckets, too.
Thanks for the tips, guys. I am on to it. I will talk to the local fast food places and the plasterers as well.
I was looking into Earthbox/self-watering containers after Paul posted his instructions and came across this great pdf article:
http://www.green-trust.org/freebooks/Earthbox.pdf
I was particularly thrilled that the instructions included making a self-watering container using the very buckets that I have been collecting! Looks like a great idea to try and I will be making a few of them this week to transplant my sprouts in when they are ready in another week or so! :-)
Note added: No longer recommended to use PVC in any of the homemade boxes. PVCs have been demonstrated to leach plasticizers and harmful chemicals, including endocrine disruptors. There are plenty of alternatives, so there's no good reason to use PVC and risk putting these chemicals in your homegrown fruits and vegetables. It was suggested to use vinyl tubing or even better and sturdier - Large Bamboo stakes. You can cut the bottom of the Bamboo at an angle for quicker watering, too!
This message was edited Dec 27, 2009 5:07 PM
But do the buckets contain PVC's? Seems as if they might.
pajaritomt - I, too, thought about that. The HDPE number on the buckets I am using say "2", which if I read correctly means they are not consider as toxic. (HIGH-DENSITY POLYETHYLENE (HDPE) resin is produced from the chemical compound ethylene.) The kinds of plastics we generally regard as safe are those with the numbers 1, 2, 4, or 5 (these numbers are usually found inside the recycling symbol). The ones we seek to avoid are 3 (Polyvinyl Chloride/Vinyl), 6 (Polysterene/Styrofoam), and 7 (Polycarbonate and others).
I would think that these containers using #2 would be safer because they are used to transport food products (pickles). But who knows? Though being considered safer to use, I want to think they would be even safer to use filled up with soil. At least I hope so. If not, then not sure what to use. I can't afford the Earthboxes at over $50 a container. :-(
Ethylene - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ethylene
http://www.chej.org/BESAFE/pvc/about.htm
http://www.chej.org/BESAFE/pvc/documents/2009/Fact-Sheets/110909%20Our%20Health%20and%20PVC.pdf
Yes, I agree, that for now, #2, i.e. HDPE is considered safe. Thanks for the breakdown of what is safe and what isn't. I bought some commercial planters, not Earthboxes, but they were expensive enough, and didn't find that they worked very well. I would be willing to try the pickle containers though. I can probably fix them up so they work i.e. with holes in the bottom which the pseudo Earthboxes didn't have.
I have never had trouble growing things in containers until I bought these pseudo Earthboxes which were way to fancy, as far as I am concerned. Look forward to trying pickle containers, now that I know how to get them.
I have missed this Rev. I am so sorry that I cannot see you beautiful deck with all of its adornments. If I were you I would start looking for a neighbor nearby that you can "take care" of their garden and visit them with your plantings. Look for a house neglected and I'm sure they would welcome you. Just a thought. If none are available I would find a small city ground and add (at night) your plantings. If you get arrested just tell them they need community garden space to make the world a better place for your kind of person.
I once planted a tree in Bellevue WA on a new street intersection where I removed the origional tree, an ugly maple and replaced it with a Styrax Japonica. It is still there and I visit it every year to see and talk to it. It is outstanding and has become a unique change to the poor decisions of city planning. It is located in the location of an old vet building I worked at in Bellevue.
Soferdig - You are on to something ... maybe Judith could talk to the neighbors on both sides of her apartment and ask them if they would mind having some of her pots in front of their porch/patio area. Let's see ... 4 pots x 3 residents = 12 pots full of flowers! Hmmmm ... time to meet the neighbors! :-)
I just had my dh drill the 5 gallon buckets to make the self-watering containers. Tomorrow I get to try it out with Al's (tapala) magic container mix. I managed to find all the ingredients quite cheap, so we shall see how my first attempt at veggie growing goes! I am excited!