Recycled Planters!!

There's an old saying, “one man's trash is another man's treasure”!! I lived up to it to certain extent :-) Spring is the season where people clean up thier garage/sheds and all unusable items are left at curb side for anyone to pick. I normally don't pick anything for our indoor use. My neighbor had left a nice crate out, so an idea came to recycle that.

I cleaned the crate and placed a heavy duty plastic sheet with holes for protecting the soil. At the openings in the middle, had tucked few petunia plants. Topped with potting mix and later had my perennial herbs in them. Well the herbs lasted only that season. None of them came back next spring except Chives. My crate did not make it to next spring. Guess the harsh winter left it battered.

2016 Spring

2016 Summer

 

Perennial herbs

I wanted a long lasting planter so last Spring my other neighbor left the Charcoal grill at the curbside. My hubby dear towed it to my garden and I let that sit for a month in my shed. We had a brand new one ordered and I knew it came with drain holes, so that made easy to turn it into a planter. I punctured few holes in the yougurt lid and placed at the bottom for water to drain and covered it with potting soil. I started with few flowering plants and then herbs around. It was easy to move around since it came with wheels. 

2017 Spring

Abandoned grill

2017 Spring/Summer

2018 Spring/Summer

Since it has survived one winter, it gives me hope!!

Before recycling the grill, tried my hands making Jeans planter. It did not survive winter!!

Companion Planting - What is it?

Companion Planting is a technique developed by few enthusiastic farmers in which certain combination of plants do well next to each other. The Companion plants assist growth by attracting beneficial insects, repelling pest and provide support/shade.

Last year I had no clue about this technique and my half shaded raised bed did not do well. Brussel Sprouts never matured and the Cauliflower never had heads. Kept wondering what went wrong! The main culprit was Strawberry plants. It took over all the nutrients, space and that dettered other plants growth. I planted 3 Strawberry plants and in spring it had multiplied 7 times and I now have 21 plants!!

Strawberry plant that over wintered and multiplied

Closer look at this cold hary plant

The best idea to restrict their ever invading behaviour is to contain them. I had few un-used containers and hence came up with this plan. I uprooted each of these plant and placed around 4-5 plants in each of this elongated container. They are flourishing in them now!! Have seen atleast some 30 fruits. As of now a bird netting is protecting them from Squirrels.

Now that my raised bed was free of the Strawberry plants, I came up with a list of companion plants for my 8*4 raised bed. Here it is....I might remove Fennel as they say it hinders growth of other plants near by. This might look cluttered but I have maintained about 6-8 inches of spacing for all planted seed.

Companion Planting Raised Bed

Last year we also maintained a leaf compost pile and it had accumulation of fall leaves from two fall seasons. It was left open all winter but fenced with chicken wire. We put 2 bags of top soil and planted few Cucumber, Sunflower, Zucchini, Summer Squash, Ash Gourd and Chayote Squash plants in row that was inspired by companion planting theory. Sunflower plants will act as trellis for these vining plants and may be some shade during peak summer!!

Leaf compost pile with top soil

Surprisingly my leaf compost pile is doing so well. The seeds germinated super fast and the saplings looks very healthy!! I am very excited to see how successful will companion planting theory work!!

P.S: I have planted 2-3 Marigold plants in each of these raised bed. These attracts butterfilies and bees that helps pollination. Marigolds are super companion plant that gets along with any plant :-)

My Fairy Garden!!

I first got to know about fairy gardens when I accidentaly saw some figurines in a plant nursery. The plan of having a my own fairy garden was intriguing. I began fixing a broken terracota pot but my efforts to glue the pieces went vain. So ditched the idea of re-using! I picked a wide mouthed terracotta pot that was shallow with a drain hole, filled it up with a potting mix and decided on what miniature plants to have.

My last year's fairy garden was pretty bare without any miniature plants but few yard moss, pebbles, insense burner house(souvenier from my trip) and few figurines(fairy and dog). I made a fence and bench out of mini popsicle sticks.

Last year's Fairy Garden

This year I was determined to do more so went looking for miniature plants. They are bit expensive but a right amount of care can keep them long in your garden. Our local nursery store H.J. Benken carries varieties of these plants. I did have them last year for my indoor terrariums and they are still alive. I re-used the potting mix, and planted 4 miniature plants(ferns, mini elephant ears, baby tears and spider plant).

I have seen buntings at nursery costing lot of money so an idea to make fabric bunding came out of desparation. Took 4 different kinds of fabric from my scraps, cut them into triangles using pinking shears so the edges won't fray. I joined the top edge of triangle with a fabric glue and ensured there was enough room for the wire to pass through. I now had a wire with fabric triangles. I used chopsticks as my poles and wound the two ends of wire at the top. To blend with the surroundings, taped the chopstick with brown floral tape. Used black and white pebbles to make a road that lead to the incese burner house. I used the moss to make it look like a lawn. Finally decked up my fairy garden with a dog, mushroom, bench and a fairy!!

I will eventually replace fake flower pot with a miniauture Begonias, incense burner house with a miniature house!! 

Tip: The miniature plants can't tolerate cold weather, so in winter the fairy garden should be got indoors.

Kiddie Garden Bed!!

My soon to be turning 9 year old daughter was asking for a garden bed since last year. I was very busy setting mine, so did not heed to her request. This year it was more like a demand rather than a request. She wanted few herbs with lot of flowers.

I headed to a dollar store to get garden fence. Got 4 of them for $1 each. They can be connected with each other and hence we came up with a garden bed for her. We cleaned up the weeds first, added my half done compost from last year and topped it up with a bag of top soil.

Mint is a perinneal herb that comes each year so that was her first option. I got few Pansy flowers which can sustain Ohio's spring weather.The only problem is that deer love them too! I will have to figure out to protect them. Need to try with blood meal or bone meal.

I had to salvage my perennial herb garden as the wooden crate planter that I made last year did not do well in cold weather. I moved my Lavendar, Winter Savory, Lemon Balm, Sage, Bronze Fennel and Chives onto her garden. All I need to get her are the flowers as per seasons. She shouldn't have any complaints!!

My hunt for 'Paan' plant.....

My quest for 'Paan' plant ends today!! Arrival of my new plant from Hirt's garden made my day!! I have been long hunting for this plant....Last year I ordered Piper Sarmentosum thinking it as Betel plant on eBay.com. It is used in Vietnamese cooking!! Don't they look similar!! It is no where close to Paan leaf in taste!!

Piper Sarmentosum

My hunt got serious when I saw a 'Paan' Ladoo' recipe on Euphoric Delight Facebook page. I did find few websites that carried this plant but was apprehensive to place order - once bitten, twice shy. I happened to visit Florida a month back in December and asked my cousin to find a plant for me. She said a local Indian grocery store owner gave away free plant to anyone interested. Since they can be propagated by cuttings, she had one pot ready for me. By the time I was there, the plant died because of excessive sunshine. My cousin got few more stems from the same shop and I really tried to get it home. Sad it could not handle the transportion shock of 3 days during transit, it died. I was so focused on getting one plant and was lucky enough to find a online garden which shipped this for a nominal price. The entire plant coated me $18 includes shipping. 

Betel Plant

I will make sure not to re-pot it for 2 weeks! Hopefully they stay alive and make it through this winter!!

Cotton vs Synthetic - Who's is the Winner??

All my life I have been a very big fan of cotton. I guess most of us are!! As a child, I have seen my mom grow her own cotton plant in backyard. My ultra sensitive skin wants cotton, even during those uncomfortable days of the month. Never thought that I would blog about this unpleasant phase which is imminent in every women's life. In the early 90's, homemade Cloth menstrual pad is what I was introduced into like many others. Gradually a product called "Stayfree" came in and we switched to that during college days. Never had any issues till then but gradually when other products like Kotex, Whisper were introduced in mid 90's, rashes surfaced. I always lived with those rashes during my cycles. Couple years back when I tried Seventh Generation Pads, my rashes never showed up.

After moving from CA, it wasn't easy to find them here in Cincy. I found out that CVS carried their own brand called "pure cotton pads". They are really good form me.

Is this better for environment? Yes, it does eventually end up in landfill but will decompose faster  than the Rayon base pads!! Since CVS pads are made in Italy, where GMO is still in experimental stage, that gives me a relief. I will keep an eye for Organic Cotton Pads. I have never used Tampons and will probably never use.

There are more environmentally sustainable options for those who are concerned about the use of sanitary pads be it cotton or synthetic. I am still not there yet!! For now, Cotton pads are winner according to me!!

Inexpensive Homemade Wreath

 I am always fascinated with Wreaths! As the holiday seasons are ahead, I had an urge to make wreath using stuff available at home. I used up a dead Grape Ivy vine to form a big circle. The vines are so strong and flexible that bending them doesn't break. I had Chinese grass growing at one corner of my yard, so cut few of them and placed them on one side of ivy vine. Had few burlap pieces and made a bow out of that.

Grape Ivy

Chinese grass


The end results was amazing!! I plan to give this a make-over according to seasons!! I could glue some preserved fall leaves during Autumn, red fake flowers during Christmas and fake green vine during spring.