But first, a little something about the little plastic write-on garden stakes, about 5 inches long, you use to mark/identify your seedlings and plants. I found them at Wal-Mart for $2.99 per pack. I think there were 10 in the pack.
Making the Most of Discards
At a thrift store two years ago, I happened on an used thin metal mini-blind for $2.50.With scissors, as I need them, I cut each blind-strip into the lengths I want---cut a point into one end of each--- and that is all there is to it!
Enough plant stakes to last a life-time for less than the price of 10!
The next photos will show our movable containers garden when the pool area was still filled with the swimming pool---which took up the other two-thirds of our yard.
A New Life for Retired Tires
In all cases we were free to pick whatever kinds/sizes we wanted from the discard pile. We chose matched sets for uniformity in stacking. And while, they don't show in any of the photos, small trailer-type, that we used for small planters. Some people use tractor size but they were too big for us to handle.
There are many Internet sites on gardening in tires. There are sites that show you how to cut a tire and turn it inside out---making a larger planting surface. That is a lot of hard/heavy work! We got increased planting surface simply by selecting low profile tires.
Others show you how to decorate them. You can learn how cut them and paint them to turn them into really bright fun flower containers if you are so inclined. Both are beyond our strength or creativity.
We simply painted ours white to reflect the heat, as explained in yesterday's post.
Some sites strike fear of the tire materials that may leach into the garden soil and compromise the plant and the safety of its produce. Many others dismiss that as untrue.
Our cheapskate nature solved any potential leaching problem
Because we did not want to waste our good potting soil filling the insides of the tires, we made cylinders of heavy plastic to fit inside the stacked tires. We filled the cylinders with the soil ---
conserving and protecting at the same time!
When the heat became too much for the plants, we erected a sun cloth to provide some protection. |
I'm going outside now to finish planting the lettuce, spinach, radishes, and cabbage.
We are also going to try to baby along two Early Girl tomato plants (one planted directly into the garden, surrounded by 4 one-gallon milk jugs filled with warm water and wrapped in a sheet of clear plastic; and the other residing in a 5-gallon plastic bucket in our half-deck greenhouse).
It is fun to try something new each season.
On Friday, when I am back at the computer, we'll step through the entrance to the previous pool area.
And. . .I'll post recipes for cheap and effective home-made vegetable wash.
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