Upcycled Gardening Containers

I wrote earlier about how I would love to try a key hole garden this year. I thought and thought and thought about different materials I could have used to make one but they all required buying at least a little money or a lot of work to make them. BUT as my mind was chewing on the idea we were working on the chicken coop and ended up doing this instead!

It’s made out of wooden garage doors that my husband picked up for free off of Craigslist. They came with a garage door motor and he was going to use them as a garage door. I kindly pointed out the lack of insulation and light they would provide in the winter so they just sat in our back yard for over a year!  Finally I said he had to think of something or toss them, what I ended up with is a MASSIVE garden bed! Early next spring we will add pvc pipes and contractors plastic to make a wonderful little hoop house.

Need some other ideas?

How about a feeding trough? 

We used to keep our turtle, Fred, in this 50 gallon rubbermaid trough. They are pretty expensive to buy new but if you see one laying around…

Tires

I thought about ditching my tire garden this year but even though it’s ugly you can’t beat the practicality of it. Used tires are free and the black rubber does and excellent job warming the soil for our cold northern climate.

Bet you weren’t expecting trash cans to make the list!

Our entire neighborhood switched trash services and they only take square trash cans. I think it’s weird but whatever, we just take our trash to the dump. After thoroughly cleaning the trash cans my husband came up with the idea to use them to grow potatoes in.  He starts out with just a little bit of dirt at the bottom and adds dirt as the plants grow. In the fall he just dumps the whole can upside down on a tarp to harvest!

5 Gallon buckets

The wonder and glory of the 5 gallon bucket never ceases. I’ve seen them used for upside down planters, hydroponic systems, containing invasive plants… the list goes on. Here my husband is trying potatoes this year. We also have one in the chicken coop that grows chick weed.

Don’t for get rocks and trees!

A great deal of my gardens are raised and separated from the grass with rocks we’ve collected over time. They never decay away and they are everywhere! A good sized log will last you quite a while too.

It’s Growing!!!

Thanks to a LOT of aphid smashing my indoor garden is FINALLY starting to thrive!!!

It might not look like much but in Alaska time I still have about a month and a half before I can think about planting stuff out doors.

In the mean time these little peas are about ready to eat!

 

All of the dirt I used is recycled from last years plants and replenished with dirt and compost tea from out worm composter we keep in the garage.  So far everything is looking good!

In My Pitiful Garden….

Well, it’s not looking like much over here.

 

Of course it doesn’t help when your 2 year old pull all of your Swiss chard but the killer is really the aphids. I’m using a home made mix of citrus vinegar, dish detergent, and water. It’s working but not fast enough!

On the bright side it was in the 40s when I came home the other day!!! Let’s all hope this keeps up and Spring is on it’s way!!!

Getting Ready to Garden

It’s not even close to spring yet here but I’ve got a few seeds in the dirt already. Some things will even be mature enough to eat before it’s time to put stuff outside but there’s nothing wrong with a little indoor gardening.

Something I’m excited to try is keyhole gardening. While water isn’t really an issue here like most places that are touting keyhole gardens, getting good nourishment is.

Picture from HERE

Here are a few reasons keyhole gardening interests me:

• We already have a LARGE composting site but now that we have a push mower there are no grass clippings going in which was a large portion of our compost. I think the smaller compost area that leaks right into the garden sounds like a wonderful way to get the nutrients strait to where it’s needed without the extra work and extra space.
• I have wanted a real raised bed since we moved here. The ground is very rocky making it hard to plant just about anything directly into it. We have plenty of good dirt thanks to our current compost pile and the wood chips that have pretty much turned themselves into mud under the swing sets. There will also be the chicken littler and the dead green stuff from last year that can all go into the garden.
• I’m really over the tires. Even at two tires high they are too short for this wonderfully tall Alaskan grass. Not to mention that because they are on a slanted hill they have started sliding off the bottom ones. If I was to do it again I would put a stake or something in the back to prevent sliding. The ones around the edge of the yard that are level are fine. Those I will keep for the bleeding hearts. I might consider modifying the idea of the key hole into just a circle with compost in the center if I found two big thick tractor tires to make the raised bed out of.
• The green house factor. I think the circle shape and the general dimensions would make an area easy to make into a green house. I could run pvc poles around the edges and across the top and then cover that in plastic sheeting making a dome. The raised bed would thaw quicker than the ground and with the sheeting I could be planting weeks earlier than usual! It sounds easy enough in theory anyway.
• If I make a netting the same way as I do the sheeting my garden might actually stand a chance with the chickens around!

Of course I’m not going to dump a bunch of money into this project, especially since what I have works just fine. We will probably reuse the fencing around our compost now and maybe even the tires? If we buy anything for this it will probably come from Habitat for Humanity.

Do any of you use keyhole gardening? Any thoughts? Tips?

Gardening = Food!

This is just the tip of the ice burg when it comes to the things we've harvested and made from our garden and I am loving it!  

I used the recipe for Raspberry syrup from here plus a little extra water since mine were fresh, not frozen. 

It turned out amazing! Raspberry syrup + raspberry pancakes = LOVE

I whipped up a batch of Utah Scones (aka Indian Fry Bread) to top with butter and syrup and the girls loved it too! 

The same day I made the same Royal Rhubarb Coffee Cake that I make every year. It's in my Taste of Home Cookbook and it never fails me.

I also made a Rhubarb syrup based on the directions for the raspberry syrup above but added a little of the juices from some maraschino cherries I had in the fridge. It turned out to be pretty scrumptious too. 

I love recipes that call for things I have in my garden and regular, normal things that I have in my pantry all the time. Delicious food without an extra trip to the grocery store? I'm all over that!

Summer in Abundance

We are ENJOYING the last few days we have of sun and summer before it becomes dark and snowy. 

One thing on our list is to enlarge the strawberry garden. The fenced in area will now go all the way around where the other rocks are too. 

I never suspected that they would go from one little strip of strawberries to a whole garden that needs stepping stones just so you can get it! 

The goose berries are ALMOST there. I will be ready and waiting with pectin in hand when they are. 

There's nothing quite like goose berry jam!

And the APPLES! There are SO many of them but they are SO tiny! Maybe mini apple pies? 

Something I have started using already- raspberries! I made some raspberry and rhubarb tart-lets the other day and garnished them with mint sprigs from the garden too. They were gone before I could get a picture in! 

We are still getting strawberries every now and then but not fast enough to actually make anything before they hop into little mouths. Hopefully, expanding the garden will help with that next year. 

Something I've never eaten or cooked with- brussels sprouts. I haven't actually seen any of the part you eat yet but the plant is huge and gorgeous! 

I din't take picture of ever thing but we do have carrots, tomatoes, Swiss chard, more rhubarb and arctic kiwi growing too! I LOVE eating right out of my garden every fall. Everything is so fresh and tasted phenomenal- the way ALL produce SHOULD taste. 

Blooms

While I was gone in Vegas my lilies started blooming! I just can't get enough of that cheery red!

And this purple dahlia?

AMAZING!

Anything new blooming in your neck of the woods? 

In My Pretty Garden

So much has been going on and my poor little tire garden is getting the short stick when it comes to attention! 

The tire front and center did have one HUGE lettuce plant in it up until this week when I pawned it off on my mom. 

The strawberries I planted from a hanging basket I bought last summer are doing awesome! Funny, the individual plants I bout from the store didn't even come back. 

That's OK though, these plants are shooing off runners like CRAZY! I am thinking of expanding the bed and  putting in stepping stones just so I'll have a way to get to them all! 

That is if I can keep my girls away from them! And speaking of things I can't keep my girls out of...

The gooseberries are growing like mad as usual! We had a bad run in with some leaf eating worms this year but they didn't like the berries so it's all good. 

The bleeding heart is doing well as always too. It really loves being up in the tires here. 

Here you can see some of the apples in the background on our less productive tree.  The TP tube is what's left of a bird feeder we made. We have a pair of blue jays that feasted on it int he mornings. 

This was the first year we have had the lilacs early enough for them to bloom. They have almost come and gone but they smelled BEAUTIFUL while they lasted! 

I am still loving my little patio makeover! My happy little potted plants make me happy. 

The foxglove is another one of those plants that I never got to bloom last year but here they are in all their glory and I am in LOVE! 

Look at those sweet little spots! 

I got 2 six-packs of these this spring. They came in various colors and a few people in line after me got back out of line so they could go hunt them down for themselves.  I can't remember what it's called but it's won me over.

An last but not least, the nasturnum. I think this is the third year it has come back, though not nearly as strong as it has in the past. It's a fun little flower to watch as it sheds it's pointy little cap to bloom. 

In My Pretty Garden...

...the green stuff is growing!!

There's not much prettier than bleeding hearts against an old wood fence.

They are just getting warmed up! 

We have actually harvested some rhubarb already to make some of my delicious rhubarb coffee cake!  

The tire garden is full of edible things. It's just getting going too but I have already been sneaking a lettuce or mint leaf here and there. 

There is one really bad eye sore. We found out the hard way that chickens REALLY LOVE raspberry leaves. Chicken wire will be going up this week but in the mean time some left over baby gates have to hold off the little peckers. 

I am trying a new weed defense this year. This is my strawberry garden. I am using the leaves from the rhubarb I picked for weed control. Think it will work? 

More rhubarb! 

It's almost bigger than the gooseberry bushes next to it! 

And the thing I am most excited about? This is our first year with these lilacs I got from a friend last year. I wasn't sure how they would do with transplant shock and the winter that came right after but they are BLOOMING!!! 

I can't wait to smell the fragrance as a walk around our property! 

Patio Painting

Now that all the snow is gone and I had successfully spent a whole winter pining over other peoples outdoor spaces it was time to do some up dates of my own! 

Here's what it looked like after I got it all swept up:

And here's what the power of a few cans of spray paint can do: 

I still have some more plans for this area like some great flowers in the back there and maybe a rug and some planters.   Until then I'm enjoying the POP of color back here :) 

As always: The best part was that it was FREE! Joel brought me home the spools one day, rescuing them from the dump. I had the paint on hand from another project.