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Easy, creative, recycled garden projects? - 4/12/2013 4:59:30 AM   
AthenaSurrenders


Posts: 3582
Joined: 3/15/2012
Status: offline 		Hello lovely creative people.

Now that we're through with snow for the year - I hope - I want to get started on some outdoor projects. This is my first summer with an outdoor space. Problem is, it's a rented house and we can't remove any of the plants that are already there.

I want my tot to have a go at digging without fear of damaging the existing flowers, so I want to set up some low level planters on the patio. Ideally I'd like to make some myself from recycled materials.

Any ideas? I have access to all the usual household recycling stuff - cans, jars, endless amounts of cardboard. I can also get my hands on tons of fist-sized rocks and various odds and ends of metal, old pans, sheets of aluminium, but not much in the way of wood. I have some rough ideas but I wondered if anyone had done similar or can point me to any interesting sites.

Also open to ideas of hard-to-kill plants since I have zero gardening skill and, well... toddlers aren't generally green-thumbed. All we've grown so far are herbs on the windowsill. Ideas for home made garden games or decorations would be cool too.

Merci beaucoup!

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RE: Easy, creative, recycled garden projects? - 4/12/2013 5:44:53 AM   
MissKittyDeVine


Posts: 1054
Joined: 9/24/2011
Status: offline 		Have a look at these:

http://www.craftster.org/forum/index.php?board=118.0#axzz2QFiTbc2f

http://www.recyclethis.co.uk/

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RE: Easy, creative, recycled garden projects? - 4/12/2013 6:29:42 AM   
AthenaSurrenders


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Status: offline 		Thank you! Those have given me some great inspiration.

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RE: Easy, creative, recycled garden projects? - 4/12/2013 7:14:16 AM   
mnottertail


Posts: 60698
Joined: 11/3/2004
Status: offline 		http://anr.ext.wvu.edu/lawn_garden/straw_bale_gardening 

This may give you some ways to go.

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RE: Easy, creative, recycled garden projects? - 4/12/2013 9:21:38 AM   
peppermint


Posts: 5170
Joined: 10/18/2005
From: Montana
Status: offline 		Beans are a great starter plant for kids to grow.  They grow big and fast and have the bonus of being able to pick the beans and eat them right off the plant. 

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RE: Easy, creative, recycled garden projects? - 4/12/2013 9:27:45 AM   
UllrsIshtar


Posts: 3693
Joined: 7/28/2012
Status: offline 		I've personally always loved these, though I have no idea if they'd even work in your space... and you'd need lots of time to water:

http://www.smallhomelove.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/08/old-soda-bottles-recycled-planters.jpg

Same kind of setup, but with a watering system:

http://25.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_m8o592Drjw1rdpmino1_500.jpg

http://media-cache-ec7.pinterest.com/550x/7d/f2/73/7df2736104c233708fa35caaaf6893a0.jpg

< Message edited by UllrsIshtar -- 4/12/2013 9:32:16 AM >

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RE: Easy, creative, recycled garden projects? - 4/12/2013 10:21:34 AM   
outlier


Posts: 1111
Joined: 10/22/2005
Status: offline 		I do not have an easy answer but I have a resource
which I believe you should investigate.

There is a system of gardening called "Square Foot" gardening
because you grow a different crop in each square foot.  It was
invented by a man named Mel Bartholomew.  He wrote his first
book years ago. 

I have used it and it works.

The advantage I see for your situation is that it gets maximum
diverse yield out of minimum space and you get variety.

Here is the website: Square Foot Gardening

The term has been generally adapted and you can find a lot
more information on the web, but he was the inventor of it.


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RE: Easy, creative, recycled garden projects? - 4/13/2013 12:20:37 PM   
AthenaSurrenders


Posts: 3582
Joined: 3/15/2012
Status: offline 		Thank you all my lovelies, I knew you wouldn't let me down. Some of those resources are great.

As a starting point I've gone for a small wooden barrel planter which at the moment is just full of soil for digging. I have some sunflower seeds we might put in there but I think anything we plant will probably be dug up and/or watered to death. Still it's all learning. I've got some hardy herbs planted in old formula and coffee cans (wow the smell of fresh sage triggered such a strong memory of my Gran's house when I was wee). I've also gone for some cherry tomatoes and sweet peppers in upside down hanging planters made from soda bottles. I think this is going to give us enough to go on for now, but I can easily add to it. I'd love to set up a square-foot style garden and grow lots of different foods eventually, but I think while she is so little and I am still learning a lot of things will die, so I want to keep it small.

We have an old shed at the bottom of the garden that is not fit for purpose but we can't remove it without landlord's permission, so I'm going to see if I can use it to attach pots to and hang things off so it's of some sort of use.

I've also learned about all sorts of clever ways of reusing bits of packaging from reading some of these sites.

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RE: Easy, creative, recycled garden projects? - 4/14/2013 10:28:59 AM   
DesFIP


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Joined: 11/25/2007
From: Apple County NY
Status: offline 		As far as plants, things where she can easily pick and eat such as sugar snap peas and cherry tomatoes.

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RE: Easy, creative, recycled garden projects? - 4/14/2013 5:53:16 PM   
JstAnotherSub


Posts: 6174
Status: offline 		https://www.facebook.com/ConfessionsOfCraftyWitches

Check out this site, they have ideas about everything!







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RE: Easy, creative, recycled garden projects? - 4/16/2013 11:28:17 AM   
TheCristalDomme


Posts: 13
Joined: 4/15/2013
Status: offline 		If you're in the UK you could do a lot worse than get Garden News magazine - it's only a couple of quid and every week you get free seeds!

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RE: Easy, creative, recycled garden projects? - 4/16/2013 11:57:38 AM   
peppermint


Posts: 5170
Joined: 10/18/2005
From: Montana
Status: offline 		This is a neat project for a young child.  You'll need to crack an egg so that you have about 2/3 of it in one piece.  You could use scissors or blow out the egg first then chip away the top.  Cut a piece of egg carton so you have a stand for your eggshell.  Decorate the eggshell.  It could be a bunny or a kitten or a dog or just a face.  Then put a couple spoons of dirt in the eggshell and some grass seed.  As the grass grows the child gets to cut the "hair" when it gets too long.  Could to a flat top or a mohawk. 

_____________________________

We are stardust, we are golden, and we got to get ourselves back to the garden.

Yes, I am crazy about feathered creatures. I have a dozen chickens, 3 ducks, 5 geese, and 2 parakeets.

Revise that number. Just got 14 new chicks and 5 turkeys.

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RE: Easy, creative, recycled garden projects? - 5/21/2013 11:27:11 AM   
MissKittyDeVine


Posts: 1054
Joined: 9/24/2011
Status: offline 		Athena, how is your garden coming along?

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RE: Easy, creative, recycled garden projects? - 5/21/2013 11:44:40 AM   
MasterCaneman


Posts: 3842
Joined: 3/21/2013
Status: offline 		Well, I'm not that creative nor am I much of a gardener, but I know that those cheap plastic bins make fairly decent raised beds. They're cheap, rugged, and portable. An added bonus is that you don't have to build anything on someone else's property. You can move them around as needed, and when you move, you can either pick them up and go, leave them, or dump them out and put the bin in recycling.

My neighbor has a couple in his yard. All he did was to drill some drain holes, line it with that fabric you can get at the nurseries/garden centers, some rocks and gravel and top it off with dirt. He's got tomatoes, lettuce, and some other greenery going right now (I can see his side yard from my window). Yeah, there's an upfront expense, but they really don't cost that much and sometimes you can score then at the thrift stores or yard sales for cheap. Hope that helps.

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RE: Easy, creative, recycled garden projects? - 5/21/2013 11:46:25 AM   
AthenaSurrenders


Posts: 3582
Joined: 3/15/2012
Status: offline 		Pretty good, thank you for asking!

We have some tomato and pepper plants growing in upside down planters, made from old soda bottles. Some more tomato seedlings, as well as chillies and inca berries all from seeds we took from our groceries. Cress and red cabbage shoots (not in egg shells though, unfortunately she's a bit too heavy handed for that). Garlic, onion and spring onion all regrowing from kitchen scraps. One solitary bean plant (the only one that germinated! I thought beans were supposed to be easy) and about six carrots (in yet another soda bottle). Oh and some strawberries and pumpkin in grow bags, hopefully soon to be joined by zucchini but they haven't come up yet. Oh and sunflowers! We've been planting whatever we come across as an experiment.

So all in all, we're having a great time. Lots of mud. Lots of bugs. A few dead plants from over-enthusiastic watering or dropped containers, but it's all part of learning. And as I see it, this year is a trial run for me to learn a few things so that next year, when she is able to understand a bit more, we can be a bit more ambitious.

The 'how can I recycle x' site was very useful, we've been using up our old coffee grounds, egg shells, tea bags and all sorts. When it starts getting cooler we are going to make some bird feeders and a bug hotel (maybe that needs to wait til next year when she can get more out of it).

I'm enjoying it more than I thought. There really is something quite magical about seeds springing to life.

I can't wait to get those first tomatoes though - they're her favorite food and she's going to be so excited.

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RE: Easy, creative, recycled garden projects? - 5/21/2013 11:52:04 AM   
calamitysandra


Posts: 1682
Joined: 3/17/2006
Status: offline
quote:

ORIGINAL: peppermint

This is a neat project for a young child.  You'll need to crack an egg so that you have about 2/3 of it in one piece.  You could use scissors or blow out the egg first then chip away the top.  Cut a piece of egg carton so you have a stand for your eggshell.  Decorate the eggshell.  It could be a bunny or a kitten or a dog or just a face.  Then put a couple spoons of dirt in the eggshell and some grass seed.  As the grass grows the child gets to cut the "hair" when it gets too long.  Could to a flat top or a mohawk. 



A variation of this is to use garden cress instead of grass, makes the cuttings edible.

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RE: Easy, creative, recycled garden projects? - 5/21/2013 11:54:36 AM   
DomKen


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Joined: 7/4/2004
From: Chicago, IL
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quote:

ORIGINAL: AthenaSurrenders
I can't wait to get those first tomatoes though - they're her favorite food and she's going to be so excited.

There is nothing quite like a home grown tomato fresh from the vine. Good luck and have fun.

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