A Gardener's Notebook » Projects

Idea: Use topsoil bag as your “first year” garden

Douglas E. Welch — Fri, 04 May 2012 23:26:48 +0000

I came across this idea on Pinterest and, I must say, as a lazy gardener, this could be an excellent way to turn parts of your lawn into garden with very little effort.

Place the bags on the area of lawn you want to kill, slice them open and plant away. I would probably also make some holes in the bottom side of the bag for drainage. By the end of the season the grass should be dead and ready for removal and you already have a handy amount of topsoil to fill the whole left by the sod.

I could see using a similar method to start converting some bare areas and unneeded garden paths in my garden. I don’t have any grass here, so it would be more a method of expanding overall gardening space than carving the space out of a lawn.

Source: motherearthnews.com via Douglas on Pinterest

Idea: Use topsoil bag as your “first year” garden is a post from: A Gardener's Notebook

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I Like This – Wooden Spoon Garden Markers

Douglas E. Welch — Mon, 30 Apr 2012 16:51:19 +0000

Found on Pinterest today….

Source: littlegreenfingers.typepad.com via Barbara on Pinterest

I Like This – Wooden Spoon Garden Markers is a post from: A Gardener's Notebook

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Homemade Potting soil and potting bench

Douglas E. Welch — Wed, 25 Apr 2012 15:23:00 +0000

Update: 20120426: I came across this link on making your own seed compost today and thought is was a nice complement to this post. Enjoy! – DW

How to Make Your Own Seed Compost from My Tiny Plot

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Another project we accomplished the other day, using our own homemade compost, was some homemade, peat-free, potting soil. I am getting a bit of a “bug-in-my-ear” about creating my own versions of some of the things we use in the garden everyday. I knew that I had compost, but while my compost is very rich and fine, it is also quite hydrophobic (water fearing). It isn’t quite dense enough to retain water and also support new root structures for starting seeds. My experiments with this were quite disappointing.

After a bit of research on the Internet, which has a plethora of possible potting soil recipes, I settled on my own combo to try. It uses my compost, coconut husk coir and a little perlite. I was unsure on what proportions to use, so I started with mainly compost and then added the coconut coir in batches.

In this first batch I ended up with an equal mixture of compost, coconut coir and 1 part perlite. I did this by eye, so I won’t really know how well it works until the seeds we planted today, but from the look and feel of the potting soil, I think I am on the right track.

Recipe: (if you can call it that) (LAUGH)

8 parts homemade, sifted compost
8 parts coconut coir
1 part perlite

I had thought about adding some sand to the mix and I might add some to a small batch this mix to specifically use for seedlings and for some cuttings that I am planning on trying.

(L-R (clockwise) – Coconut coir and perlite as purchased, coconut coir rehydrating, homemade, sifted compost)

You can also see here my new, ad hoc, potting bench. I have never really had a decent bench, so for this project I decided to thrown one together. This is just a recycled closet door over some sawhorses that weren’t seeing much other use. This should serve me our needs for the next few months. We start doing more potting, we might eventually build or buy something more permanent.

Homemade Potting soil and potting bench is a post from: A Gardener's Notebook

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Interesting articles from Houzz.com – Grasses, ornamental trees and raised beds

Douglas E. Welch — Tue, 24 Apr 2012 17:56:23 +0000

Recently from the Houzz.com newsletter…

Build a Raised Bed to Elevate Your Garden

A bounty of homegrown vegetables is easier than you think with a DIY raised garden bed to house just the right mix of soils

8 Ornamental Grasses for Coastal Gardens

These hardy seashore plants evoke the ocean, sway in the breeze and help prevent sand erosion in the landscape

6 Unsung Spring-Blooming Trees

Billowy blooms and rare fragrances will make you wonder how these flowering trees could ever have been underused in landscapes

Interesting articles from Houzz.com – Grasses, ornamental trees and raised beds is a post from: A Gardener's Notebook

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Wine bottle garden bed edging finally done

Douglas E. Welch — Sun, 15 Apr 2012 16:00:00 +0000

After a rainy and busy few days, a garden project called me out into the yard. I had been meaning to finish the wine bottle garden bed edging we started a few months ago, but we needed to collect another large group of wine bottles first. Thank to the help of several friends, who brought over their empties and a few bottles of out own, I finally had enough to complete the circle around our small rose bed.

I will get some precise figures for your in a few days, but I counted counted 50-60 bottles used over a space that I estimate to be about 25-30 feet. Those numbers seem a bit off, though, so I need to get out the tape measure and count the actual number of bottles used. Needless to say, wine bottles aren’t that large, so it is going to take a lot of them to line any significant distance.

I also discovered how much easier the process can be if the ground is wet, as opposed to the mid-Summer bone dryness. It has rained quite a bit over the last several days, so digging the trench for the bottles could not have been easier. I covered 3-4 times the distance in this run than either of the first 2 sessions. It was so easy to dig that the bottles went in at the right height almost immediately. In the last session, I had a difficult time getting the bottles to go deep enough to match the first set of bottles I had installed.

If you are going to be putting in edging like this — and I would imagine any garden edging that requires digging — wait until after a significant rain or wet the area heavily with a hose and give it an hour or so to sink in before you try to dig. Now that I know this trick, I am sure that that process will go much more quickly in the future.

I used all sorts of bottles in my edging, but if you wanted it to look a bit more refines, you could collect bottles of a certain type or color. I have seen this edging done with all blue bottles and thought it was quite striking.

Previous posts on wine bottle edging:

Wine bottle garden bed edging finally done is a post from: A Gardener's Notebook

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Project: Straw bale raised garden bed

Douglas E. Welch — Fri, 13 Apr 2012 19:49:17 +0000

I came across this straw bale project on Pinterest the other day and it made me think again about the possibilities of some raised beds here in my garden. I don’t need anything this large, but I am faced with large areas that are totally infiltrated by tree roots to the extent that little else can grow there. Straw bales seem to last for a long time outdoors here in near-desert Los Angeles, but wetter areas would probably find themselves replacing at least some of the bales every other year or so.

Something this large would also take a LOT of soil to fill and would probably be out of my budget, but smaller area might work.

It does go to show, though, that you can garden nearly anywhere given enough energy.

Source: fbcdn-sphotos-a.akamaihd.net via Douglas on Pinterest

Project: Straw bale raised garden bed is a post from: A Gardener's Notebook

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Project: Homemade Potting soil project

Douglas E. Welch — Wed, 04 Apr 2012 15:23:00 +0000

I have been wanting to make my own potting soil for months now, but I have been slow to get off the mark. I have found may recipes online, but I needed to get to my local nursery to get some supplies. Today I picked up what you see below. On the left is coconut coir. This material is a more sustainable replacement for the more limited peat moss. I have found that many recipes have switched over to this.

Recipe #1 – Recipe #2 – Recipe #3 – Recipe #4

My goal is to use my own homemade compost as the main organic material and combine that with the coconut coir and some perlite. I tried using my compost alone as a potting medium, but it is very hydrophobic, which means it sheds water and resists wetting. I think by combining the materials I will end up with something that works better as a potting soil.

I am not sure yet what my ratios are going to be for my mix, but I am looking at 3 parts compost to 1 part coir and 1 part perlite. I will play around with this mix until I feel I have something that works, though, so this ratio could change greatly once I start mixing. Once i get something I like I will also show you some re-potting I need to do and maybe even use it to start some seeds.

If you have any advice on making your own potting sol using these ingredients or others, leave a comment on this post. I would love to hear about your experience. What it comes to projects like this, I am far from an expert and will take any advice you have to offer. This is all a part of A Gardener’s Notebook — trying and learning together.

Project: Homemade Potting soil project is a post from: A Gardener's Notebook

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Project: DIY upside down tomato grower

Douglas E. Welch — Mon, 26 Mar 2012 20:12:49 +0000

I have been toying around with various container ideas in order to get the most out of my heavily shaded property. We are surrounded by mature trees, so sunlight can be hard to come buy. One way around this is to use containers, large and small, that allow me to move things into the sunniest part of the yard on demand.

This DIY upside down tomato planter caught my eye for just this reason. It could be hung in a variety of areas and even perhaps put on wheels so it could be moved at will. Looking at the design it might be a bit heavy to move around too much, but I think I would have to make one first just to be sure.

Do you have creative ideas for getting the most out of the sun in your garden? Please share them in the comments.

Source: attainable-sustainable.net via Douglas on Pinterest

Project: DIY upside down tomato grower is a post from: A Gardener's Notebook

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Cute recycling idea – Bowling Ball Ladybugs for your garden

Douglas E. Welch — Tue, 20 Mar 2012 19:50:10 +0000

I thought this was soooooo cute when I saw it on PInterest. I suppose you use the same idea with anything round you might have about the place.

Source: birdsandblooms.com via Douglas on Pinterest

Cute recycling idea – Bowling Ball Ladybugs for your garden is a post from: A Gardener's Notebook

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Another beautiful use of bottle edging in the garden.

Douglas E. Welch — Thu, 08 Mar 2012 23:32:59 +0000

Here is another person who has used wine and water bottles to edge paths in their garden. I think it looks quite nice. Where I was quite haphazard with my color selection, it looks like they took the time to keep the same, or similar, colors together.

I haven’t yet finished my one bed with bottle, but photos like this give me the impetus to move ahead, finish that job and maybe start another area. Many thanks for that!

Source: tumblr.sproutrobot.com via Douglas on Pinterest

Another beautiful use of bottle edging in the garden. is a post from: A Gardener's Notebook

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