Search ITGO
They’re Back!
Support Our Wonderful Sponsors
Colleen’s Organic Gardening Blog at About.com
Friends of ITGO
My Favorite Garden Blogs
- A Study in Contrasts
- Chiot’s Run
- Cold Climate Gardening
- Gardening Gone Wild
- Growing With Plants
- Ilona’s Garden Journal
- In My Kitchen Garden
- Kitchen Gardeners International
- Mr. Brown Thumb
- My Northern Garden
- My Skinny Garden
- Our Little Acre
- Pollinators-Welcome
- The Cheap Vegetable Gardener
- The Compost Bin
- The Gardener’s Pantry
- The Plant Hunter
- The Transplantable Rose
- Veggie Gardening Tips
- Zanthan Gardens
From the Archives
Archive for January, 2010
Vintage ITGO: 5 Reuses for Milk Jugs
I was looking through my blog archives and thought I’d post one of my favorite old posts once in a while. Today’s vintage ITGO post was published during my very first winter of gardenblogging, and it’s still one of my favorites.
I’m a chronic re-user. If I can find a way to not throw something in the trash or recycling bin, I’ll do it. And if it nets me something useful, for free—-all the better. I’m determined to find ways to reuse more of the “stuff” from my recycling bin, so I’ll be making a post like this from time to time.
With two kids under three, one who I’m quite sure is a milk-addict, we go through insane amounts of milk in our house. It seems like such a shame to squish and recycle something so useful (recycling is great, but it still takes energy to recycle, trucks to drive recyclables to the plant, etc….) So I started thinking of ways to reuse them. Two things are important for these projects:
1. Wash the jugs out well.
2. Please be careful with your utility knife!
These projects are easy and quick, will save you money and help save the earth. So here they are, five reuses for plastic milk jugs:
1. Birdbath Dripper
Nothing attracts backyard birds like the sound of water. Here’s a free way to have them flocking to your yard. Start by poking a small hole in the bottom of a gallon milk jug. Put some water in, and see how fast it drips. You’re looking for a rate of about 10 drops per minute to attract birds to your bath. If it’s not dripping fast enough, enlarge the hole a little. Make sure you save the cap for this project. How much you tighten or loosen the cap can also affect how quickly the water drips out. Tighten the cap to slow the rate, and loosen it to make it drip faster. Once you’re happy with the drip rate, hang it from a bracket or shepherd’s hook over your bird bath.
2. Cloche
Protect tender plants from frosts by cutting the bottom off of a 1/2 gallon or gallon milk jug (depending on the size of the plant you’re trying to protect). Keep the lid—you can put the lid on at night to keep warmth in and take it off during the day to prevent cooking your plants. Simply put the jug over the plant, push it into the soil a bit to keep it steady, and your plants will be protected.
3. Scoop
For things like birdseed, fertilizer, and potting soil, a scoop is extremely useful. To make one, use a 1/2 gallon milk jug, with its cap. The handle will be the top of your scoop. Using an exacto or utility knife, cut diagonally around the jug until you have a nice scoop shape. For a bit of a lip to your scoop, keep a little bit of the bottom of the jug intact.
4. Seed Starting Flats
You can use either 1/2 gallon or one gallon jugs for this project. Two to three inches up from the bottom, slice all the way around the jug with an exacto or utility knife. Poke some holes in the bottom of the jug for drainage, using a small nail, or cut small slits. Fill with soil, and you have a perfect seed starting flat. To keep moisture in, you can either keep the top of the jug and simply set it back over the planted seeds, or you can put some plastic wrap or bags from store-bought produce (another reuse!) over the top.
5. Watering Can
For a free watering can that will sprinkle your plants with a gentle flow of water, try this trick. Take a gallon milk jug, with cap. Using a finishing nail (or other fairly thin nail) poke between 20 and 30 holes in the lid. You may need to wiggle the nail around a bit to get the hole to open up. Fill the jug with water, or with your favorite water soluble fertilizer, add the lid, and you have a great watering can for indoors or out. Note: the water will flow better from the cap “rose” if the jug is full–as the water gets lower you’ll get more of a dribble than a gentle rain.
So, there they are: 5 really useful ways to reuse plastic milk jugs.
8 comments
Gardenbloggers GROW!
One thing I’ve always loved about garden blogging is the sense of community we have in our little (though not as little as it used to be) niche. I’ve had so much fun participating in things like the Garden Bloggers Book Club and Garden Bloggers Bloom Day sponsored by Carol over at May Dreams Gardens, as well as the Design Workshops sponsored by the crew at Gardening Gone Wild. And, of course, the Mousies were a blast for me because I got to discover new blogs and see some of my favorite gardenbloggers get some deserved recognition.
So I’m really excited to be collaborating with Mr. Brown Thumb on Gardenbloggers GROW. GROW participants will all be growing the same plant and reporting monthly on its progress. For our inaugural project, we’re very thankful to Renee Shepherd of Renee’s Garden Seeds for donating seeds for Nasturtium ‘Spitfire,’ a climbing nasturtium that I’ve been coveting since I saw it on a few blogs last year.
We only have a few spots left for this first round, so if you’re interested I hope you’ll hop over to the Gardenbloggers GROW site and sign up. And if you don’t make it this time around, no worries — we’re hoping to continue the project and even expand it into other areas of gardening in the future.
2 comments
Lavender’s Less Innocent Side
Lavender is my favorite scent in the entire world. I love the plants, I love the flowers, and I love the fact that it freshens my laundry and keeps my dresser drawers smelling heavenly. I like it so much I even started making my own solid perfume, with lavender as a base scent (we’ll get to that in another post — it’s really easy.) And when I think of lavender, a kind of homey, almost grandma-ish comfort comes to mind.
Little did I know that my sweet-smelling lavender has a much tougher side.
Lavender is able to cure hidden diseases, such as illnesses cast by sorcery, migraines caused by ill-spirited elves, and all types of “passions of the heart.” In Italy, it was commonly believed that lavender, picked on Midsummer’s Eve, would protect you from black magic of all types.
It was not uncommon for women to mix lavender into the food of a man they desired, in the belief that it would make him hers. (Kind of makes you re-think grandma, doesn’t it?)
Finally, I came across this Mother Goose nursery rhyme from the 1800’s, which is not the most innocent rhyme I’ve ever read:
Lavender blue, and rosemary green,
When I am king, you shall be queen,
Call up my maids at four of the clock,
Some to the wheel and some to the rock,
Some to make hay and some to shell corn,
And you and I will keep the bed warm.
(Oh, and that rosemary is not all that innocent, either — rosemary was commonly used to “keep a man young and active and a woman lusty” according to Arrowsmith’s Essential Herbal Wisdom….)
Whether you believe these old-wives cures or not, it’s fun to see how people regarded the herbs that we so often take for granted today. I know that after my winter’s reading (which has consisted of several books about herbs and their history) I’ll never really be able to look at certain herbs the same way again. Just one more way our gardens add color and interest to our daily lives.
The lavender print above is a detail from one of the plates in Deni Bown’s gorgeous book, Herbal: The Essential Guide to Herbs for Living.
9 comments
Weekend Project: A Simple Way to Make Your Own Candles
I love candles. I love buying them, I love using them, I love smelling them. The sweet clean smell of beeswax, or a perfectly scented lavender or patchouli candle just make me happy. So it only makes sense that I love making candles, as well.
The only problem with candlemaking is that it can be a little time consuming, and, if you’re accident-prone like me, it can become a little intense. For years, I made my candles the traditional way: by melting the wax in a double boiler, pouring, letting the candle set up, then pouring again (and again, and sometimes, again) to fill the well that would inevitably form near the wick of my candle.
But I’ve totally gotten back into candlemaking again, and it’s all thanks to my crock pot.
One-Step Candles: Making Candles in the Crock Pot
I can’t take credit for this idea, but I wish I could. I first saw this method over at Bonzai Aphrodite, and it really works. She used soy wax for her candles, and that’s a great option. However, I love beeswax (and have a local beekeeper to buy from at a reasonable price) so I made mine with that. You could also use paraffin, or a beeswax/paraffin combo (which is a little more cost-effective than pure beeswax or soy wax).
Here’s what you need:
Wax (I used about 1/2 pound of beeswax for three candles. If you’re making votives, or using a smaller container for your candles, you won’t need as much wax.
Wicks – you can buy the plain kind and trim them yourself, or buy the pre-trimmed wicks with the clips already attached.
Container– I used three baby food jars (because Heaven knows we go through enough baby food around here…) but you could use anything that will hold the liquid wax and stand up to the heat of hot wax and a couple hours in the crock pot.
Bamboo skewer to stir the wax
Grater or knife for breaking up the wax (if you bought a big block. You can also buy pellets, which is easier.)
Crock pot
Essential oils (if you want scented candles)
Crayons or candle color (if you want colored candles)
How to Make the Candles
1. Break up your wax and fill your containers with the pieces. Place filled containers in the crock pot, and turn the crock pot up to “high.” Put the lid on and walk away for a while. 30 to 45 minutes should do it.
2. Check on the wax. It will be mostly melted, and probably much lower than you want it to be. Add more wax to the containers, cover the crock pot, and walk away again.
3. Once the wax is all melted, and it’s as deep as you want it, turn the crock pot off, but leave the containers in it. Now’s the time to add scents or color. I used fifteen drops of essential oils (patchouli and lavender) for my candles, you may want more or less. Add color, if you want, and stir everything together to incorporate the oils/colors into the melted candle wax.
4. Place your wick in the melted wax. Try to get it as centered as possible. It will likely stand up by itself.
5. Walk away again, letting the candles harden in the crock pot as they cool. They should be ready to handle in an hour or so, and you can light them when they’ve completely cooled down.
Tips:
—Line the crock pot with foil, and cover the pot with foil rather than the lid when you’re melting the wax. I ended up with a thin layer of waxy residue inside my crock pot (which I use often for cooking) Alternately, if you think you’re going to use this method a lot, look for cheap crock pots at thrift stores to use only for candle making.
–You may get a bit of a well near your wick, but it will be smaller than in traditional melt and pour candlemaking. If this happens, grate some wax and shove it into the well. When you light the candle, the flame will melt the wax and everything will even out naturally.
These were really easy to make, and I was able to use jars that we had in abundance, so it was eco-friendly as well. I hope you try it!
No comments
Tips and Ideas for Planning a Shade Garden
I’ve mentioned before how shady my yard is. On our quarter-acre lot, we have three maples, a birch, a locust, an apple, and a Bradford pear tree. I’ve made a point of tucking edible gardens into any sunny spots we have, so the remaining shady areas are the more ornamental areas. I am not, in any way, shape, or form, a designer. I’m lucky if I manage to wear matching clothes every day (really…) So I turned to a variety of books and websites when I was looking for inspiration as well as plans for shade gardens.
Shade Garden Plans, Advice, and Inspiration
1. The amazing crew over at Gardening Gone Wild tackled shade gardening as part of their Garden Bloggers Design Workshop series. Check out their wrap-up post for plenty of advice, inspiration, plant selection ideas, and good information about growing a garden in the shade.
2. My About.com colleague Marie Iannotti offers a free plan on her site for a shade garden, complete with photos of suggested plants.
3. Better Homes and Gardens offers a free plan for a shade garden under mature trees on their website. (Note: you need to create an account to view the detailed plan. It’s free, and you’ll get access to a bunch of other garden plans when you register.)
4. BackyardGardener.com offers a plan for a circular garden under a tree. They sell the plants, but you can view the planting plan for free on the site.
5. Dayton Nursery has provided a plan for a 12′ by 20′ shade garden featuring hostas, brunnera, cimcifuga, and tiarella.
6. Fine Gardening has a wonderful list of plants that grow well in shady conditions.
7. If you’re a container gardener, this article from Fine Gardening offers plenty of inspiration and ideas for shady container gardening.
8. The University of Minnesota’s Extension Service has a useful table of annuals, bulbs, perennials, and edibles for shade gardens — this is very useful for getting you started.
9. UMN’s Extension Service also provides a great list of tall perennials for shade.
10. Iowa State University’s Extension Service has posted a list of suggestions for annuals to grow in the shade.
Books About Shade Gardening
Of course, as much as I love the web, there’s nothing quite like daydreaming with a good book, preferably one that is loaded with full-color photographs for ultimate inspiration. Here are a few of my favorites:
Making the Most of Shade: How to Plan, Plant, and Grow a Fabulous Garden that Lightens up the Shadows by Larry Hodgson is one of those books I could just spend hours staring at. Complete with photos, plant profiles, and quick tips for gardening in the shade, this is a good way to get yourself motivated to get your shade garden started.
Taylor’s Guide to Shade Gardening is basically a 0ne-stop resource for shade gardeners. Small enough to tuck into a bag for a trip to the nursery and full of enough full-color plates to keep you dreaming, this is a very useful book.
The Natural Shade Garden by Ken Druse is probably THE book that made me appreciate shade gardening. Druse explains the natural arrangement of a woodland garden: understory, middle, and overstory, and shows you how you can accomplish the same look in your own garden. If you want a naturalistic, informal shade garden, this is a good book to check out.
I hope these resources inspire you to get going on your own shade gardening project!
No comments
« Next entries