DIY Vertical Garden Planter - Finished Product (Post 2 of 2)

About a month ago I posted about a vertical planter I made.  I wanted to share the finished product so you can see how it turned out, and share the final materials list and cost, in case you'd like to make one yourself.  I adjusted the design a bit because the upper shelves needed more soil than I originally provided for.

If you don't have much space in your yard, or just have a balcony or other outdoor space this design is great for getting a lot of planting space out of a small amount of surface area.  For a spice or herb garden this would work awesome.  For larger fruits and vegetables I would opt for a deeper planter or for optimum production in the ground.


Tools:

1. Saw
2. Drill (with Phillips head bit)
3. Tape measure
4. Level (I didn't use this, but if you want everything perfect would come in handy to check yourself)

Materials:

1. 6 - 1" x 6" x 8 foot lumber
2. 2 - 5/8 " x 1/2 " x 6 foot cedar fence boards
3. 2" wood screws (box)

Directions:

1. Cut 8 foot lumber in half, resulting in 12 pieces, each 4 feet long
2. Separate pieces into 4 groups, with 3 pieces each.  Screw together lengthwise at right angles to create shelves
3. Attach first shelf at bottom of cedar fence boards to create base, putting screws through the side of the cedar fence boards, which are the vertical pieces
4. Measure up 15 inches from top of base and attach next shelf, repeating to the top of the fence boards.
5. Vertical garden planter is now complete. Add organic soil and plants as desired.
6. If water is not draining down from the upper shelves, you can drill a few holes in the underside of the shelf, in the middle of the board to help.

I used Fox Farm Ocean Forest soil for my planter, my first time using the product, and it has been awesome.  I'm not always the best at growing potted plants and have been really impressed with the results.  I highly recommend this product.

My total cost for making this planter was 49.89 and the cost for each material is posted here.  I've been really happy with the turnout so far, and have my first ever banana peppers, serrano peppers, and paprika peppers ready for picking.  Here's a photo of the finished product.

Front profile

 The plants I'm trying out are (from upper left):

• Banana pepper
• Serrano pepper
• Malabar spinach
• Purple basil
• Hungarian paprika
• English thyme
• Okra
• Burpless cucumber
• Dinosaur kale
• New Zealand spinach (my favorite of the items in the planter - really awesome)

Thanks to the Horton Plaza Farmers Market, City Farmers Nursery, and the Little Italy Farmers Market for the plants. :)

Side profile

Happy planting (and eating)!

Simple Syrup - Cocktail Must - Recipe

Amelia and I are relative novices to the world of cocktail making, and generally prefer beer to cocktails anyway.  However, in our limited experience with making cocktails one clutch ingredient we have become big fans of is simple syrup.  Many drinks call for sugar and using simple syrup in place of stirring in sugar will help your cocktails to turn out more consistent, and ensure that you don't have undissolved sugar resting at the bottom of your glass.

To improve the legibility and ease of sharing recipes I decided to create an AllRecipes.com profile.  I really like the site and it makes it easy to convert recipes for different serving amounts.  Plus, there is a huge searchable database that we regularly use when we are cooking.

Simple syrup is very easy to make and our recipe can be found here.  We make extra and then keep it in a mason jar in the refrigerator so that we don't have to wait for it to cool every time we want to use some.  You can buy simple syrup in almost any grocery or liquor store, but as with most items if you make your own you'll save some money and also be more aware of the ingredients you are consuming.  Additionally, you can  probably avoid some preservatives or fillers in your drinks that you don't need.

Happy Friday and happy cocktailing!

- John

Sharing is Caring

Last week we picked up a Thai Chili Plant for free on Craigslist and planted it in the backyard.  The plant had a lot of chilis on it, and we didn't want them to go to waste so we picked them, and also picked a bunch of the lemons on our tree.  Since we couldn't use all this produce, we decided to put it out on the driveway to share with the neighborhood.

All of the produce was gone within a few hours.  We were glad to share with our neighbors, and I assume they were happy to get some fresh, free produce.  

Often, especially in summer, gardens can produce more of a given item than can be used by one person or family.  If you are in this situation consider sharing with your neighbors, they might have some produce to share with you as well. :)

Happy weekend to everyone!

DIY Project - Vertical Garden Planter

I ended up tweaking the design for this planter after a month of seeing how it worked.  Please see updated design here.

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the start of a new month, I had a new plant budget to work with, so I was antsy to get to the ever-fabulous City Farmers Nursery today and see what new treasures they would have to add to my yard.  I was not disappointed and found many new plants to bring home and try out, and also picked up an idea for how to add them to the yard without taking up too much space.

On display at the nursery was a vertical garden box that I really liked the look of. Since I was headed to Home Depot to pick up some paint on the way home anyway (we're painting the exterior of our home) I figured I'd try my hand at making a vertical planter to use in our yard.  I thought that others might be interested in this design since it's a great way to get a lot of garden out of a small space.

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Commentary:

Vertical gardening is exploding in popularity in many different forms these days, from Manhattan condos with living walls to 150 foot 'supertrees' in Singpore and everything in between.  (Both of those articles are awesome and highly recommended.)  For many people, vertical planters are a functional and easy introduction to using space and resources like light, water, and fertilizer in a more efficient way.

Below is a breakdown of the design I used for my vertical planter, along with some notes and photos.  The biggest advantage of a vertical planter is that you can get 3, 4, or more times the planting space as if you used just the ground on which the planter sits.  Additionally, with a design like this one the water you use can trickle down from one box to the next, maximizing the absorption and utility of your watering.  Fertilizers can similarly be added to the upper boxes and drip down, to a limited extent.  You can also utilize the shading of the lower boxes to plant different varieties of plants (with the most sun-loving on top, to those more sun-averse on the bottom).

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Project Plan: Vertical Garden Planter

Hardware:

1. Saw
2. Drill (with Phillips head bit)
3. 30 - 1.5 inch screws
4. Tape measure
5. Level (I didn't use this, but if you want everything perfect would come in handy to check yourself)

Materials:

1. 5 - 1" x 6" x 8 foot lumber
2. 2 - 5/8 " x 1/2 " x 6 foot cedar fence boards

Directions:

1. Cut 8 foot lumber in half for 4 foot sections
2. Take 3 of these sections and screw together at right angles (see photo, this is the base)
3. Take 6 sections and screw together into pairs, at a 45 degree angle (these are the 'shelves')
4. Attach base to bottom of cedar fence boards
5. Measure up 15 inches from top of base and attach one of the 'shelves' created in step 3
6. Measure up 15 inches from top of lowest shelf and attach next shelf.  Repeat for third shelf as well.
7. Vertical garden planter is now complete.  Add organic soil and plants as desired.

Here's a photo of the (almost) finished product.  I still need to add the last shelf in but Eva was ready for dinner and it's hard to screw boards together with an infant on one arm.  I'll add some photos when the soil is added and everything is growing.

Below are notes on the new yard additions, starting from the top left.  Not all of these plants will stay in the planter, some are too large or needed in other areas of the yard but I liked the presentation for a photo.

1. Purple basil - for cooking.  We love basil!
2. Scarlet milkweed - I've been wanting to add milkweed to the yard for awhile since it's highly attractive to monarch and other species of butterflies.  We'll see how it goes.
3. California blackberry - to attract birds and for eating the berries.  Will go in a narrow area that's mostly shaded next to the house.
4. Fuggle hops - I enjoy making beer and am going to try my hand at growing some hops in the yard.  These will also be in mostly shade and are a climbing plant.
5. Banana pepper - will stay in this planter, hopefully will have some nice peppers to add to our pizzas.
6. Silky yellow milkweed - Another milkweed variety to attract butterflies, this one has light yellow rather than red and orange blossoms like the scarlet milkweed.
7. Irish moss - will be used in another DIY project sent my way from Michelle Cajigal.  Keep an eye peeled for a future post on how this secret project turns out.
8. Serrano pepper - for using in stir fry, guacamole, and other spicy dishes.
9. Hungarian paprika - I had no idea what a paprika plant looked like until I came across this today, but love cooking with paprika and thought I'd give it a try in the garden.  Will have to read up on how to harvest and dry.
10. Green santolina - A natural insect repellent.  We don't have many airborne pests in San Diego, but there are occasionally flies and gnats so I'm going to plant by the door and see if it helps to deter entry by these winged invaders.
11. Spinach - always a favorite, and versatile for use in many recipes

 Hope you had a great start to the week today!

5 Recommendations for a Greener Summer

Happy Memorial Day!

Today marks the traditional start of summer in the United States.  I recently got a request for a post on recommendations I have for how to be 'more green'.  This post is my top 5 recommendations for simple, easy, and cheap ways to live in a more Earth-friendly way this summer.

• Stop - Don't use pesticides, herbicides, insecticides or other poisons in your yard

• Although when pesticides and other poisons are mentioned, the most likely picture brought to mind is one of large farms or crop dusting planes, backyards are often where the highest concentrations of these poisons can be found.  Due to drift from neighboring yards, as well as the mixing of many different types of poisons in one yard the concentrations can be many times higher the recommended levels noted on product labels.  (And regardless of the recommendations on the label consider if you would like to ingest the product you are putting onto your yard or garden.)
• Additionally, consider the yards and gardens of your neighbors if you use these products.  They may have pets, children, or edible plants that could be harmed by the products you use on your yard.

• Grow - Plant and enjoy something edible

• Regardless of the amount of space your have at your resident, grow one plant you can consume this summer. It's a great way to learn about a new plant and enjoy the fruits of your labor.  If you are looking for an option that is easy to grow inquire at your local nursery and consider tomatoes, bell peppers, cucumber or squash, cilantro, basil, or rosemary.  
• If you're short on space or just have indoor room available consider herbs like rosemary, dill, basil, or mint.
• Hopefully one plant will encourage you to try new varieties in the future.  Here are a few that I haven't tried before that we planted for this summer.

New arrivals: lemongrass, yarrow, baby leeks, cat scat, chives, chamomile, italian squash, radicchio, armenian cucumber

• Learn - Read a book about sustainability, greening, or the environment

• Education is key to better understanding on any subject whether you're an adult or a child.  With the longer days of summer enjoy a new book on vacation or on summer evenings.  Here are some titles I recommend (in order of preference):
• Silent Spring by Rachel Carson
• Rambunctious Garden by Emma Marris
• The God Species by Mark Lynas

• Compost - Reduce your trash output and improve your soil

• A large portion of the U.S. trash stream is comprised of discarded food.  Per the EPA, in 2010 food waste was the second largest category of waste that went to landfills (behind paper).  Composting food waste helps to reduce the trash going to our landfills (and increase their useful life).
• There are many composting systems available today - from simple bucket-type containers to worm based vermicomposters and many other varieties.  I have a worm composter and a compost pile as well.  My compost pile is simply a pile of our food waste that I put underneath of our guava tree in the backyard.  (Note: we have very little meat waste and the compost pile is almost exclusively plant-based waste.  I generally wouldn't recommend putting meat-based waste in a compost pile.)  Inquire at your local nursery about what type of system might be best for you, or simply start a pile in the back corner of your yard to try it out.

• Enjoy - Take a walk, hike, or run through your neighborhood or a park or wilderness area every week
• Take the time to enjoy the outdoors and the insects, plants, birds, etc. that are present where you live. It's good for your health and a reminder of why it's important to live more sustainably. If we want the world of the future to be even more biodiverse and green than it is today we need to take action now to ensure that it will be. This weekend's Wall Street Journal noted the positive impact that getting outdoors can have on your mental state, happiness, and creativity that's a good read on the topic.
• This step is especially important if you have children. We need to ensure that the next generation knows about nature. If they don't, why will they care about it?

Strawberries are fun to pick . . . 

. . . and delicious to eat.

Hope you had a wonderful holiday weekend and take care!  Thanks to Angela for the suggestion and if you have a suggestion please email me at john.patrick.anderson@gmail.com or leave a message in the Comments section below.

Old Chairs Repurposed into Trellis

A few days ago I wrote about picking up pieces of a couple of old chairs that had been discarded along a street near my house.  I went back to the spot and picked up the remaining pieces and made the backs of the chairs into a trellis for some purple lantana I had planted to attract hummingbirds to the yard.

Inspecting the raw materials.

After seeing this awesome monkey pattern that was beneath the faded red seat covering I was tempted to try and refinish the chairs but between the missing parts and damage already done it seemed a long way above my skill level.

One of the best patterns I've seen in awhile.

Here's the finished product, just wanted to share how it turned out looking.  I'll throw up a new photo when the trellis is covered with delightful purple flowers and hopefully a charm of hummingbirds.  Check out that link for the group names of various birds - pretty good stuff.

The finished product - Eva approves.

Planting is a Habit - Budgeting for Nature

Budgets bring to mind spreadsheets, bank accounts, and reducing expenditures.  At their root, I believe budgets are a tool we use for accomplishing a goal.  Whether that goal is to reduce our weight using a food budget, to save for a vacation, or pay off a mortgage budgets can be useful to ensure we stay on the right path to meet our goals.

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Commentary:

Over the past few years I have developed an affinity for plants and working in the yard / garden / alley / apartment.  At some point along the way Amelia decided we needed to put a limit on how much to spend on plants so we created a plant budget.  (I admit I was not a proponent of this plan but life, and especially marriage, is full of compromises.)  We decided on a budget of $30 per month on plant purchases and any unused balance could be rolled over to the following month to allow for larger purchases like trees.  We've adjusted this budget over time and today it is $50 a month - the increase is partially because we have been able to reduce our food bill by growing a garden and partially because I have pitiful puppy dog eyes.

I wasn't very excited when we put the plant budget into place but my view has changed over time.  At first I looked at the budget as a limit on what I could spend on plants, which it is.  But it is also a commitment to regularly making an investment in our yard and garden.  Now we have a monthly trip to the nursery, farmer's market, or garden store and can plan for what we'd like to grow in our garden or what flowers would look good in the front yard.  It's good motivation and a reminder to think about the outdoors and engage on a regular basis.  I'm looking forward to when Eva can help us pick out which plants to try and help with watering and seeing them grow.

Another benefit of having this regular commitment to investing in our yard and garden is the opportunity to try new things.  We probably wouldn't be inclined to try planting borage or yarrow in our garden on a whim - I still don't know what they are going to look or taste like.  However, since we had extra funds in our plant budget last month we picked up these plants for a couple of dollars each and now can learn how they grow, what they look and taste like, and how well they do in our climate.  It's a learning experience in addition to being a part of our yard to enjoy.

If you're looking to learn more about plants, gardening, or landscaping I highly recommend creating a monthly budget / commitment to spend a set amount on plants each month.  Whether it's $5 or $100 a month it's a great reminder to get out in the yard and enjoy the weather.  Making regular visits to the nursery will also teach you a lot about the seasons what should be planted when.  If it gets too cold in the winter you can try something for indoors - an herb for the kitchen or trailing plant for the mantle or windowsill.

Another reason I think it's important to make a regular commitment to plants is to remind us of their importance.  We all rely on plants for food, air, shelter, many of our goods like furniture, to clean our air and water, and for many other purposes and uses.  Despite all that plants do for us I think we know relatively little about the plants that surround us in our own corners of the world, as well as plants that exist in other parts of the world.  Despite the importance of plants to all of us I think in general we spend very little, if anything, on helping plants to thrive and learning more about them.  Especially when compared to the amounts we spend on cable and other discretionary purchases I think spending a comparatively small amount on plants provides a handsome return of knowledge and enjoyment.

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Suggested Action Steps:

1. Create a monthly plant budget
2. Spend your monthly budget at a local nursery or garden store
1. Consider native plantings to attract local wildlife to your yard
3. Enjoy the fruits of your labor in the form of fruits and vegetables, shade, a quieter yard, or more birds and squirrels

Here are a few of the recent additions to our yard.  Thank you to Seeds in the City and City Farmers Nursery here in San Diego for these plants, and for all the information you've shared with me and others!  If you live in San Diego you have to take a trip to City Farmers - it's an amazing place with so many plants (and animals!) to see and learn about.

Bush Monkey Flower (California Native) 

Basil, Mexican Elderberry (California Native), Eggplant - Rosita variety (Puerto Rico)

Eggshells as Garden Helpers - Less Trash, More Plants

As anyone that helped our family move in the fall of 2010 can attest to, I have a healthy affinity for plants.  Maybe slightly more than healthy, some might say.  Either way I've really enjoyed having a yard to work in for the past year and have learned a lot about plants.  I previously touched on using coffee as a fertilizer, today's post is about the benefits that eggshells can bring to your yard and garden.
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Commentary: 

When we started our garden I was really disappointed to see our first plantings disappear almost overnight.  Basil, tomatoes, cilantro, and many other seedlings we put into the garden would quickly lose most or all of their leaves.  After a few nights of inspection with a flashlight I found multitudes of silverfish, slugs, and snails feasting on the greenery.  I was unable to find a quick solution to the silverfish, but eggshells proved to be a strong deterrent to the slugs and snails and I learned they also provide a number of benefits to the soil and plants.

Putting crushed eggshells in your garden helps to deter snails, slugs, cutworms, and other soft-bodied pests from your garden because of the sharp edges that they possess.  When these types of pests crawl along the soil, the eggshells cut their soft undersides and greatly help to prevent them from enjoying the fruits of your labor.

Eggshells also have a high concentration of calcium carbonate, which is a good fertilizer and helps to avoid root rot for plants like tomatoes and peppers.  Putting eggshells directly onto the soil of your garden will help to fertilize and protect from these pests, or you can add the eggshells to your compost pile and the calcium carbonate will be incorporated into your compost harvest.

Sometimes eggshells can slightly cut your hands when you crush them (if you don't have a set of gloves you want to use).  To make them more brittle, so they break more easily, you can place them in an unused gas oven for a few hours.  The heat from the pilot light will dry them out and make them easy to break.

Suggested action steps:

1) If you like eggs, make a nice scramble or omelet this weekend
2) Save the eggshells and sprinkle on your garden, yard, or around the base of a shrub or tree

Using eggshells to enhance the plants in your yard will make your space more verdant, and also help to reduce your weekly trash output.  

Coffee as Fertilizer, It's Not Just for People Anymore - January 2nd

For 2012 I'm writing this blog to document things our family has done to be more Earth-friendly. This is the January 2nd posting. Hopefully you'll find some helpful ideas and decide to take some action to help promote a healthier planet. I'd appreciate any feedback you have, and if you'd like to share successes you've had I'd like to hear them so we can try to do more.
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I haven't always been a coffee drinker, and didn't grow up in a household that drank coffee at all (although my grandparents did). However, in more recent years I've grown fond of the last legal vice and generally have some each day. About a year and a half ago my mother-in-law informed me that not only is coffee delicious, but it is also a great fertilizer.

Commentary:

Coffee is a global commodity, and in recent years it has surged in popularity. According to the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) in 2009, 8,261,487 tons were produced globally. According to PBS Frontline, this amounts to more than 500 billion cups of coffee consumed each year.

Coffee beans have a sizable amount of nitrogen, which is a great fertilizer, and contain around 2% nitrogen by weight. (Here's a Sunset Magazine article that purchased a laboratory analysis of a sample of beans. Also, if you live on the West Coast I highly recommend Sunset for articles on travel, gardening, events, etc. They also regularly publish books on cooking, bird watching, gardening, and many other topics.)

When I first learned of the magical fertilizing properties of coffee I didn't regularly brew or drink coffee, so I didn't have access to used grounds. However, during a winter trip to Kansas I entered a Starbucks and nearly tripped over an overflowing bucket of grounds that was next to the door and available to anyone for free. Little did I know that Starbucks has a 'Grounds for your Garden' program that has been around since 1995 and offers free grounds to customers at their stores.

When I returned from my trip I inquired at my local Starbucks in San Diego about this program and although they weren't participating in the program at the time, I contacted local area manager Joshua Longacre and he got the program going in all of the downtown San Diego stores. I've also since inquired at many other coffee shops and have yet to be turned down on a request for fresh, free grounds.

In addition to helping your plants grow, using grounds in your yard reduces the amount of waste being taken to the landfill.  With the huge amount of coffee produced, that's a big deal.  Two birds with one bean, if you will. The smell of coffee grounds also repels some types of pests, so in addition to promoting growth in your garden they can help deter intruders from eating your carrots.

 Although good for plants, I wouldn't recommend using grounds on houseplants since there's not as much room for the nutrients to disperse and they can make the soil overly acidic.

Suggested action steps:

1) Enjoy coffee (If you don't drink coffee you can get free grounds at most any coffee shop - just ask at the counter and they'll usually be glad to help.)
2) Sprinkle grounds onto garden, lawn, shrubs, trees, etc. I usually pour some water over the grounds too, but you don't have to.  I wouldn't sprinkle one area with grounds more than once a month, and make sure to spread the love. :)
3) Watch plants grow
4) Smile while enjoying shade, fruits and vegetables, or feeling of grass between your toes

Please let me know if you have any comments, compliments, criticisms, or questions regarding this post or have suggestions for future posts. If you'd like to receive future posts via email, enter your email address in the box at the top right labelled "Follow by Email".

Now for a great song with some coffee references:

Thank you!

Category: Food, Garden