Why does Sunday feel more slow, more relaxed than Saturday? Perhaps because it is further removed from the grinding hours we spend working, away from our homes.
This Sunday was spent in one of my favourite ways - making stuff with a friend. We'd been researching online about self-watering pots, and ended up using a few methods. It's not high tech stuff, but working out how to construct these little garden beds so that they would work, and work well, was very satisfying.
We chatted about the satisfactions of problem solving as we worked. I have the tendency to rush into things without planning, and get disheartened half-way. My friend always feels the need for a push to get started, but plans things magnificently, and thinks them logically through to the end, and has the ability to work around problems. So we work well together. And that is satisfying too.
We had fairly sub-standard tools, which resulted in a very small stanley knife cut, but I can assure you, one and all that making a balcony garden is, as Douglas Adams would say 'mostly harmless'.
So: Here's what we made.
This little guy is one of those Ikea spice racks that's meant to screw into your pantry and slide out, providing a family friendly, space-saving spice experience.
For me it's a modest little hanging pot holder, mostly just for salad and flowers, like nasturtiums and rocket. The water from the top three dribbles down into the bottom pot which also has half a tomato sauce bottle, with holes punched in it. This seems to be spreading the water nicely through the soil with the surface of the soil remaining damp, and not much water leaking into the plate below. So the soil is not over saturated.
The two tubs (just cheap storage tubs) are going to be for tomatoes, and largish plants like eggplant, squash, etc. The top two pots again drain down into the tubs, and these will be for shallow plants like lettuce, spring onions (bring on the asian noodle dinners!), and herbs.
In the bottom of the tubs there is a water reservoir. This is made from two cheapo plastic flowerpots cut in half and with holes poked in their sides. On top of these is the lid of the tub cut down to size and with a hole in the centre. Ziptied to this central hole is a cotton stocking which hangs down into the water reservoir, wicking the water up into the soil. Or at least that's how I'm told it works. Soil on top, and now I'm just waiting for my seeds to pop up!
They are all in a corner of my deck that is unused space, and hopefully, I'll get a nice little harvest in a few months! I have my possum gun at the ready! Viva la balcony garden!
(And thank you J for the planning and the help!)
This Sunday was spent in one of my favourite ways - making stuff with a friend. We'd been researching online about self-watering pots, and ended up using a few methods. It's not high tech stuff, but working out how to construct these little garden beds so that they would work, and work well, was very satisfying.
We chatted about the satisfactions of problem solving as we worked. I have the tendency to rush into things without planning, and get disheartened half-way. My friend always feels the need for a push to get started, but plans things magnificently, and thinks them logically through to the end, and has the ability to work around problems. So we work well together. And that is satisfying too.
We had fairly sub-standard tools, which resulted in a very small stanley knife cut, but I can assure you, one and all that making a balcony garden is, as Douglas Adams would say 'mostly harmless'.
So: Here's what we made.
This little guy is one of those Ikea spice racks that's meant to screw into your pantry and slide out, providing a family friendly, space-saving spice experience.
For me it's a modest little hanging pot holder, mostly just for salad and flowers, like nasturtiums and rocket. The water from the top three dribbles down into the bottom pot which also has half a tomato sauce bottle, with holes punched in it. This seems to be spreading the water nicely through the soil with the surface of the soil remaining damp, and not much water leaking into the plate below. So the soil is not over saturated.
The two tubs (just cheap storage tubs) are going to be for tomatoes, and largish plants like eggplant, squash, etc. The top two pots again drain down into the tubs, and these will be for shallow plants like lettuce, spring onions (bring on the asian noodle dinners!), and herbs.
They are all in a corner of my deck that is unused space, and hopefully, I'll get a nice little harvest in a few months! I have my possum gun at the ready! Viva la balcony garden!
(And thank you J for the planning and the help!)
Labels: balcony garden, containers, garden beds, problem solving, reservoir pots, self-watering pots, tubs, watering system
