Wednesday, May 12, 2010

Container Gardening

Yesterday I went plant shopping. I had a pretty limited budget so I only bought about 1/6 of what I plan on getting. I'm waiting for local plant sales and I also want to go here and here. Cost of plants: $50.







The idea was to start filling the containers that I've been collecting for the past year. Most of these were thrift & rummage finds, but a few were purchased from big box stores. $55 total.

Most of them will be kept on the back deck. I would have liked to sit on the deck while I planted these, but it was rainy, breezy and cool, so I hung out in the garage.





I used crushed cans and packing peanuts as filler for the bottom half of the containers. This makes it so they aren't as heavy and also uses less potting soil. Even with this approach I still ran out of soil, but that's okay because I ran out of plants too. I decided to use some of the flowers in the yard since there are 3 large areas I would like to fill within the next couple weeks. Now I just need my container plants to grow and fill out the pots.






I saved all of the small containers that the plants came in because I plan on using them in my eventual Garden Room over the winter. Progress has been made on the room, but I can't show photos till I'm further along. It's going to be my late summer/early fall project. My parents helped get the room to where it is right now, but I just have to find the right time to finish it now. The goal is to do it as cheaply as possible and so far it's going really well. I'm sure that the grow lights will cost more than everything else combined, but that's okay...it will be nice to escape to the room during our long, Wisconsin winters. I'm also going to put some lounge seating in there so it will be a cool place to hang out with friends. If you haven't noticed, I like to have multiple options for places to chill. That way I don't get as bored.
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I was going to work on the fire pit today but the weather isn't cooperating. So instead I'm going to clean underneath the bathroom sinks and clean the oven. I may start a few painting projects as well- there is never a shortage of those...

Oh yeah- today is my tenth day without mid-day coffee. It's going MUCH better than it did last spring. By cutting back my coffee intake, it will save about $16 a month and it also saves me about 10 minutes each workday morning. That's an hour a week! I'd say that lack of hassle also saves me a headache, but that would be lying. Those are being lovingly provided by the lack of caffeine. I think I may give in today though since it's only 11:45 AM and I'm feeling like the day is starting to trudge along. Off I go.

2 comments:

The Rotary said...

what a great selection of pots! and plants. i think i have that one with the purple leaves edged in bright green. i don't remember what it is but i got it at the farmers market last year and it's done really well in my studio.

Erin Lang Norris said...

Thanks!

The green and purple plant is "Coleus". It's one of my favorites! I had that plant as an apartment dweller on a windy top floor balcony and it did really well.