background preloader

Culture

Facebook Twitter

Spirale Aromatique

Build Your Own Self-Watering Container Garden (Video) Image credit: Urban Organic Gardener It's getting to be that time of year when we gardeners spend way too much of our time (and water!) Watering thirsty plants. Most likely that rings especially true for those of us with edible container gardens, as plants in pots tend to lose moisture a whole lot quicker than those in the ground. But what if you could build a container garden that literally waters itself? It's actually not that hard.DIY Self-Watering Container GardensJasmin has written before over at Planet Green about building a DIY self-watering container garden, and Jaymi also mentioned them as part of her guide to efficiently watering a container garden. It's certainly not rocket science, and these look like they'd work like a charm.

(They also look a whole lot cheaper than the $45 self-watering containers I see in my garden store!) Plant these 6 perennial vegetables once, and reap their harvest year after year. Traditional backyard gardens tend to be full of annual vegetables that need to be started year after year from seed, and while those veggies can be well worth the time and labor it takes to grow them, planting some perennial vegetables in your garden and yard can end up putting food on your plate for far less effort. Unless you live in a region with a year-round growing season, your tomatoes and peppers (which are perennial by nature) will need to be planted anew each spring, because they can't handle the cold temperatures of winter, but there are other vegetables that can overwinter in many places and spring back to life as soon as soil temperatures are warm enough. By dedicating a garden bed or two to perennial vegetables, especially in a polyculture with other perennials, you can pack a lot of food production into a small area. 6 Perennial vegetables that keep on giving, year after year: 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6.

7 DIY seed pots from common household items for starting seeds indoors. There may still be snow on the ground and frost in the air, but planting season is rapidly approaching, and if you have a sunny window, you can get some of your veggies started indoors right now. The sooner you start your seeds, the bigger the plants will be when it's time to put them in the soil, and the quicker you'll be able to begin harvesting food from your garden.

Most garden centers sell plastic trays and pots, soil blocks, or peat pots to use for starting seeds indoors, but if you'd like to start your seeds without having to go purchase a bunch of new stuff, there are a bunch of inventive DIY seed pots that can be made from items you probably have in your recycle bin right now. 1. Newspaper pots: Small seedling pots can be made by rolling doubled-up sheets of newspaper around a small jar (or using a tool like this), then gluing the bottom together with wheat paste, or by folding the paper into a square pot and stapling the edges together. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. Seed pot trays: Three Easy, Low-Tech Ways to Keep Container Gardens Watered. Photo Credit: Maggie Hoffman, Flickr Creative Commons Attribution License. Container gardening is, in many ways, one of the easiest ways to grow flowers and edibles in your garden.

You can take advantage of sunny areas, and it doesn't matter how awful (or nonexistent) your garden soil is, because you can fill your containers with perfect, fluffy soil. But watering can be a challenge, especially during hot, dry weather. Here are a few tips for keeping your container gardens happy. The point of these three methods is to provide a steady, slow trickle of water to your container gardens. 1. 2. 3. Simply get a small (3 to 4 inch) diameter unglazed terra cotta pot. More About Container Gardening:10 Gorgeous Container Gardens Made from TrashContainer Gardening Options for Small SpacesBuild Your Own Self-Watering Container Garden. Raised garden beds: hugelkultur instead of irrigation.

Raised garden bed hugelkultur after one month raised garden bed hugelkultur after one year raised garden bed hugelkultur after two years raised garden bed hugelkultur after twenty years It's a german word and some people can say it all german-ish. I'm an american doofus, so I say "hoogle culture". I had to spend some time with google to find the right spelling. Hugal, hoogal, huegal, hugel .... I learned this high-falootin word at my permaculture training. Hugelkultur is nothing more than making raised garden beds filled with rotten wood. I do think there are some considerations to keep in mind.

Another thing to keep in mind is that wood is high in carbon and will consume nitrogen to do the compost thing. Pine and fir will have some levels of tanins in them, but I'm guessing that most of that will be gone when the wood has been dead for a few years. Guide culture butte - Monique PAQUELIER.