Fairy garden Planter DIY Water Reservoir (Dabbletree) Keep your container garden happy and thriving on long hot days by installing a hidden water reservoir. All you need is an empty plastic bottle around the same height as your planter. It will be easier to start with a new planting than an established container. Cut. Using a craft knife, cut the bottom off a plastic bottle. The cut bottle should be no taller than the distance from the bottom of the pot to the top of the soil line. Place. Plant. Water. As the plants grow, the bottle will become harder and harder to see, but you should still be able to easily fill it up as needed. If you're worried about mosquitos, just be careful not to over-water and you shouldn't have any problems. dwarf morning glories, crystal palace lobelias and yellow marigolds put on a spectacular show in mid summer DIY seed propagation heating mat A simple way to create a warm environment for seeds to sprout. Drying Herbs Turns out "making our own spices!"
Build Your Own $20 Outdoor Cob Oven | Outdoor Pizza Oven | Cob Ovens (The following entry is all about making a cob oven, a lovely and inexpensive outdoor pizza oven. The construction details have been trimmed back a bit, but this article should still give you a full idea of necessary materials and the building process for making your own oven!) I must admit, I’m a bit of a breadhead. Few things are as exciting to me as freshly baked bread with a dab of butter, or hot and greasy scallion pancakes, or fluffy and airy naan, or a pizza fresh from the hearth of a wood-fired oven. (That last one trumps all the others.) Earlier in the year, the idea of baking in the outdoors in a wood fired oven became something of a romanticized (in every positive sense of the word) notion to me. So I picked up a copy of Kiko Denzer’s Build Your Own Earth Oven, a little gem of a book covering the construction of cob ovens from the ground up. The Foundation The Fire Brick Oven Hearth (Laying out the beer bottles, and later, filling in with sawdust/clay mortar) Sizing the Cob Oven
Jonny Anvil's Chicken Coop ~Jonny Anvil~ Well it's done, and I managed to get the tenants moved in and they are happy! With my latest additions of a quad of Black Orpingtons and my New Silver Laced Wyandottes I had decided to make them a brand new Coop all their own. Working with a very small budget but going new on all materials I decided to make a 4x8 coop tall enough that I can stand up in it if need be allowing more than enough room for the 6 new occupants, and a possible two more down the road. Total Cost of materials $320.00 (Can) Now I guess I should mention that I live in the cold northern climate of Canada in the wonderful province of Alberta. Google Sketchup makes things easier when it comes to putting everything into perspective and trying to get an idea on materials needed. Click on this Link to Get the 3D Download with all the Specifications Materials List : 30 2x4's @8ft 7 sheets of 3/8 OSB 5 1x3's for corner trim and pop door 2 1x6 @ 10ft 4 1x6 @ 8ft (facia)
Easy to make concrete bowls and planters... What you will need: CONCRETE - QUIKRETE® Concrete Mix (No. 1101) is the original 4000 psi average compressive strength blend of Portland cement, sand, and gravel or stone. Just add water. Use for any general concrete work. (Ver batum as posted on the Quikrete site) Resist the urge to use heavy duty concrete, as it is very chunky. Though many home improvement stores carry ready-to-mix concrete in 80 pound bags, it is also available in other sizes, depending on your preference as well as ability to lug it around. COLORING - Not a necessary item at all, though coloring concrete is quite fun, and easy! MOLDS - An endless supply of molds, containers and other ideas are available everywhere. Just about any container can be utilized as a mold for concrete, provided you are able to get the finished product out of it. WATER - Necessary to mix with the concrete. RUBBER GLOVES - Nothing fancy needed, but you should wear them.
Our Rocket Stove Editor’s note: we have a new design for a portable rocket stove here. Low-tech is the new high-tech, and the best example of the low-tech revolution is the miraculous rocket stove–a stove that makes it possible to cook with small twigs–no logs needed! Best of all rocket stoves are easy to build. We liked the idea so much that we decided to build a permanent one just off our back deck for entertaining and as a backup to our gas stove should an emergency take out our utilities. The rocket stove was developed for use in poor nations where wood used for cooking has led to the vast, wholesale, deforestation of large swaths of the earth’s surface. Before we built the rocket stove we considered making a cob oven, a mud domed wood fired oven in which you can cook bread and pizza. Staring at the bricks we had scavenged to build the base of cob oven, we realized that we could re-purpose them for a permanent backyard rocket stove that we would actually use. Here’s the materials we used:
Day 25: Homemade Sprinkler with She Wears Flowers Hello, HomeSpun Threads Readers! I am so thrilled to be with you today sharing a bit of summer fun. I am Tammy and I blog at She Wears Flowers. I am a mom to sweet twin 10-year-old girls and a sassy three-year-old girl, too. It's all about girls in our home, with the occasional concession for the one boy--my great husband. We have a lot of fun during the summer spending long days together, but the all-time favorite activity is anything that involves W-A-T-E-R! MYO {awesome} Sprinkler Materials 2 10 foot pieces of 1/2 inch PVC pipe 1 PVC t-joint 1 PVC hose to pipe connector 4 PVC elbow joints PVC cement PVC pipe cutting tool (optional, but super nice!) drill with 1/16 inch drill bit Instructions Cut 10 foot pipes into 4 four feet pieces. You will not need the excess amount, but be sure to save it in case you need to make repairs later. (I don’t think it is a given, but why waste anything you may need?) The PVC pipe cutting tool is about $10 and well worth it. Cut one 4 foot section of pipe in half.
7 Nutrient-Rich Brews Your Plants Will Love Sure you can buy fertilizers and soil additives to help boost your garden’s production, but did you know you can also take advantage of waste from Mother Nature and household scraps that you’d normally toss? These too can promote blooms and plant growth and they’re so simple to make! Here are a few recipes to try, basically all you need is one or two items, a bucket, some water and a bit of time. Allow to brew outside and voila! You have your own secret garden food that your plants will thank you for ;). Seaweed/Kelp: If you live near the ocean, lucky you! Boiled Vegetable Water: (always unsalted) After boiling vegetables, allow the water to cool then pour it on soil around your plants. Kitchen Scrap Infusion: Save vegetable peelings in a small bucket, cover with boiling water and allow to steep overnight (up to 2 days). *Tip: Feel free to combine both the kitchen scraps and yard refuse items into one big brew pail, it’s all good!
9 Different Military Poncho Survival Shelter Configurations | An essential item for ANY outdoor outing and certainly in every Survival Kit and Bug Out Bag is a good quality Poncho. If you don’t have one and need one go to the NOT IF BUT WHEN STORE HERE. There is nothing more miserable (and dangerous) than getting soaked by rain. There are 100′s of different ponchos to choose from. I like for items in my pack to be multi-use items – meaning they can be used for more than 1 purpose. Below I have detailed 9 Different Military Poncho Set-Ups that can be used for multiple scenarios. Below is a Basic Lean-To Set-Up that I use quite often in fair weather. POST UPDATE: Below is a 10th Poncho Shelter Option I call the DIAGONAL. If you are using any of these shelters and are expecting rain you will want to tie a knot with paracord around the hood to prevent water from leaking inside. If you don’t have a good grommeted poncho – you can pick one up for under $25 at the NOT IF BUT WHEN STORE. As always I would love to get your thoughts on these. Similar Posts:
Dryer Lint Fire Starter | When it comes to fire tinder and fire starting materials, I could probably write a book on all of the different natural and store bought materials I have used – some working better than others. However, for the purpose of this post I am going to focus on what I think is the most effective and economical home-made fire tinder/starter available. Here at Willow Haven Outdoor, we call these very cheap & very effective fire starters PET Balls. This stands for Petroleum Balls. Put simply, a PET Ball is a wad of dryer lint saturated with petroleum jelly. In my experience, a PET Ball will successfully take a spark from almost any ignition device (flint & steel, fire steel, match, lighter, friction coal, etc…) even in horrible conditions. These are hands down my # 1 recommended carry for fire tinder/starter material – even above anything you can spend your hard earned money on at a store. I keep a container of PET Balls in both my Bug Out Bag and also my excursion pack. PET Balls: Step 1 Creek
Outdoor Kitchen Construction – Masonry, Wood, Kits & Prefab Outdoor Concrete Countertops Time / 0:47 Hear about how this outdoor kitchen was constructed using cinder blocks, cast concrete countertops and a faux stone veneer. Not all outdoor kitchens are built the same way. There are a variety of options when it comes to how the structure, or base, of an outdoor kitchen will be built. The construction of an outdoor kitchen can be a complex process. While each outdoor kitchen is unique, the construction process is relatively uniform whether it's built out of wood or block or even a framework kit. Grading: Grading a landscape to drain is step one of the construction process that may prove the most important. Utilities: Installation of utilities is the most challenging of all outdoor kitchen construction features because they may require specialty subcontractors for electric and plumbing needed by many of the kitchen features such as a sink, which requires hot water and a sewer drain. Resources:Fresco Frames Related Reading:
The Suntracking Shelter This is the sun shelter with an adjustable canopy that provides respite from the sun any time of the day without requiring relocation. Two canopy panels slide along the shelter's frame and lock into place to provide shade no matter where the sun is in the sky. The polyester panels earned The Skin Cancer Foundation's Seal of Recommendation for providing superior protection from harmful UV rays. The frame is 7' high and covers nearly 60' sq., enabling set up over a patio table or three beach chairs. The frame is made from durable anodized aluminum and has four 8"-diameter stainless steel feet, providing resistance to winds as strong as 30 mph. Stores in the included 40" bag. Lifetime Guarantee The Suntracking Shelter comes with The Hammacher Schlemmer Lifetime Guarantee at no additional charge. Should you have any questions, we are available 24 hours a day, seven days a week.
Fun Classroom Activities and Experiments to Interest Children / Kids in Growing Plants Growing a cutting can be fun too. I recommend Fuchsia's or Geraniums as they are easy to grow. Firstly get a cutting by taking a section of non-flowering stem and cut it free with a clean knife from just below a leaf joint. Remove the leaves immediately above the cut. Get hold of a thin sheet of polystyrene and punch some small holes in it. Thread the stems of your cuttings though the holes so the remaining leaves are on the top surface of the polystyrene. Obtain a tray or tub suitable for holding water and fill to virtually the top. Float the polystyrene complete with the cuttings on top of the water, or if the jar is small enough you can balance the cutting within the water using its leaves to suspend it on the neck of the jar, and without the need for polystyrene (as per the right hand image). Change the water every couple of days, and before too long your cuttings will produce a root system.