Desert Dreams

I had some cacti that needed a new home, and I had these two glass containers I wasn't using.  Since they are glass, and don't have any drainage holes, and cacti don't like to sit in water I added some broken terra cotta planters and a little bit of sand to soak up any extra moister that collects on the bottom.  They will also slowly release their moisture as the soil dries out.  

I used Cactus soil that I bought at Lowe's.

This is how my cacti and new succulents look in their new home.  I had to buy soil, and I couldn't resist buying a few of the cheapest succulents.    

I'm really pleased with how they look on my plant shelf.  I hope they do well in their new homes!  

Happy DIYing, chris!

Transplanting an Orchid

Yesterday I did a couple indoor gardening projects, and I'm going to share one today.  I transplanted my orchid.  I transplanted it from a five inch terra cotta container into a ten inch.  I used sphagnum moss for the growing medium.  

I soaked the sphagnum moss in a bowl of water before placing some in the bottom of the new terra cotta planter. 

Once I filled the bottom with enough moss to bring the orchid base level with the top of the planter I gently placed it on the moss bed.  Before placing the orchid on the moss, I let any loose growing material fall away from the roots.  That way the roots will have an easy time finding the nutrients in the new moss.  

Then I filled in the extra room surrounding the orchid with more moist sphagnum moss.

Once the planter was properly filled with moss, without packing it, I took the plant to the sink, and gave it a through watering.  

This is the orchid in it's new home.

I have it sitting on a container with a few pebbles so the water will have some where to go when I water, without letting the roots sit in water.  

Hope my plant does well in it's new home, and I hope you enjoyed, happy DIYing, chris! 

Dreaming of Spring

I've had spring on the mind, and more specifically gardening.  I'm so excited to starte our first garden at this house.  Right now spring seems so far away.  Since the frost has set in, and all our herbs have died off I thought this would be the perfect time to start an indoor container garden.  I've been saving some plastic containers from cottage cheese, sour cream, and fresh parmesan cheese.  I also won a little Chia starter herb garden from a game of White Elephant with my family on Christmas, that's where the little clay pots and saucers are from.  

I always have a stash of spray paint, so I picked a few colors to spray the containers with.  Then to ensure proper drainage I used a small nail, and hammered several holes into the bottom of the plastic containers.  

Then I filled the container most of the way with soil, and sowed the seeds over the top.  

I added a handful of soil over the top, and watered the new plants.  

I painted a few other containers, but I have to wait a little longer for them to dry.  I'll share photos when they show some signs of growth.  

I'm excited for all the fresh herbs I will hopefully have!  I love using fresh herbs in my cooking, and I can't wait to use my own plants.  Happy DIYing, chris!

Sphagnum Surprise

This weekend we got to work on the house again.  No picture of the house, but we are so close to moving in now.  The only thing that I think is desirable to have done before we move in is fix the ceiling in the downstairs bathroom.  On saturday we replaced the patch of flooring in the bedroom that needed to get done.  Most of the wood was ready to be put in, but we had to trim a couple pieces. My granddad and mom did most of that.  They started last weekend while I was away.  The only thing I did was sink the nails with a punch.  I didn't even drive them in.  My granddad predrilled holes, and drove all the nails in.  Finally, I cleaned the wood with some mineral spirits, and then stained the wood to match the old wood.  We also painted the first coat of color on the walls a super light peach.  

Today we sanded the floor, vacuumed, and cleaned with mineral spirits.  Painted a second coat of paint on the walls in the bedroom.  I painted some of the trim we saved from the living room and dining room.  I also managed to figure out where all the pieces came from too.  

We've also been packing a lot, and bring over boxes with every trip.  I managed to unpack most of our things for the kitchen.  It was extra nice to unpack the kitchen stuff, because some of it is brand new out-of-the-box.  Things we got for our wedding, but haven't been able to open yet.  There are also some things from when Aaron and I lived in an apartment in Long Beach, California.  It's been over four and a half years since I've seen some of that stuff.  We have a TON of flatware.  

Anyway while packing I found this nice little surprise.  Awhile ago I made up a sphagnum moss bag to try to get a avocado seed started, but I read it was nearly impossible to do, because a lot of avocado seeds produced today are non-producers.  Well I didn't have any luck, and threw the seed away, after waiting months for any signs of growth.  Today while packing I came across the sphagnum bag.  

I found a potato had sprouted.  I completely forgot I threw this half of a potato in this thing.  What a nice surprise.  To bad I've already packed all of my containers for plants away.  Not sure this is such a good time of year to start a potato.  For now I'll keep him in the sphagnum bag, and hope mold doesn't move in.  

Did your weekend bring any pleasant surprises?  Happy DIYing, chris!

Garden Pickin's

I'm exhausted!  Aaron and I woke up early, and got some stuff at Lowe's before he had to go to jury duty.  Then I headed over to our house, and started working on scraping the floors.  My hands are so sore, and there is only a three foot by four foot section done.  I got another section scrapped, but we still need to go over it, and get the super icky sticky bits that don't come up with the large scrapper.  While I was scrapping I would occasionally take a break and scrub the kitchen.  Every inch of the house is covered in nasty grime.  I made up a solution of washing soda, bleach and warm water to cut through the ick.  It worked really well, but some spots, like around the stove needed something more powerful.  I sprayed those areas down with goof off, and let it soak for a bit before rubbing the dirt away.  It's looking better, but I still need to do a TON of scrubbing.  I don't have any photos to show of the house today though.  

Instead I have some photos of my first tomato harvest.  The first heirloom tomatoes that were ripe were our riesentraube tomatoes.  It's historically a German  heirloom that was commonly found in Philadelphia during the mid-1800's.  It has massive yields of flavorful cherry tomatoes.  

This is a black cherry tomato with a blue jay feather I found on our deck.  

This is the last bit of healthy lettuce I was able to pick.  I love all the varieties we tried out this year.  I want to figure out how to grow some lettuce through out the winter months.  

I love the colors in this variety.  So pretty.  

Hope you enjoyed, and happy DIYing, chris.  

Garden Update

Today I want to share with ya'll how my garden is coming along thus far.  It's been such a warm spring, so everything is growing like gang busters.  Did I really just say that?  Am I 70 years old?

 Two Purple Beauty Pepper plants.

Pepper plant from above.

 Mint and a two year old Douglas Fir.  Mint is super invasive, so it's important to grow it in a container, and not stick it directly in the ground.  We need to trim our mint, bad.

 This has lettuce, oregano, broccoli and thyme.  The thyme is clearly doing best.  This is it's second year, it came back all on it's own this spring.  We already have tiny broccoli heads!

Love how this pretty lettuce looks with the sun shining through it's supple leaves.

Broccoli from above.  This one is so big, but not head yet!

Thyme, parsley that is going to seed, kohlrabi, and a tiny bit of dill.  That thyme is everywhere!  We have a TON in a box out back.  I need to dry it out, and fill my thyme mason jar.

 Tomato plants on the steps.  Those black pots are called Smart Pots, they are made of fabric, and are quite possibly the best containers to grow in on the market.

This big wooden barrel Aaron got for free from work.  His boss at Pier1 was planning on throwing them away!

 Look at this amazing root system!  We had to break this guy out of his container to plant him in the above planter.

 We have nine heirloom tomatoes in this section of the garden!  Plus a bunch of lettuce, carrots, some spinach, and a broccoli.  We tried some swiss chard, but it doesn't seem to be doing too well.

One of the broccoli leaves.  Love the droplets, especially the ones running along the purple stem. 

That's our garden!  I can't wait until we can eat tomatoes freshly picked off the vine.  What is your favorite veggie to grow?  Happy DIYing and gardening, chris!  

A little planting

I did a DIY earlier today, and then I totally forgot to upload the photos, and write a post.  Opps!  I just finished watching Ice Age: Dawn of the Dinosaurs, and then I realized I haven't posted today!  Here are some photos from March, when we planted some kohlrabi and broccoli.  We planted them in our deck rail planters. They are made of plywood measuring 2 feet, by 1 foot, and 6 inches deep.  We drilled holes in the bottom, covered the holes with window screening.  Then we added feet to the bottom.  We built them three years ago, and they've held up great.  Our thyme keeps coming back in one of the boxes, it's fantastic.

As soon as this relentless rain lets up I'll take some photos of our garden's progress.  Things are looking good.  We have more plants to move into larger pots, and I can't wait until flowers start appearing.  I love eating our freshly grown veggies.  Happy DIYing, chris

Seedling Progress

Hey ya'll just checking in with a seedling update today.  When I planted those seedlings back in February, I planted either two or three seedlings of each variety.  Today I picked the best seedling for each type of veggie, and then I planted them in slightly larger containers than their little paper cups.  Aaron is in charge of making the garden decisions in this family, I just enjoy playing in the dirt!  

Since I didn't want to move my little guys around too much I used a large plastic tote to transplant them in.  If you are noticing that I used cacti/citrus soil, it's not something I did intentionally or would suggest, I'm just cheap and didn't feel like buying more soil.  :)   I wish we had a compost pile to use, but that is something we are working on.  This bag of soil was left over from my cacti project from a while back.  I transplanted the seedlings into small plastic containers from the dollar store.  We bought them about three years ago for this purpose.  We just grabbed whatever container we could find, and popped a hole through the bottom when we got them home.  

I filled the container with soil, and then made a small well or bowl in the middle for the seedling.  I then carefully peeled the paper off of the seedling.  

Then, I placed the seedling in the well I made in the soil, and added some soil to the top to fill in the edges.  

When I was finished with my first set I watered everyone, and placed them back under their grow light. 

I'm getting sleepy, and I still have more work I'd like to get done.  I also wanted to welcome all the new comers to 365 DIY, and thank you for coming by!  To all of those who are here on a return visit, thanks a ton for checking back in!  Hope ya'll enjoyed, and happy DIYing, chris!