Plant Buckets

Finished product- I actually have 7 hanging on the balcony railing, but it was hard to get a shot wide enough to show it

     Ok, for those of you that read my blog (or know me), you know what an avid gardener I am. One of the sadder parts about leaving home was not having access to garden spaces at my parents house. And with how stuffed my car was, I couldn't even fit my miniature pepper plant or my - admittedly large- aloe plant on my trip to Houston.
     Living in a second floor apartment now, I only have access to two tiny balconies (ok, technically one since the other is my brother's.) But I can't live without plants either. So I decided to maximize space by hanging the plants instead of clustering them on the floor of the balcony. This isn't necessarily a novel concept, but I didn't want to spend a bunch of money on a fancy pantsy "do-it-yourself kit" when I know I could do it myself.
      I went to Tuesday Morning and happened to find these little buckets for $1.50 each. They are a great size to start off with for what I needed at the time, but I will probably have to expand as the plants grow. Cooking is really important to my brother and herbs are great plants to start out with as I get used to growing in this new climate (so tropical- I want a citrus tree!)

Garden Tripods

   Yes, yes, yes. I will admit, I am on a bit of a gardening craft kick right now. I'm sure it will end soon, with the full heat of an Oklahoma summer looming. Blech. 100+ degree weather is not the best environment for plants.

    Which means I must get it out all now, right? This week, I made an easy garden tripod with just 3 simple materials (plus a pair of scissors)! Awesome, right? But I can't take any of the credit. I actually found great instructions to the project online, here. Anyway, it was a snap to put together these bamboo poles. The only adjustment I made was cutting down the bamboo to fit the needs of a small climbing vine rather than using an entire length of bamboo for each leg. This also allowed me to be able to make more support structures for the vines. So let's grab some leftover bamboo and get climbing.