Stump Planters

My stump planters have seriously become one of the things I am most proud of in our home. These were not exactly easy to make with palm tree stumps, because as we found out, palm trees are extremely dense.

Lan first used his reciprocating saw to cut out how large the hole is going to be. Then he used an Auger bit on his drill and drilled down as far as he could. He then took his reciprocating saw and continued to slowly cut away pieces until it was widened to his guide cut. When he was all done, he took his drill and drilled down once more. Since the stump can’t drain, we filled this hole with rocks so that excess water can collect there, away from roots.

We ended up planting Jalapeno, Sweet Basil, and Rosemary. I love these planters.. and the icing on the cake, is that it is free!

I kept telling Lan that he should make more and we could sell then for a really good price. He looked at me like I was crazy and responded “go for it babe, but I'm not doing it”

Linked to:

http://tearosehome.blogspot.com/2011/05/link-party-no-54.html

Sprouting take two

So.... remember this post where I was sprouting some seeds? Well it turns out I am a terrible plant mommie. I went too far between waterings and my only two seeds that ended up sprouting, died. So.. take two. Since I love in southern California, growing seasons don't really matter too much. My loving husband got me one of these plastic green house things so that my seeds would stay nice and moist. yay! I guess we will just have to wait and see how it goes.

the next step will be clearing out the weeds so that I have a place to plant these guys once they are ready.

Just to give you some perspective, that table in the back is chest high. We are thoroughly infecting our entire neighborhood with weeds with all of the dandelions blowing away. Plan of action... that weed whacker we borrowed from my parents and some round up. I hate using chemicals... but at this point, I don't think we have a choice. There is no way we could pull all of those weeds.

Plant Markers

Last weekend I started planting my seeds in starter pots. I used peat moss cups because they can be planted directly into the ground once their roots poke through he bottom of the cups.

In order to keep all of my little plants organized I made plant markers. I have heard of people using popsicle sticks, but they absorb water and can become gross. You can also buy them, but hey… why spend money when you don’t have to.

First I found some plastic that was going to be thrown away.

I cut it so that I had a flat rectangle.

Then I used a straight edge to cut strips

I used a permanent marker to write on them… and done super easy and cost absolutely no money… plus they even work better than many other options.