Utterly re-purposed potting bench (it ain't pretty)

Though I lust after a sculptural, beautifully handcrafted cedar or whatnot potting bench, with pegs(!) to hold tools, shelves that separate pots from other shtuff, a soil drawer and slatted table top that allows soil to fall through and be collected/recycled for later use... I ain't got the monies.

Which is fine. Such luxuries, as nice as they are, are not necessities.  (Hurray! My head's screwed on relatively straight in that category!)

So, after many years of collecting random stuff has evolved into my recycled/thrifted potting bench:

Just about everything in this picture has been either re-purposed/recycled/thrifted or curb-side found.  The major aspects of my potting bench are the 2 plastic barrels, gotten from the local Coca-Cola plant I frequented to make rain barrels with (these were extras I magically was able to fit into my now defunct mini-van... how I miss that vehicle..sort of)!

The table top of the bench is an old, but sturdy, plywood/laminate countertop someone down my street chucked.  It was originally pink-ish but thankfully faded to more beige (I hate pink).  It has a hole for a sink in the middle that is now covered by my greatest recent find that has I think completed my bench: PLANTATION SHUTTERS!

These shutters are of terrible cheap material;  material that is too flimsy for good household use I think (which is probably why they were chucked) but excellent for my use.  They must have been used outdoors partially as they were filthy.  I didn't even bother with washing them off because dude, they're going to get dirty on the potting bench anyways.

What I feel sort of awesome about is that they allow me to have that nifty slatted soil table top part I've always been craving:

They're slightly tilted to have enough room to let soil fall through the slats into some plastic containers (also curbside found) below for collection, OR can be fully opened to allow bunches of soil to fall through.

HUZZAH!  So yeah, who needs a fancy schmancy cedar bench?

Taking the Tomatoes to the next level

The tomatoes are growing so fast! (Surprise there...)

It's soon coming to the point where I will need to graduate them and their fast growing selves from egg carton holes to TOILET PAPER ROLL TUBE POTS!

 

Big step for these guys.  I contemplated shoving the whole kibosh (seedling with egg carton cutout) into the toilet paper roll tube, but as I have yet to meet a not hardy tomato seedling, I'm just yanking the seedling out of the paper egg carton and carefully moving it into a more vertically soil rich environment of the toilet roll tube.

Such an easy cheap little pot until I move them to spacious digs such as the NEWSPAPER pot, but I'm try to keep them at bay for as long as possible as the garden-garden outside needs time to fill up.

These toilet roll tube pots are so simple.  Take one toilet paper roll tube and cut 4 little snips at one end equidistant from each other:

Bend into each other until they hold and are flat and will stay relatively upright when filled w/dirt and a plant.

Voila! (Viola!):

Instant drainage too is pretty sweet.

Their roots will grow nice and deep in this for a while and I'll let them get a bit "tube pot bound" before their next move.

Tag! You're it! Labeling in the garden

I am notoriously bad at labeling plants in my garden, mostly because I know what they generally are (though it would be good to tag those "special" varieties).

Despite this shortcoming of mine, I like making inexpensive, attractive (at least to me) lasting homemade garden tags and give them away for fun.

These tags take very minimal cost and effort and as I don't drink beer or soda in cans much at all, I sort of borrow from my neighbors' recycling... um, no one's had an issue yet?

ALUMINUM BEER/SODA CAN TAGS: (use gloves if you are worried you'll cut yourself):
Materials/tools:
-aluminum can
-box cutters
-scissors (decorative edge ones if you like)
-jumbo smooth metal paperclips
-pushpin/thumb tac with pointy metal tip (optional)
-ball point pen (for permanent marking)
-permanent marker (for changeable marking, but can come off in certain weather conditions)
-paint pen (for more durable changeable marking)
(please don't judge me for the Budweiser... we were desperate!)

(1) Clean out a can and dry it as thoroughly as possible

(2) on the top and bottom of can, cut around the rims, just underneath the angled edges so that it will be a completely open tube

(3) With the scissors, cut from one open end to the other to make a single sheet of metal

(4) Trim the sheet of metal edges with a straight edge pair of scissors or the decorative ones. To make label shape cutting more manageable, use the straight edge of a counter or table and rub the curved back of the ex-can back and forth against the edge to flatten the metal sheet

(5) Cut the metal sheet with scissors into desired tag shapes (squares, rectangles, hearts, birds, leaves, etc.) keeping the edges as smooth as possible

(6) Take a paperclip and using the pushpin if you like, do one or all of the various posting options:

1 hole/2 holes (more paper clip posts, more sturdy)

(Note to make the holes in the metal with the pushpin, you'll want some thick corrugated cardboard or a cork backing to push into so you don't form holes in your table/counter).


Or SWIRLY (may need some pliers to do this)


















(7) Use you writing utensil of choice and write your plant name down and you're done!

(You can sandpaper the back painted part of the can to make it all shiny metal, but I think the color addition and showing off that it's recycled is cool)

These tags do fine indoors or out, and obviously you can "upgrade" your materials, but if you really want to do it on the cheap, this is the way to go.

The paperclip stakes can be interchanged with various materials, like wire coat hangers or even sticks (it's bio-degradable!) but I like paperclips.