As a gardener concerned with the environment, you’re always looking for ways to turn trash into things you can use in landscaping. Pallets are easy to find, and grocery stores, home improvement stores, and lumber yards often give them away for free. Use one or more of these do-it-yourself projects with pallets to give your garden a unique, pretty, and useful look.

Vertical herb garden

A small herb or vegetable garden can be made from a used wood pallet. Your new vertical garden won’t take up much room, and you can start using it in about an hour. To grow plants, you can put pots or planter boxes inside or on the pallet.

Some pallets might have been employed to move gasoline or even other dangerous chemicals. Or they could have bugs or mold in them. Before using your pallet planter to grow food, ensure the wood is safe. If the pallets have been subjected to heat instead of treated with chemicals, most of them are safe to use.

Cost: In most cases, it’s free. Or, you can buy a pallet for about $16.

Pallet bridge or path

What could be more magical than knowing where a path leads? Using old pallets to make a garden path can add some mystery to your yard and make it more useful.

How to do that: Clear and level the land you want to use, pack the soil down, and set the pallets. If you need to, you can add more dirt over them to make them more stable. Watch Funky Junk Interiors’ Donna make a pallet walkway.

With more work and the right tools, you can cut the pallets to separate the boards and utilize them to build the walkway. As this tutorial shows, you can also nail them to the ground to make them even stronger. This DIY project may be accomplished with any food-safe pallet.

Cost: You can buy a bunch of 10 recycled pallets online for around $14 each if you can’t get enough for free.

Compost bin

With this do-it-yourself project, you can transform old pallets into a compost bin and utilize food scraps and yard waste as soil sample enricher and fertilizer. This is a big win for recycling.

How to do it: You don’t need any tools for this pallet design. Four wood pallets and a backpack of heavy-duty zip ties are all you need. Pick a location for your compost bin, level the soil there, and then connect the cargo pallets at a 90-degree angle.

Cost: You can ask local garden centers, repair shops, or grocery stores if they have free pallets.

Freestanding trellis

The easiest way to build a freestanding pallet trellis for your garden is to put a hinge on the top of the two. This DIY pallet project is easy for anyone because the pallets do not have to be removed with saws and other tools.

Best plants for a pallet trellis: Some of the best fruits and vegetables to grow in this vertical pallet garden are cucumbers, melons, pole beans, smother, tomatoes, and raspberries.

Cost: You could get pallets for free at stores near you and hinges priced between $7 and $40, depending on how big they are and how many you need.

Chicken coop

Your mini farm has fruit and vegetable gardens, but you would like to add chickens to improve its appearance. A pretty low-cost job. Taking care of five hens costs about $69 a month. You can save cash on eggs and chicken mutton at the store with a few chickens on your property. You can also build a cheap place for your chickens to live out of old pallets.

Details: Take apart just a few wooden pallets and use the slats to build the walls. Then, build your chicken coop and use deck screws to connect the floor, door, and roof. Instructables show step-by-step how to do things.

Cost: Businesses near you will give you pallets for free. If you don’t, buying regular wood will cost you about $650.

Pallet-based privacy fencing

Anyone can build a normal fence, but normal isn’t your style. Instead, make a fence out of pallets by showing how unique and creative you are. With pallet fences, your landscaping will stand out. They additionally save you money because most shipping pallets are free and can be used more than once.

Line up enough large pallets (96 inches by 48 inches) vertically to cover the area you want to block off, then connect them with roofing nails or deck screws. This will start by giving you a privacy fence that is 8 feet tall.

Forty-eight by 40 inches pallets can be used to fence in a garden (or 4 feet by about 3.5 feet). To grow food in your garden, use heat-treated pallets rather than pressure-treated materials, which might leach chemicals into the soil.

Cost: Pallets should be free, but you may need to buy screws, a drill, and untreated wood planks if you don’t already have them. You can buy pine boards without a finish for $5. With screws and a drill, you can probably have spent more than $100.

I made a swing from pallets.

You can’t tell us why a pallet swing isn’t cooler than a hammock. A pallet swing is simple to construct and is a great place to sit under a tree with a cool drink and a book or magazine you like.

Sand and clean up two pallets. If you want to, you can also paint your pallets. If you want to, you can use wood-based paint for the outside. You can attach this half-piece to the pallet with a drill and screws. Then cut holes for the rope to go through. Hang your paddle from a strong tree branch and decorate it with colorful throw pillows, cushions, and blankets.

Cost: Pallets are free at a local store, an electric sander costs $14, and each can of paint costs about $30.

Tagged : gardening

If you want your square-foot garden to yield the most results, installing a watering system is the most important thing you can do. These systems make it simple to water your garden and allow you to tend to your garden beds even when you are not at home or the weather is very severe.

Installing a watering system in your square-foot garden has many benefits.

Square foot gardening is a fantastic method for making the most out of a garden space that is on the smaller side. This method will pack your plants tightly, creating a living mulch that will benefit your garden. When you attempt to water your garden after it has reached its mature size, another potential source of difficulty may present itself.

Because of the dense packing of the plants, they have formed a canopy over the area, which prevents normal watering from reaching the roots of the plants. A watering system will assist in delivering water to the roots of plants, where the plant can use the water. You can reduce the time spent maintaining your garden by installing an irrigation system.

If your plants have access to an adequate water supply and can take in the nutrients in the soil, your square-foot garden will generate the most output possible. Setting up an irrigation system for your garden beds that you can then plan is a terrific approach to making this process simpler and more manageable. Because you have this timer, your garden will be watered even if you are not there to do it, which will free you up to concentrate on other matters.

For plants to endure the blistering sun and record-breaking heat that comes with heat waves, they must be watered. Many gardeners avoid watering their plants during the hottest part of the day, even though this is the time of day when the plants require the most hydration. This is because if the tops of the plants are wet, the water will amplify the light and cause the plants to be scorched.

Your plants will not be damaged by water during the sun’s peak. Thanks to this, your plants will survive even the most severe heat waves, which is a huge benefit.

How to Install an Irrigation System in a Square Foot Garden

You can buy an irrigation system for your square-foot garden that has already been designed. Making your own from scratch and weaving drip hoses through your garden beds can be very successful. This is how many people construct their drip irrigation systems. Some of them even come with an integrated grid that you can use as a grid for your square foot garden, which is included in the purchase price of some of them.

Some kits can be purchased, making installing a specialized irrigation system for your garden simple. You can often reuse items you already have at home, such as leftover piping and old hoses, to reduce waste and save a bit more money than you would by purchasing customized irrigation kits, which are the most cost-effective way to buy everything you need to install a watering system in your garden. However, purchasing customized irrigation kits is the most cost-effective way to buy everything you need to install a watering system in your garden.

Create a plan for your irrigation system before you get started. Plants that require a lot of water to survive, such as tomatoes, should be placed closer to the beginning of your irrigation system. This will allow them to receive more water than plants planted further away that don’t require as much water to survive.

Because of this, it will be much simpler for you to decide where and how many holes you want, as a result of the fact that you can position more openings near the beginning, which is where plants like tomatoes will grow, and fewer openings at the end, which is where you might grow herbs that you want to have a more flavorful taste. Imagine that you have already planned out the layout of your garden beds and decided where you want to place your irrigation lines.

After you have finished the mapping, you can add drip holes to your watering system by inserting needles into the hose or pipe or using the irrigation attachments included with your kit. You can do this after you have finished the mapping. Before you begin this process, you should map out the system in your garden. This will allow you to smooth out any kinks in the system and plan it to make the best possible use of the water.

Use your irrigation system to its fullest.

Make use of connectors to link together multiple irrigation systems for your garden. This will allow you to turn on one system and let it water the entire garden, saving you time and effort. If you cannot water your garden, you should think about watering the beds that are more difficult to access. Using a gadget controlled by wifi or a timer allows you to automate your watering system.

When you finally install your irrigation system, one of the best ways to make the most of it is to delegate all watering responsibilities to the system. Even if you aren’t at your house, you can use a timer or another device with wifi capability to activate your system from a distance. You can delegate the watering responsibilities to your irrigation system if you choose.

Tagged : gardening

As gardeners, we always seek methods to make growing plants easier. Gardening is fun, satisfying, relaxing, and hard work all at the same time. There’s always a task, like a plan, plant, moisture, weed, and harvest. Most gardeners like working in their gardens, sometimes, but you have a lot of things to do, and you feel a very little overwhelmed.

Provide food for the soil.

If you start with good soil, you can grow healthy and full plants. Healthy plants get sick less often, get less damage from pests, and need less water. First, you should buy a soil analysis kit and test your soil. Slow-release organics can be added to soil that lacks sufficient minerals or nutrients.

Then, regularly add organic matter such as compost, seaweed byproducts, bone meal, fish fertilizers, or well-rotted manure. When you’ve opted to apply these organic additions over three or four years, you might reduce your soil feeding and add new compost every other year. Don’t use synthetic fertilizers because they can kill the soil’s great bugs and organic matter.

Group plants to make things easier and have the most effect.

That’s the beginning of the equation. Sun-loving plants should go in the sun, and groundcovers should go where they can keep moving around. But believe how much easier it’d be to provide water if you put all your plants that need a lot of water together, so you could turn on the sprinklers or drag the hose over one area and be done.

How you arrange the plants affects how easy it is to care for them and how nice they look. Plants that grow taller should go in the back or the middle. Next, put plants of medium height all around taller ones and short or trailing plants along the edges.

Choose perennials that don’t need much upkeep.

Make the spine of your flower garden out of hardy plants that don’t need much care. You don’t have to do much during the growing season to take care of these plants. They require little trimming, pinching, staking, or deadheading. You’ll also have gorgeous floral beds you don’t have to pay for yearly.

Use containers and raised beds.

Gardening can be easier and give you more authority over your plants if you use pots and garden beds. You can alter the soil, water, and light and even halt the plants from spreading. You can still grow stuff in containers if you have a tiny balcony or tiny patio to garden on.

Raised beds separate plants from their surroundings. This makes it easier and faster to get rid of weeds. On a bigger scale, you still have the same control as when employing containers, but you won’t have to bend over as much. You must monitor the soil’s moisture in both methods because it will clean out faster.

Install drip irrigation.

Drip irrigation used to be hard to set up and start taking time to measure, buy, and set up, but now it’s as easy as putting together such a tinker toy. You will save money if you do not even rely on rain to wet your gardens. Drip irrigation is far and away the best way to water plants.

It also puts water right where your plants need it, which is good. Plant diseases are kept to a minimum because the water is not sprayed on the leaves but slowly leads to the soil around the plants. If you set a timer, you won’t have to recall to switch it on.

Mulch Again

Mulching makes sense, but you’ve probably heard this a thousand times. Still, a lot of gardeners think that mulch is just for looks. A garden looks better with mulch and takes less time to water, weed, and fertilize. This makes your job easier and gardening easier again!

Organic mulches, aged compost, bark chips, clean straw, dried grass clippings, pine boughs, and chipped wood all aid in the growth of beneficial organisms in the soil. They will slowly break down, which will improve the soil.

I’ve discovered that placing a thin coating of straw mulch around and under strawberries keeps pill insects and slugs from consuming them. It will additionally keep the soil moist, stop diseases that spread through the soil, and keep the apples from having to sit on the ground.

Get Some Wheels

With a good garden trolley or wheelbarrow, you can easily move, carry, and lift things in your garden. You can wheel your tools to the compost pile, move plants, start harvesting, get rid of weeds, and move your crops. Wheels will let you get even more done while placing less strain on your body, regardless of size.

Plant a garden with your kids.

Teach your kids and grandkids as soon as they can how much fun it can be to play in the garden. Change the activities to fit their age. It may be as simple as playing with soil and water for the littlest gardeners. Show them insects, grubs, roots, flowers, and grown seeds.

The kids would rather water than pull weeds. Let them have a place to grow their plants. They might be in charge of a small pot of flowers or a tomato plant. It’s a good way to teach children to be mindful of their things and be proud of what they’ve done.

Tagged : gardening

As summer approaches, you might consider making your garden as cozy and inviting as possible. There’s no better time to start changing your home, whether you want to have barbecues for your friends or spend warm summer evenings with your family.

If you get organized and start changing your garden early in the year, it will be ready for your summer plans. You can avoid rushing around at the last minute and enjoy the sunny weather when winter returns.

Despite what most people think, garden renovations don’t have to be expensive, hard, or take a lot of time. With a small budget, you can completely change your garden into the perfect outdoor space for your needs in just a few weeks.

5 Steps to a Complete Garden Renovation

By streamlining the renovation process, you can save money and simultaneously create a stylish and useful outdoor space. You can’t skip many important steps when making changes to the outside of your home. We’ll review these steps so you can update their garden again for the hot summer months.

Set up a place to sit.

During the warm summer evenings, you, your family, and your guests will need a place to relax. Use interlocking retaining wall blocks to split a corner of your garden from the rest of your outdoor space.

With building structural blocks, you can make your garden look better by choosing a design and aesthetic you like. Once you’ve built a wall around the area you want, you can add additional decorations to make the area feel warm and welcoming. You might want to put comfy chairs and big flower pots in the space.

You could hang lights along the bottom of your newly constructed wall or the fence to make the area brighter and more relaxing. Solar outdoor lamps are a good choice to save money on your electricity bill.

Purchase a new garden shed.

Buying a cedar shed for your garden will give you a place to store all your tools and equipment out of the way. You can maintain your outdoor space clean, organized, and free of dangers. The shed should look good in your garden and not get in the way or take up too much space.

It would help to consider how your shed looks to ensure it fits in with the rest of your home. You should expect to pay a few hundred dollars for a simple garden shed. Large study sheds might cost as much as $1,000 or more.

Mow the yard

It may not sound particularly exciting to fix up your garden to pull out the lawn mower, but preparing your outdoor space for summer is typically necessary. It doesn’t matter how recently purchased or brightly colored your garden furniture or pots are; if you have muddy grass, your garden will start to seem old and worn.

When the temperature outside rises, you may need to cut your grass more often. Set aside approximately ten minutes monthly to trim the grass and maintain some semblance of order in the yard. You can also employ a gardener to undertake the task on your behalf.

Replace or upgrade your patio.

If you have a patio in your garden, you must take a few extra steps to make your outdoor space look brand new. It’s a good idea to get a new patio for your garden if you want it to look and feel more modern. Styles and plans for patios are always changing. You can maintain up with the latest trends and keep your garden looking great by installing new patio boards.

If you want to save money, all you need to do to fix up your patio is give it a quick coat of paint or gloss. Both paint and gloss add a layer of protection to keep your patio in good shape all summer. Before you paint the patio, use a pressure washer to remove dust and other debris.

Painting the fence

Work on the fence surrounding your garden after completing any necessary repairs or painting of your patio. The appearance of your outdoor space may be drastically improved with only a few coats of paint.

You may complete painting the fence in one or two days, and you can leave it the same color as it has been for the last several years or give it a new look entirely. After that, you should probably apply a layer of gloss to the paint to protect it from the sun and not lose its color.

Tagged : gardening

Many people will grow some of their food this year because the economy is still struggling. Even if you have only a small space, growing your food in their small backyard can help you save money on food.

The Problems Of Gardening In A Small Backyard

Gardening in a small backyard can be a rewarding and fun hobby but has its share of challenges. Listed are a few of the main problems that small gardeners in their yards may run into:

• Limited Space: The biggest problem with gardening in a small backyard is that there isn’t much room to plant. This means gardeners must be creative and thoughtful about what they plant and how they set up their gardens.
• Sunlight and shade: Depending on how the backyard is set up, some spots may get more or less sun than others. Gardeners must be aware of these changes in light and pick plants that will do well in those conditions.
• Soil Quality: The soil in a small backyard might not be good for gardening, especially if grass or other plants have already grown there. Gardeners have to figure out how good the soil is and take steps to make it better, like adding compost or even other organic matter.
• Pest and Disease Control: Because the plants in a small garden are so close together, they are often more vulnerable to pests and diseases than plants in a larger garden. Gardeners must closely monitor their plants and act quickly if they see pests or diseases.
• Watering and Irrigation: Water may not be easy to get to in small backyard gardens, making watering and irrigation hard. Gardeners need to think about how much water their plants need and take steps to make sure they get enough. For example, they could install a drip irrigation system or use containers that water themselves.
• Plant Selection: selecting the correct plants for a small backyard can be hard because gardeners have to balance their desire for variety in their garden with the limited space and sunlight.

Best Outdoor Plants For A Small Backyard

Herbs

• Basil: Basil is a great choice for small backyard gardens since it is easy to grow and doesn’t require much space. It is also a versatile herb that may be incorporated into many dishes, from Thai curries to Italian pasta sauces. Basil is a good herb to grow in your garden. Basil has a lot of great uses, and I like to add it to our chicken feed.
• Mint: Mint is another easy-to-grow herb grown in small pots. It is a refreshing herb suitable for teas, drinks, and a wide range of foods.
• Thyme: Thyme is a tough herb that can grow in a small garden in your backyard. It is a great herb for soups, stews, and other savory dishes to add flavor.

Vegetables

• Tomatoes: Tomatoes are a famous choice for small backyard gardens due to their ease of growing and can be grown in pots or small garden beds. They can also be used in many dishes, from salad dressings to pasta sauces.
• Peppers: Another great plant for small backyard gardens is peppers. They are small plants that can be risen in pots. They come in different colors and levels of heat.
• Cucumbers: Cucumbers are simple to cultivate and can be trained to grow up instead of out, which makes them a good option for small spaces. They can also be used in salads, sandwiches, and other dishes.
• Carrots: Carrots are veggies that don’t take up much space and are good for small backyard gardens. They are full of nutrients like beta-carotene and are easy to grow.

Fruits

• Blueberries: Blueberry bushes are small and can be grown in backyard gardens with limited space. They are full of antioxidants and other healthy nutrients, which makes them a good addition to any diet.
• Strawberries: Strawberries are yet another fruit that may be grown in a small space. You can grow them in pots or small garden beds. They are sweet and good for you.
• Dwarf fruit trees: Because of those who take up less space than regular fruit trees, dwarf fruit trees are a great choice for small backyard gardens. They can be grown in pots or small garden beds and give you apples, pears, and peaches, among other fruits.

Flowers

• Marigolds: Marigolds are easy to grow and look great in small backyard gardens because their flowers are bright and colorful. They can also keep bugs like aphids and mosquitoes away.
• Zinnias: Zinnias are another flower good for small backyard gardens. They come in different colors and can be grown in pots or small garden beds.
• Cosmos: Cosmos are hardy flowers that can be risen in small yard gardens. They come in many different colors and have tall, showy blooms that bees and butterflies like to visit.

Tips For A Successful Small Backyard Garden

• Putting plants in containers is one of the most effective methods for cultivating plants in a small backyard. Containers come in all shapes and sizes and can be put on patios, decks, and even hung on walls. This is a great choice for people who don’t have much room or want to keep moving their plants around to get the most sun.
• Utilizing vertical gardening techniques is another way to make the most of a small yard. This is done by growing plants up walls, fences, or trellises. For vertical gardening, it’s best to use plants that grow up, like tomatoes, cucumbers, and beans.
• Planting different plants together that help each other out is called companion planting. For instance, planting marigolds on tomatoes can keep pests away. Planting basil with peppers can make them taste better and keep pests away at the same time.
• Preparing the soil is the most important part of gardening. In a small garden in your yard, adding organic matter such as compost or manure to the soil is important. This will help make the soil more fertile and drain better, which can help plants grow better.
• In a small garden in your backyard, it’s important to water plants often and feed them when needed. Plants grown in pots or raised beds may need to be watered more often than plants grown in the ground. A drip irrigation system can help save water and ensure that plants get the right amount of water. Using a balanced fertilizer to feed plants can help ensure they get the nutrients they need to grow and do well.

Tagged : gardening

Now that the growing season is over, it’s time to put their Ohio garden to bed. Late in September, when the days get shorter and colder, plants are done for the season. Below are a few important tips for keeping your Ohio garden in good shape so you can get ready for winter.

Set the Brush Aside

The soil gets tough and crusty when the weather gets cooler in the fall. Get rid of weeds, dead plants, and anything else insects could hide in. Tillers that run on electricity or gas are easier to use, but if you always do things yourself, hand-tilling is a great way to get your hands dirty and work out simultaneously.

When you till the soil, you cut up things that live all winter, like weeds, Japanese beetles, and grubs. On leaves and stalks, bugs like beetles, aphids, and grubs lay their eggs. Fungi grew on decaying plants.

Fungal pathogens sink into the ground, stay alive all winter, and eat new plants in the spring. Dead plants inside the garden can be used to make organic fertilizer, but it’s hard to tell if they are free of pests and diseases.

Covering Garden Beds

Weeds can be a bother. If they still aren’t coming out after one or two rounds of tilling, surround the region with black plastic, paperboard, or a carpeting layer. Keep the cover until next spring. You will not get your hopes up just because many weeds will die. Weeds never completely go away. Weed seeds grow in late summer and fall so that seeds can germinate in early spring.

Using herbicides already when weeds develop helps keep them from trying to grow in the spring. Add a couple of centimeters of compost, leaves, straw, mulch, and animal manure to improve the soil. In different parts of Ohio, the first and last frosts happen at different times. By composting in the late fall, nutrients can soak into the soil over the winter.

The Berry Patches

We grow strawberries, berries, raspberries, and blackberries in Ohio, also known as the Buckeye State. Most berries are hardy, but they need a little extra care in the fall.

Raspberries: Trim them between the beginning and middle of the fall. Leave six strong, fruit-bearing raspberry canes for every foot of the patch. Even though raspberries grow on old canes and produce fruit in the summer, they do well in Ohio. In the fall, berries are made from new shoots in the summer. Cut the canes to the ground whenever the raspberries are done.

Blackberries: Plant blackberries in the fall in mounds of soil so that tough frosts won’t pull them out of the ground. Get rid of the blackberry canes that are hanging down. Cover with mulch.

Strawberries: Strawberries can survive light frosts, but your berries might die if it gets too cold. After the first hard frost, put 3 inches of straw over strawberry plants. It’s all about the timing! Straw leaves that have been finely chopped, pine needles, and thin wood chips help keep the soil around the strawberry plants toasty in the winter.

Blueberries: There are numerous kinds of blueberry plants, yet half-high is the best for Ohio’s cold weather. Blueberry plants have to go to sleep for the winter. Frosts and freezes can upset northern highbush blueberry plants when the temp drops below 20°F. Blueberries that are only half an inch high can live in temperatures that are colder than that. Put a thin layer of mulch around the base.

Putting Cover Layers

Planting cover crops like clover, rye, and vetch keeps the soil from washing. These plant levels add organic matter and nutrients to the soil. They also pull carbon out of the air to settle in garden beds. Ice and heavy rain don’t hurt the soil as much when cover crops are there.

Amending Soil

Some gardeners want to change the soil in the spring, but fall is a good time, especially just after harvest when you are cleaning up. Add organic fertilizers like bone meal, fish emulsion, hemp seed, blood meal, manure, and compost. When you treat the soil in the fall, the nutrients can decompose before you plant in the spring.

Herb Gardens

Herbs have different lengths of life. Some perennials, like sage, can survive temps below freezing and will develop back in the spring. Thyme goes to sleep in the fall. Dig up your annuals and bring them inside for the winter. After August, avoid fertilizing herb gardens.

When you add nutrients to plants late in the growing season, they grow new leaves that will fall off in the winter. Cut back herbs after the first hard freeze. In the spring, remove the mulch when the herb stems start to grow.

Perennial Prep

The best way to give perennials a head start is to water and cut them back in the fall. After the first freeze, cut the stalks of perennials down to about 3 inches. Put a layer of mulch, dried grass, hemlock, leaves frequently, or straw on the ground. Heavy plastic won’t let weeds grow on it.

Roses

Healthy roses come back every spring but may need more care in the fall. Take off any dead or sick stems. Put approximately rose plants after the first frost. If your tea roses also have long stems they used to climb, lay people down before you cover them.

Other Garden Stuff

It may seem like there are always things to do outside, but before winter:

• Collect the leaves.
• Cover the compost pile with a creamy piece of plastic or a layer of straw.
• Garden tools such as tillers, aerators, and others should not have gas.
• If you keep empty containers outside, bring them inside or flip them over.

Tagged : gardening