DIY Projects

Some of you may have noticed the "green" in Franksgreengirls. We make every attempt to recycle otherwise useless items that we have or find to use in our home & garden. This year with our forced frosty incubation we have had several months now to think about what our next projects will be. We can tell you now that power tools will be used in this section but also a lot of soil and soil amendments. Here are some of the things we have in store:

  • Cabinet Planter Box (recycled)
  • Compost Bin Rebuild (recycled)
  • Seedling Pots (recycled)
  • Tomato Trellis (recycled & new)





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Aquarium Seed Starting

 
This year we brought back a tried and true method for starting the seeds for our garden in-doors. Those of you with kids or who have a terrible time raising fish may have an unused aquarium just collecting dust somewhere. This method of starting seeds will put that old aquarium to use and give you a head start on this and future growing seasons. Starting seedlings this way will ensure protection from snoopy toddlers and puppies. That's if you put your aquarium some where they can't push it over and whether or not you use your tank cover which is highly recommended to keep in moisture.

You will need 6 items to start your own in-door temporary aquarium garden:
  1. 10 - 20 gallon fish tank with standard UV or Fluorescent aquarium light 
  2. Seed Starting Mix or Potting Soil (you can make your own or purchase in store. I do both)
  3. Toilet Paper Rolls and/or Water Bottles (cut in half) or other small containers
  4. Spray Bottle
  5. Aluminum Foil
  6. SEEDS of course!!!!
The first thing you want to do is make sure to place your aquarium in an accessible area. Then you will take the aluminum foil and line the inner sides and bottom of the tank with the foil. You can tape down the sides or just fold them to make sure they are stable. Next you want to line the insides of the tank with the "pots" of your choice. This year I am using used water bottles AND toilet paper rolls. The nice thing about the toilet paper rolls is that you can just pop the whole plant into the ground with the roll around it. It's biodegradable and won't hurt your plants at all, and your root system will have a chance to establish itself without interference or damage from grubs or other parasites. This system saved the life of our jarradale pumpkins, and our giant sunflowers. The seeds we directly sowed were munched and crunched by something squiggly and didn't have a chance (those rascally squirrels didn't help either).  Please feel free to comment and leave any tips and tricks that you've been successful with. I am always looking to expand my knowledge of gardening so that I can share it with one person at a time until all my neighbors have gardens.







Giant Red Sunflower

Brandywine Tomato


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