Tiny apartments generally have tiny gardens, if they have gardens at all. This book, The Tiny Garden: How to Make a Garden in Whatever Space You Have, by Jan McMorland Hunter, inspires even the smallest gardens into something special.
Even if you don't have a garden space, the book is a resource for how to make even a window box into a serene escape. This excerpt really inspired us: Balconies, passages, light wells, patios, window ledges, basements, the tops of fire escapes - no site is too small for a garden.
The link to the book is incorrect.
view Doug's profile
I'm looking forward to all the garden related entries on AT! Also the link to the book above.
I posted this in the tip section hoping someone might have a tip for it but since it's a garden related question I thought I'd ask here.
I would like to make an upside-down tomato grower for my balcony from a 5 gallon plastic bucket.
How can I "dress-up" the bucket to make it look...not like a bucket.
My thought was to spray paint it with that faux rock paint from krylon in hopes it would be somewhat camouflaged. It's a black steel and concrete balcony.
Any advice?
view art's profile
http://search.barnesandnoble.com/booksearch/isbnInquiry.asp?z=y&EAN=9780711224971&itm=1
view Lori's profile
Art,
Maybe contact paper will stick to the outside of the bucket. That may be better than actually painting it. Your major issue will be water coming in contact with it, though, otherwise you could have fun wrapping carboard with the corrugation exposed. You could also try some form of decoupage. All in all I think trying to disguise a 5 gallon bucket will be quite a challenge. I also think suspending it will be equally as difficult. 5 gallons of soil is very heavy.
view mattplantguy's profile
P.S. those bulbs above are fritillaria. Love 'em!
view mattplantguy's profile
Thanks Matt,
I know it's not going to be easy. I suppose I could just get those topsy turvey tomato growers but that's not nearly as challenging as making my own grower. I like the idea of the bucket because I'd imagine the roots will have some much more opportunity to grow. I also read about somebody growing flowers from the top of the bucket as well. Hmmm, maybe some kind of plant that can hang down the sides?
As far as the weight goes I was going to use lightweight potting mix and then maybe add a couple sections of that coconut material to help retain and diffuse the water.
view art's profile
Art,
Definitely send or post pictures once you have your planter together! It would be great to see how it comes together, especially if you are keeping it in the city. Beyond soil, there will be the weight of the water and the growing plants as well. Tomatos can get heavy! I have not attempted anything like this and am very curious to see how it will come together.
In Thursday's NYTimes Ane Raver wrote about 'modular gardens', which also talked about making planters out of these plastic buckets. One point that was brought up was that you really can make anything into a planter - even old dresser drawers. A few years ago someone submitted their pimped out Mac g3 tower planter to AT, which I thought was great. A few weeks ago I posted pics of those cheese boxes that Polux was using for planter boxes, and it made me think that one can have a limitless supply of boxes if they live near a wine shop!
Good luck with your project -
view mattplantguy's profile
Art,
Krylon has a spray paint called "Fusion" that is specifically for plastics.
I just painted my bistro table/chairs and all of my plastic flower pots with it. It's really brightened up my porch.
I tried the textured paints on a pot one year and it just did not hold up. It ended up looking kinda trashy.
http://www.krylon.com/main/product_template.cfm?levelid=5&sub_levelid=10&productid=1751&content=product_details
view fvlaura's profile
does my bathtub count? it seams very difficult to grow in there with what i know about myself.
view ion/?/'s profile
You may have something there, lon/?/! You remind me that my mother kept plants in an unused bathtub. Maybe *that's* where to put an herb garden! That BR had a window (but with indirect light) I don't have enough light or a good place to window garden, but would love to grow herbs to cook with. of course that garden BR could hold two of my BRs. Maybe one shelf in my medicine cabinet could become a surprise garden.
view Chester's profile
Matt,
I put together the upside-down tomato grower. I didn't end up using the bucket.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/art_chel/497967530/
http://www.flickr.com/photos/art_chel/497967520/
Here's a couple pictures. I know it looks a little amateur but it's a lot better than my first idea (5 gal. bucket). I'm hoping that the pots start to disappear after everything starts growing.
view art's profile