Easy Movable and Re-configurable Vegetable and Flower Trellis System

 For the last couple of seasons I have been experimenting with the Kiddie Pool Gardening System (KPGS) invented by Larry Hall  (Check out his YouTube channel)  The basics of the system are that you use fabric grow bags placed in plastic pools or containers, with a special potting mix, keeping about an inch of water in them at all times, I will cover the KPGS in another post.

 The system works brilliantly Check out this corn! until it comes to installing plant cages and trellises.  Since there is not any ground beneath the bags, there is nowhere to anchor any other structures.  The soil volume in the bags is not deep enough to hold cages and stakes upright once the plants get heavy with fruit.  Last December I had to prop one of my tomato cages up with an old level.

After searching the web high and low I realized that I was going to have to come up with my own system.  I will give credit to one member of the Rain Gutter Grow System Facebook page .  He came up with the idea of placing posts in buckets of concrete.  Using his idea I came up with the rest.

What you will need:

2 - 5 gallon buckets
2 - 5 gallon bucket lids
2 - 7 foot long 1 1/4 inch diameter pieces of schedule 40 or 80 PVC pipe **See note at the end
1 - 48 inch long piece of 1 1/4 inch diameter pieces of schedule 40 or 80 PVC pipe
6 - 18 inch long pieces of 1 1/4 inch diameter pieces of schedule 40 or 80 PVC pipe
3 - 50lb bags of fast setting cement
6 - 1 1/4 inch diameter PVC end caps
2 - 1 1/4 inch 5 way PVC Canopy/Furniture connectors. Buy Here
Water
Hammer or Rubber Mallet
Drill with a 1 1/2 inch hole saw

Place one length of 7' PVC pipe, centered, in each of the buckets. Fill with concrete following the label mixing directions.  Make sure the uprights are level from all sides and allow to set overnight. Izzy aka Isabelle helped me to level it with her nose!  She is a good helper doggie.

Move the buckets to their final location for assembly.  Each one holds 75 lbs of cement. You will need some help.

Connect one end of the 48 inch PVC section to each of the 2-5 way connectors and gently test fit them on your uprights between your buckets.  You may need to adjust the placement of your buckets to get the spacing correct.  Once your spacing is correct remove the cross piece and 5 way connectors.  Drill out the center of each bucket lid with the 1 1/2 inch hole saw. Slide your drilled lids over the uprights and secure them on the buckets and replace the cross assembly on the uprights.

Add the 6 - 18 inch sections of PVC to the 5 way connectors tapping them gently into place with a hammer if needed.  Add the caps to the ends of these sections.  The caps are necessary because bees and wasps love to nest in PVC pipe.  You could also simply tape the ends with duct tape but it would not be as pretty.

Viola you are done!

**Note:  When using Schedule 40 PVC you may want to fill the upright PVC pipes with cement to add additional stability.  At 7 feet tall they are a bit wobbly.  Using Schedule 80 would fix this but adding the cement is an easy and inexpensive work around.  Also note that PVC can break down when exposed to the sun.  Painting the pipe will increase the life expectancy of the system.

Now you can secure your cages to the center posts and also secure your stakes to the cross members above.  You could also hang trellis netting between the posts or fencing or cattle panels.  The options are endless.

You can alter this design to fit any space or configuration that you would like.  The uprights and arms can be any reasonable length.

The total cost of this build was approximately $60 but it will last for years.

Please let me know if you found this helpful and share your pictures if you build one!

I Love Wine and Wine Bottles! How to make a Wine Bottle Flower Bed Border

Yes, I love wine.  Most of my friends love wine too.  Therefore, I have a glut of empty wine bottles laying around because I am way too environmentally conscious to throw them away and the recycling center is all the way across town.  My front junk room office became choked with box after box of empties.  So, what's a girl to do?

Build a Wine Bottle Border for my herb garden!

What you will need:

Stakes and String
Wine Bottles
Level
Shovel
Hoe or Rake
Rubber Mallet



The hardest part of this project is getting the darn labels off.  Let me tell you, I tried everything short of setting the bottles on fire and burning them off!  After a bit of research I found several posts saying that Baking Soda would do the trick.  For four hours I had the bottles soaking in warm water and Baking Soda while I scrubbed the labels off with an old putty knife.  The Baking Soda worked well for most labels but there were a few stubborn ones (on the cheap bottles) that I had to use Goof Off on.  I mixed about a cup of Baking Soda to a sink of hot water and let them soak for 15 minutes before I began scrubbing.


Choose your spot wisely.  The first step after choosing your location is either measuring or laying out your bottles to see how many you need.

Then you dig a trench 6 inches wide and  8-10 inches deep along the whole line where your border will go.

Once you have your trench dug, use a rake or hoe to break up the excavated soil really well and put it back into the trench, packing it loosely.  Following your string line gently press the bottles, neck side down into the trench. (If your ground is very hard and dry, you can fill your trench with water and let it soak in to soften the soil before placing your bottles.)  Use a level to be sure they are all even across the top.  You can use a rubber mallet to gently tap them into place if needed.  Once they are all positioned, be sure to firm up the soil on both sides of the bottles.

For goodness sake, install two stakes and some string to keep your line straight!  I had to redo mine after I realized I had derailed from the plan by trying to eyeball the line.

Once done you will have a creative and decorative border to show off to all of your friends while sparing the environment and turning trash into something useful.  I think adding some light behind the bottles for nighttime might be neat.  What do you think?

I would love to hear your creative uses for old wine bottles.  Please leave me ideas in the comments section.  Happy digging!

Knowing how to do stuff...it's important!

Someone once said that "Knowledge is power".  Yeah right.  Nowadays, money is power.  In pursuit of more stuff we bow down and submit to the ideology of consumerism.  Work, work, work, buy buy, buy.

Most of us have no idea where our food comes from or how to do 70-80% of the things our grandmothers and grandfathers did, not only to make ends meet but sometimes to survive.

Our old traditions are dying and our skills are becoming lost.  Many of us can't keep an artificial plant alive and would probably have an anxiety attack if we had to sew on a button!  What do we have left to teach our children?  Yeah, how to operate a smart phone or program the toaster is a valuable skill but will that feed them, clothe them or keep them warm?  Where is the soul in that knowledge?

All of my life I have had a love of domestic things.  My mother was the consummate homemaker and could cook and sew like nobody's business.  She loved the outdoors and enjoyed working in the yard, fussing with her bird feeders and cooking delicious meals.  When I was young she made all of my clothes and most of our household linens including curtains, pillows, place-mats and anything else that was needed.  She instilled in me a love of creating.  The biggest thing she taught me was self reliance.

In light of all the sustainable living blogs that are popping up all over the web it seems that learning the old ways is becoming more popular.  People are starting to reexamine their lives and to slow down from the frantic pace that pervaded the 80's, 90's and 2000's.  More is no longer more.

With this blog I will share some of the skills my mother taught me along with many that I learned on my own.  Some of my keenest interests are gardening, cooking, food preservation, natural pet care, sewing and recycling old junk into fantastic new and usable junk, aka repurposing.

Come along with me and let's have some fun!

Finally! I got a round tuit!

Well would you look at that!  Sometime in 2014 I created this blog and then haplessly went about my life forgetting that it even existed.  So here I am, approaching my 50th birthday in two days and thinking that I should probably document a little of my life.  Wow, it's amazing how the big 5-0 will make you think of everything that you have and haven't done as well as what knowledge will leave this earth with you.  

So it's time to get off my duff and get busy!  I'm not a professional writer so bear with me as I fumble my way through the upcoming entries and please be gentle with your criticism.  Hopefully through this process I will grow as a writer, blogger, and resident of this beautiful world.

Thank you for noticing my drivel and being kind enough to entertain the Musings of a Closet Domestic Goddess.

Now let's have some fun!