We are always finding neat little ideas for making a garden that is simple enough for those of us who do not have room for a regular garden, or are just not able to garden anymore. This thread is to share some of those ideas that do not have a whole thread about them, but are worth sharing. Today, I watched a video about a mini-greenhouse made from a few sticks and a roll of Saran Wrap . It looked pretty easy to do and also protected the lettuce that was growing in the greenhouse from any kind of pests or bugs. I remember seeing a video for using a cardboard box for growing potatoes, and I think that I might combine the two ideas, use the cardboard box for the base, make some stakes from the bamboo, and then wrap in ti plastic wrap and see how it does.
The best "aid" I have seen for serious senior gardeners are Planting Tables, which are just raised beds on legs to make them more accessible. One of my friends has several of these with coverings, automated watering, and the capability to heat the soil artificially. She grows a lot of stuff in them, and, since she removed the covers during the winter, she doesn't get "soil sickness" found in many greenhouses. With the automated watering, she and her husband can go on trips and such to see the grandchildren without much worry about the gardens. The covers also keep the moose from devouring their harvest. I also have another friend who makes the beds and sells them.
I had a 4' X 8' garden in the farthest corner of the yard. I planted it over with grass and started a new one closer about 4' from where I hang out in the summer. I removed two patches of grass 18" X 18" and added some garden soil. It's enough for two tomato plants. I bought these jumbo tomato cages from Totally Tomatoes which are 5' tall.
Hedi I can't wait to put ours out in the raised beds. We started them too early. Plus if we want to take a trip high risk of losing them to heat, it will get over 100 in greenhouse in just a few minutes.
Surprised it worked. We have some 4 foot wire fencing but shorter might work too. You lay 6 feet or so on the ground and pile up all your grass and leaves from last year along with potting soil, manure or whatever you have laying around. Bring the ends of the fence together and tie them with wire. Stand the towers up and insert seed potatoes all over. Water when dry. When the plants are done, knock the towers over, open them up and voila! potatoes! They have videos of potato towers on youtube, I think.
You need to have a thermostat regulated fan(s) to cool and an autowatering system on a timer. Then you will only have to worry about fertilizing/spraying or whatever you do for diseases and fertility.
True Don, that sure would make it a lot easier. But this may be the last year starting seeds so early and using green house, not sure. Who knows? Thanks.
I think we are going to put the plants in the raised bed. Will leave most of them in their containers. Maybe bury the containers a little bit and mulch good. Cold snap we'll cover them.
Here is another interesting gardening idea that I think I will try doing. It is basically cutting up onions from the grocery store and planting them. I have done this with green onions after using the tops, and then planted the white part and they kept growing; but this look like it would work even better and produce nice sturdy green onions.
Here is a short video about growing plants in those red (or clear) Solo cups. They use two cups, and water from the bottom cup, and add some liquid plant nutrients. This video is for lettuce, but I have been looking at some where they are growing other plants, like peppers and spinach, and just about any of the smaller plants. Larger plants can be started this way and then transplanted after they have a good start, so I am going to try starting some tomatoes in the Solo cups, too, and then when they outgrow the cup, it should be warm enough here to put them outside.
That is amazing they grew back so fast. One week and they were even bigger. I want to try this,Thanks Yvonne.
One video that I watched was about making a kind of teepee and putting containers with pole beans at the corners, and they climb up the teepee poles. It looked good to me, so I asked @Bobby Cole if he would make me a bamboo teepee and he did. I decided that it should work for cucumbers also, so I now have two of them, and right out where they get lots of sunshine. Another video showed a watering system of putting large pans under the containers to hold water longer in the hot summer days. So, I ordered two cheap kiddie pools, and we set those up under the teepee gardens. Here is what they look like right now. I put a tomato in the center and it can grow up inside the teepee, and it will help shelter the tomato plant when we get those really hot summer days and tomatoes stop producing fruit.