Sugar Bucket upcycle

 Some times you need to know when to stop.  I recently found a sugar bucket at Habitat it had a broken lid and some one decided that they needed ,in magic marker, to add their initials to it. Every thing else about the bucket was primitive heaven.  

I managed to glue the lid top back together but reattaching the rim was difficult.  It literally fell apart every time I tried manipulate it.  I decided to omit the rim.

Now I have a sugar bucket not in its original state.  Rim broken and removed so the lid will not stay on top and removing the lid with out a rim is frustrating.  

I had found a well used wooden trowel on one of my excursions and picked it up just because it was well worn and you just never know when you may need a trowel.

I decided the handle on the trowel was some what primitive enough to be a up Cycled Sugar Bucket lid handle.

I addressed the sliding of the lid with an old dowel.  I cut three 1/4 inch pcs off and attached them under the lid.  The positioning was off the edge a smidge over the thickness of the bucket wall.

You drop the lid on and it will not slide off.

Now the general state of the bucket was beautiful in my opinion.  I did not think I could replicate the color of the original paint so I stopped here and decided not to paint.   I sanded the lettering off as best I could and applied clear and dark wax to age those scuffed areas.  

I also cleaned and waxed the interior.

A perfect storage container in any room of any home!

Hope you have good one!

Sheryl

Haws watering can Purchase! Christmas in the greenhouse in May!

 I have been in the garden since I was five  years old.  I can remember helping Nana and Papa (Wilson) and, Mom and Dad plant and harvest the garden.  The the smell of fresh dirt and it between my toes are still my favorite part of spring and summer. That need to plant and harvest has not left me.  As an adult I still plant , harvest, and enjoy a flower garden.  As an adult I also love a good, vintage or new, garden tool.  The same way a seamstress or quilter likes a nice pair of scissor.  The same way a carpenter likes a good quality tape measure or a painter appreciates a quality brush.  I appreciate a good garden "Tool".  I have always wanted a Haws Watering Can.  Established in 1886 they are the worlds oldest manufacturer of watering cans.  The cans are balanced and carry well. They are powder coated steel and made environmentally responsible.  They are also pricey for a watering can.  Finally I bit the bullet and purchased a Haws watering can.  It is like Christmas in the green house!

    

It is what it is taunted to be:  A perfectly balanced 2 gallon watering can with gentle watering spout aka rose. I can report it carried the two gallons of water with out the sloshing or spilling.  It was balanced and easy on your grip (my older hands appreciate this). It does the job it promised to do.  

There are more interchangeable spouts that you can purchase for it.  Making this a versatile tool for the garden, patio and greenhouse.   I foresee seed watering next march.

And it looks amazing on the patio of the Greenhouse.  I thank my husband for not batting an eye when I made this purchase.  He reminded me that I have wanted one for a long time and to get it.  

Happy Gardening!

Sheryl

  

The Garden and how it speaks.

 

There is something forgiving about a garden and maybe that is why I like to play in the dirt.  If you make a mistake you can always  start over.  A fresh beginning , a new season , a new day and always potential.   It will forgive you.

 I am most thankful for the  faithful trees and plants that make their appearance every spring and endure the summer heat.  Most of these are gifts from mothers , grandmothers and great grandmothers or were bundles left at the mail box by a fellow gardener.  There is a diversity here that is  facilitated by generosity and wishers of abundance.  My garden is not planned or plotted.  It is a free space with Season, Sunlight and Shade being its only constraints.  I am not a master gardener, I am barely a novice.   Plants have to be tough to survive me.  I plop it into the ground , water it, feed it and hope for the best.  If it struggles in that spot I move it.  If it does not make it, I try something else.  I try to stay away from fads and species with super complex needs.  I know my limitations.

There is no color code in my Garden.  Some garden designers do not incorporate red, or hot pink or white.  I say bring on the rainbow!  I am not so pretentious.  

Water in the garden is a must and to hear water in the garden is an added bonus.  The sound of moving water is comfort food for your soul.  When you add bird song as a accompaniment it truly makes the garden a place of respite and rejuvenation.  There is nothing better than sitting in the garden at day break listening to nature wake up with the gentle movement of water.  

All you need is a fountain pump and a water tight vessel to make a water feature that will produce sound.  Here is an old cherub fountain base with a bass pheasant faucet mounted on piping sitting in an old plastic pond form we bought years ago. 

An old faithful bird bath.  A great attractor of birds and much needed in the summer.

A little simpler approach is a saucer (can be any saucer that will hold water) that has a hole cut in the center with the fountain pipe coming out of it.  It sits atop an old terracotta drainage pipe. The saucer fills and the water spills out of the rim.  

The greenhouse in the garden is a luxury and one that I do not take for granted.  It is beautiful and can be brutal in this part of the country. Without heating and air,  I am not using it as a conservatory, in June or January.  It requires a shade cloth, in the summer, on the West side to tame the afternoon heat from the beaming sun.  Heat mats are required to start seeds and I have to move my seedlings around to chase the sun.  It houses Garden implements, potting soil and pretty pots that I will more than likely never use. 

  

The green house is a motivator to do better.  It deserves a weeded flower bed, alliums, shade cloth and a blanket in the winter.  It always welcomes you to my garden.   It has become an old friend that speaks softly to me of seasons to come and reminds me that the season I am in is beautiful.

I truly hope that you have a garden room that you love to spend time in.  That you can take a moment in and , slow down and be still.

Sheryl

The ritual of spring. Seed Planting sweet peas , carrots and radish.

 

Every spring these three seeds go in the ground first;  Sweet Peas, carrots and radish.  It is those seeds that germinate quickly , can tolerate cooler temps and mature quickly.  These are the seeds that you start with your young children to introduce them to the wonder of nature and fresh food.  I plant these every year to jump start some enthusiasm in getting in the garden. 

Peas you need to put on a trellis.  This year I used the limbs from the confederate rose that was pruned back.  The limbs of a confederate rose are straight and dry hard enough to support the fine runners of a pea plant.  The limbs are also free with exception of the sun and water investment from mother nature and growth energy from the host plant.

The peas with in a week have broken the ground and sprouting. 

We added some raised beds this year.  Found these on my favorite on line shopping app.  Amazon.  

These raised beds are galvanized , and do not have bottoms.  They measure 8 foot by 3 foot by 12 inches tall.  The bottoms are lined with heavy duty landscape fabric and card board.  Hopefully that will hold the tree roots at bay for a year or two.  

Along with the carrots and radish seeds I added some sprouting garlic heads.  I may regret that but for now they are growing and adding some green to the garden.

I hope you have some time to play in the dirt and plant a seed or two!

Sheryl

Greenhouse update: how to deal with the heat in Zone 8

 

The high today is 101 degrees Fahrenheit which translates to 135 or more in a greenhouse.  If you are using the greenhouse through the summer months that is just too hot to grow in.  If you are using the Greenhouse , like I am , to store pots , potting soil and garden tools it just to hot.   How to beat some of the heat is to install a vent fan.  There are many choices out there at many price ranges.  We have power in the greenhouse so a electric louver fan with a thermostat control works well for us.  We also installed a 50% shade cloth on the roof side that gets the mid day and evening sun.  This made a huge difference in the temperature.  

Just remember the vent fan is there to displace the heat in your greenhouse.  We put the fan as high as we could pushing air our and have a floor level opening to allow heavier cooler air to be pulled in to the greenhouse.  We have a small vintage floor fan sitting in front of the floor vent to help pull more air in.

 

  We also have a few windows that will open to help with air flow.  Early in the spring the small vent worked great at maintaining a decent temp.  However with the dog days of summer upon us we had to open a few windows to keep the temp only a few degrees hotter than the outside temperature.  

Luckily in zone 8 we have a long growing season and do not need a greenhouse to grow in.  We have somewhat mild winters and found that a grow mat was all I needed to start seeds with and maintain seedlings.  I remember only a few nights of having to bring in seedlings.  We have discussed  heat methods with out a decision yet. That will hopefully make another post later in the season.

Hope your gardens are green!

Sheryl

Building a Greenhouse with recycled windows

 We started this project with the intentions of seed starting and over-wintering plants.  Now that we have gone through the process and have, an almost, finished project this just may be too pretty to put "Dirt" in.

When a good friend offered up free windows we of course said yes.  We had always wanted to build a green house from old windows. Then that same friend offered up a chandelier of course we said yes and Thank you!  Then another friend offered up an antique door and some more windows we were feeling very blessed.  Then a friend offered a granite top table and another had given me some oil lamp iron wall brackets with bowls that were perfect!  I look at this Green house and it is full of people that listened to my dream and gave graciously to see it come true.  With that being said the true giver in this story is my Husband!  All of the creative construction was his brain child.  We have been together almost 30 years and he has paid attention.  The house is beautiful !  

The beginning of this project was measuring and counting windows.  Pulling out that High school geometry class lessons also helped.  The Green House measures 10 x 10  we could have made it bigger but the cost of the roof would have exceeded the budget for a roof.  After we measured and planned the window placement, bracing, and foundation dimension , we were ready for construction to start.  Make sure that you account for all of your bracing before calculating your foundation.  We learned half way in to the foundation construction that we had not accounted for some bracing.  Level is the key here, and our yard is not level, so we dug in bricks and blocks (these will be hidden by raised garden beds) to make a level plane.  We used treated 10 foot 4x4's  overlapped the corners and lag bolted them together.  On the corners he also used 4x4's as post and cemented them into the ground. 

Once your foundation is installed level and the correct size you can now put in your wall bracing to attach your windows. We used 2x4's and stacked our windows and attached them to the outside wall .

The last wall to go up was the front and we had to decide where the door was going to go as well as the window placement.  We filled in beside the door with scrap 2x4's stacked like ship lap.  The door was worse for wear and had to be sanded, repaired and painted.

At this point all of the windows are installed making the walls and the door has been planned for.

The next step is to put the rafters in for the roof.  The pitch was based on the size of the chandelier.  We wanted enough chain on it to make sure that is looked like a hanging light and we did not want to walk into it every time we walked in the green house.  So the roof height was the length of the chandelier plus  a few inches.  Every board was measured and cut simply because the roof will be clear there is no where to hide a mishap.  We also painted the rafters before the roof went on. 

The over hang was determined by the length of the roofing panels.  We did not want to cut them it was easier and looked cleaner to extend the overhang to accommodate the length of the roofing polycarbonate panels.  The roof was not cheap.  These panels are expensive.  In the above photo you also can see the lower vent.  It is a wall board that has hinges on it and we can lift allowing better air flow through the Greenhouse.  

The roofing is up with the solid roof panel closure strips. This strip will help seal your roof and add support on the raised corrugated rows.

Mr. RTI decided to use some smaller windows above the door and over the back large window.  One of the panels above the large window is hinged for ventilation. We also added a galvanized ridge vent.

Snow Break!  

We filled in around the upper windows with fence board.  Dave also put 12x12 inch patio pavers on the floor with a foot of gravel along the planting wall. 

The weather was a challenge, for these parts, we are not use to snow but sure do love to look at it for a day or two.  

I think the extra height was worth it.  The chandelier makes a great statement!

After we recovered from the price of electrical wiring the chandelier was installed as well as the power with a few outlets.

The door was water damaged and we had to replace the bottom panels inside and out.  I decided to break up the white in the inside by leaving the door natural with a coat of poly on it.  I painted the panels grey.

When had to cut the door off and in doing so it weakened the joinery and the door sagged.  We added some hinges and a metal strip to hold it together.  Dr. Frankenstein would be impressed!

There is still trim that needs to go on it.  Some caulk to make it a little more efficient and possibly some running water in the summer time.  SSHHHH  I have not shown Mr. RTI the gifted pedestal sink.  

Flower beds are being planed as well as a veggie garden.  Planters are still in winter storage waiting for their place around the greenhouse and Mr. RTI is working on a patio landing in front of the door.  I will also share this and the potting bench idea later in the spring.  

I hope this post finds you well God Bless!

Sheryl