Savage Garden: making my big guns
So I tend to go out of town every once in a while during the summer. Unfortunately, not watering your plants for four days to a week and a half is not good for them at all.
There are a variety of self-watering planters for sale, but they either tend to be too small to hold big veggies or too expensive for me to get more than one. But the internet always provides.
There’s a royal ton of schematics for self-watering planters out there from various local-farming advocates, so I sort of cobbled a few of them together based on what what I already had and what I could get for free (I’m friends with a lot of science people who have an infinite supply of 5-gallon buckets and people who buy the big plastic bins of kitty litter, for example, so those are what I used. If you have a lot of plastic rectangle storage bins left over from college, I would use those).
I couldn’t find a step-by-step picture book-type explanation for idiots, though, because I do best with projects when I’m not left to improvise, so I decided to make one. It’s a slightly more complicated than “one bucket in another bucket,” but that’s the basis. It’s eventually gonna look like this (if it were made of of crappy neon lines):
The bottom bucket’s job is to hold water. It has a drainage hole in the side so that the water level never rises above the soil in the top bucket, cuz that will drown the roots. The wicking cup (just a classic red solo cup cut full of holes, in my case) is full of soil and is a bridge between the top and bottom buckets. Physics (or something) will slowly draw the water up from the bottom bucket through the cup as the top dries out, so you can leave it unwatered for a few days and it’ll be fine, plus you can’t overwater it. You refill the reservoir through the watering tube sticking out the top. Simple enough? Well, here’s how you do it.
YOU WILL NEED:
- two five-gallon containers (five gallons is pretty much the minimum for growing big veggies like tomatoes)
- a drill OR a nail and a lot of patience
- about two feet of rubber tubing about an inch in diameter
- EITHER a piece of copper tube about an inch in diameter (you can get these in the plumbing section of the hardware store) OR a 1″ hole saw drill bit
- a plastic cup with a base diameter of about 2″
- EITHER a piece of copper tube about two inches in diamter OR a 2″ hole saw drill bit
- A plastic garbage bag
- an exacto knife or scissors
- potting mix
- seeds or seedlings
Savage Garden: Week… 12? 13? Screw it, I’m going to Greensgrow
I have kind of failed at my project of growing plants from seeds in my apartment. Sad face. I’ve accepted that there’s not enough light for them to grow up strong, and furthermore I have a tendency to go out of town for a couple days and not want to be that “Oh, uh, can you maybe come over and water my plants this weekend? I”ll bake you cookies!” girl.
So I went to one measly wedding in Southern Virginia and that basically signed my already-sickly seedlings’ death warrants. Sorry, guys. Sun rolling high, sapphire sky, great and small on endless round, etc. If it’s any consolation, I feel really bad about it.
Anyway, I got another batch of seeds going which are doing much better because I can put them outside where the sun is. But just in case I mess those up too (and there’s a high probability that I will), I decided to hedge my bets and headed over to Greensgrow, the 3/4 acre urban farm post-industrial land smack in the middle of Kensington. I had heard many good things, and it’s also the only decent-sized nursery not out in the burbs or down by IKEA. From their website:
Greensgrow is THE nationally recognized leader in urban farming (don’t just take our word for it…) and is open to the public from early spring through Thanksgiving. A small but dedicated staff runs a multifaceted operation, including a nursery, a farm market, and a Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) program, proving that abandoned land is only abandoned if we choose to leave it that way.
Their CSA, in which you pick up a bunch of produce grown on the farm every week, filled up way back in March, but the farm stand will be opening May 28 if you’re in the mood for some locally-grown stuff; and of course there’s tons of pretty flowers and grasses and little teenager trees. I thought I’d post some pictures I took, because I had heard a lot of press about this place but had no idea what an urban farm actually looked like (hint: pretty big, with lots of bright colors).
And for those of you who don’t live in the area but visit occasionally, it’s a 15-minute walk from the Berks stop and about two blocks from Memphis Taproom. The address 2501 Cumberland St. kind of delayed my going for a while; I’m not super familiar with Kensington street names, and all street names I’m unfamiliar with sound way far away to my lazy ears. Placing it near a landmark removed my “But it’s faaaaaaaaaar!” excuse, and perhaps it will remove yours.
They’ve been around since 1998 and have been doing the farm stand since 2002. But before you shout OLD!, I’d just like to say what the heck, my friend who recently bought a house less than a mile from Greensgrow had never been there accompanied me yesterday and is now in love. Here’s a couple of pictures, more after the jump.
You can see rowhouses all around...
...on every side
IKEA rolls out solar
Yay, ever since taking apart some of those solar-powered garden lights and semi-successfully attempting to turn them into sun jars, I’ve been really interested in solar lights. And hey look, IKEA’s Summer 2009 collection turns out to have a bunch of solar options!
In that cute Swedish Chef way IKEA has of mashing together languages, the line is called SOLIG and SUNNAN.
Interestingly enough, this appears to be the first wave of a larger IKEA move to make green technology as affordable as they’ve made somewhat flimsy modern furniture. IKEA pledged $77 million over the next five years to investments in green startups last August; the resulting products (which will focus on solar panels, alternative light sources, eco-friendly materials, energy efficiency, and water saving and purification systems) will then be sold in IKEA stores.
This is seriously neat. The major thing standing standing in the way of mainstreaming alternate forms of energy is the affordability and the perception as it being a concern mostly of people who wouldn’t dreeeeeeeeeam of buying their groceries anywhere but Whole Foods. The absolute best way to get the ball rolling is to get the tech into IKEA and Target and WalMart, and onto people’s desks.
via MoCoLoco
’70s flashback: bottle vases
You, too, can own two halves of a bottle!
Urban Outfitters, in their aggravating way of selling expensive prefab DIY kits, now has a $58 kit for making votive holders/cups/vases out of glass bottles.
I wasn’t a huge fan of the example they gave of a finished product (see right), which is two bottle halves that frankly look as if one misstep might have you asking “WHY SO SERIOUS?” But I have been wanting to make some bell-jar terrariums for growing herbs lately (that may well be another post), and bell jars are expensive, so if there’s a DIY to make what I need, all the better!
But is the word here really DIY? I usually am a sucker for projects in which you get to use chemicals and fire, and the Urban Outfitters kit has both. But I cannot abide pre-assembled kits that treat the DIY aspect as a bonus that should be priced accordingly, as if the added sex appeal you get from being able to say, “Oh, this half a bottle you’re drinking out of? I cut it myself!” is worth that extra thirty bucks. Dammit, you Do It Yourself to save the money it would take to pay Someone Else to Do It! You’ll never live like common people! You’ll never do what common people do!
Whew, sorry there. So the picture wasn’t appealing, the price wasn’t appealing, but a touch o’ the google and several ways to actually DIY with nothing more than string, rubbing alcohol, matches, a bucket of cold water and sandpaper turned up. I chose this video for its cheerful soundtrack.
I would seriously advise that you make sure you’ve got all-cotton string if you attempt this; five years of girl scouts taught me that string with plastic inside to strengthen it smells real bad when on fire.
The Urban picture was not that appealing, but it seems worth it if I could end up with something like these:
Images ganked from Green Wine Bottles and, uh, Weddingbee.
Okay, So I’m Back.
But I had to share Inquirer architecture critic (and two-time Pulitzer Prize finalist) Inga Saffron’s excellent article about Temple University’s misplacement of the new Tyler School of Art building.
The art school moved to North Philadelphia this semester after a 1997 decision was made to combine the main and Tyler campuses to stop overcrowding at Tyler. Many Tyler students were excited about the move and hoped that the new location would allow for easier access to Old City’s galleries and other city cultural institutions.
The University spent $55 million dollars on the new building, hiring famed Houston architect Carlos Jiménez. However, Saffron was not impressed with the completed work. She writes:
The $55 million building provides students with generous, light-filled and highly functional spaces. There are even several poetic moments that elevate the architecture above Temple’s usual. But this enormous, sprawling building, whose exterior resembles a run-of-the-mill high school, fails to forge a desperately needed sense of place.
Much of this is due to Temple’s failure to think more than one step ahead. Despite Tyler’s importance to the university, Temple dumped what should have been a statement building at the far end of the campus universe, plopping it down seemingly at random, so that its main entrance looks out onto the dumpsters for the Biology-Life Sciences Building. Similarly, the residents of Yorktown are now stuck looking at the butt end of Tyler, since its sizable loading dock looms over their immaculate, middle-class enclave, an oasis in North Philadelphia. [via Philly.com]
What To Do This Weekend: Unbridaled
Brides (and grooms) to be, listen up: If the thought of drowning in a sea of white tulle, butt bows and sequins makes you want to elope in Vegas, Unbridaled is here to help. This expo focuses on local, handmade, environmentally responsible and alternative solutions to wedding planning. Walking down the aisle in hemp might piss off your mom, but really, isn’t that half the fun?
Sat., Jan. 10, 10am-4pm. $12-$20. Crane Arts Building, 1400 N. American St. 267.269.8237.
Stealing Liz’s Intern: Becca On Vegan Shoes
If you’re like me, you have some issues because you’re white and privileged. In the deep recesses of your mind, you feel sort of guilty for living in America and getting to worry about being fat.
Alleviate the guilt, my friends! There’s an amazing variety of shoes you can add to your Chanukah or Christmas list, all of which are different levels of eco-friendly, cruelty free and fair trade. Rock these $90 boots from Simple Shoes and when somebody compliments them, you can say, “Oh thanks, they’re made from hemp and recycled inner tubes under high human rights standards.”
Deal with the newfound guilt of being self-righteous about your consumption choices on your own time!
*Written by Becca Trabin
Reconsider Recycling This Holiday Season
Now that we’re T-minus two days till the start of the holiday season, it’s totally acceptable to admit you’re thinking about sending holiday cards this year. Sure, the cost of postage is astronomical (Hey, Obama how about working on that while you’re fixing America, huh?) but it seems way cheaper than shipping Whitman’s Samplers across the country.
Picking the right card is important. Think of it as a personal statement about yourself. For example, an overtly religious card is all right, but only if all your friends celebrate the same holiday. And a funny card is fine. Unless you’re friends with that overtly religious guy.
Friend-of-PW-Style and former staff writer at the Weekly Cassidy sent over this link with information about ReProduct, a local company whose goal is to design products that can be reused to make new products over and over again.
Their latest product is a personalized photo greeting card that comes with a pre-paid, pre-addressed envelope. Card recipients put them back in the mail when they’re done with them and they go to Shaw Industries, which makes them into carpet backing. It’s much better than recycling because paper can only be recycled a limited number of times before it becomes too degraded. This process can be repeated indefinitely.
Check our their selection of holiday cards below.
Prices vary depending on how many photos are on each card (you can get up to three) and the Web site irritatingly requires you to enter some personal info (name, email address, username and password) before allowing you to research specific products, but at least you’ll know that this card will send the right message about you.
Design Philadelphia 2008
Today kicks off Design Philadelphia, the nation’s largest celebration of design. In conjunction with National Design Week, the next 7 days in Philadelphia promise to be very art and event heavy. If you love to mingle while discussing the loftier subjects of design theory and innovation, this is your time to shine.
Check the full list of events HERE.
Thanks to the DesignPhiladelphia blog for breaking out the full list of today’s events. You’ll see me at “Bamboo Dreaming” because I’ve always wondered if Bamboo sheets and towels are really worth the hype.