My girlfriend wanted to spend the weekend in San Antonio for a getaway. So naturally I wanted to see some gardens with her while we were in town! Our stops included the 33-acre San Antonio Botanical Gardens non-profit complex, as well as the San Antonio Japanese Tea Garden, or Sunken Gardens in Brackenridge Park.
Personal Project: DIY Hanging Planter Stand
I came across these sawhorse brackets at a hardware store and thought they might work to expand my hanging planter garden! Basically I made oversize sawhorses or A-frames with some 2×4’s and some hinging clamps! I screwed in seven eye-hooks to attach the Topsy Turvy bags.
Personal Project: Seed Bombs
Inspired by my previous experiences making seed bombs, my excess old used worm newspaper, and a bag of wildflower seeds I was holding onto – I decided to make my own seed bombs. Ideal seed bombs have soil, clay, and compost with seeds inside acting as an explosive seedling environment to flourish. However, they can also be made with used newspaper because it will melt in the rain releasing the seeds, just like a soil-based seed bomb.
For this experimental project, I followed an instructional YouTube video on how to do with newspaper – including how to add dye to color the seed bombs! I had most of the materials on hand except the small blender and cactus silicon mold – both found at Goodwill!
Personal Project: Swing Set Planter
After finding and collecting a sizable stash of Topsy Turvys from Goodwill, I found an idea from Pinterest on how to hand and use them! What I did was find a FREE swing set on Craigslist, disassemble it, drive it home, and them reassemble it in the backyard. This would serve as the semi-mobile vertical planter hanger without digging into the yard as a renter tenant.
Personal Project: Grow Light Stations
After attending the Mother Earth News Fair, I was inspired by Jack Spirko’s indoor grow tower and built a tower of my own. Overtime my grow light stations have evolved – which I’ve highlighted in this blog further below. I also wanted to highlight a few window shelf solar grows, including a unique Chia Pet!
Using a barren shelf unit in the living room, I attached my grow lights to shine on each level. I started using them to get my houseplants growing better and rooting deeper. Then I moved my plants to the window shelves and swapped in seed in biodegradable cups sitting in muffin trays. I didn’t see a whole lot of success except with my green beans and a couple of wildflower seed cups.
Austin Public Library Eco Day
The Austin Public Library’s Eco Day – Green Resource Fair was a nice little event put on at the Austin Central Library. I’ve been to this library several other times for green speaker series before, but this was the first “fair” they put on.
Outside the library were bicyclists working on bikes and swapping parts together. Inside was the exhibit hall and speaker stairwell auditorium. The fair was a little slow to start, but got kicked into high gear once the fair officially started 30 minutes in.