This weekend I worked on two garden projects. One took a a good deal of time to complete while the other only took about an hour and a half.
The big project was a plant holding bin to hold my propagated plants that aren’t ready for in the ground planting yet. Fortunately I was the recipient of some old deck wood a couple years ago that since then has been resting comfortably in the back. Amazingly it is still in pretty decent shape after two years of sitting through our weather. I’ll write a full post on its construction later this week but here is the finished product:
It’s essentially a set of three raised beds that will be nestled into the slope of the hill. The middle one is 4’x8′ and the two triangular raised beds are 4′ on two sides and about 5’8″ on the slope side (remember your Pythagorean formula here!) The bed on the left is in the shade for most of the day while the center and right bed receive part shade. Eventually there will be another bed further up the hill for some other plantings. This slope is part of a larger project to make a couple tiered gardens. So far I haven’t spent any money on this project since the wood was old and donated and the screws were left over from garden shed construction. I need to add a lid that will keep the rabbits and deer from munching on my plants.
The short project of the weekend was a bird house. I’ve been itching to add one to the yard and had this idea to use a dogeared fence board to make one. It was a very easy project and came together quickly. I pre-drilled hole then used finishing nails to hold the sides together. If you don’t pre-drill holes you risk splitting the wood. (I’d say chances are about 90%!) I didn’t use any written down measurements and sort of improvised the bird house. Many websites have the ideal dimensions for certain types of birds and I actually printed a list off of one of them but lost the list! The birdhouse turned out fine though for a first attempt. I’ll improve upon my design with the next one. It was so easy to do that I have to make a few more!
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Dave they both look like easy projects for even an unhandy with tools person (like me)I like the birdhouse and next spring it will be a home to a bird family for sure. gail
Love the bed. It will be nice to put your plants in there. I'm wondering how you'll build the lid. Great birdhouse!
Two project in one weekend? You are a hero, Dave! I was going to use one of my raised beds as a holder for plants after it got empty.But it's only til spring when I'll need to plant that bed with lettuce and spinach again. Your holders are more permanent and look nice. Good idea!
Both very worthy projects — I love how you pay attention to detail, no matter what your project is. 🙂 Anything worth doing is worth doing well, right?
You are one busy gardener. It's too hot to do projects here. I'm waiting till fall. 😉
Gail,
They are definitely projects I think anyone can do with the right tools and a little time!
Tina,
I've been thinking of framing something but haven't decided exactly how yet. All kinds of options!
Tatyana,
I've thought of using my raised beds that way but haven't really needed to until now. I figured something specific for the propagation and near the garden shed would be ideal!
Nancy,
I wholeheartedly agree!
Racquel,
It's been very hot but the last week the weather has changed some. It dropped from a heat index near 108 to the temperature feeling like 90. In which case the 90 felt awful nice!