Tuesday, August 12, 2014

Reclaiming the Planter Box: Part Two

When I began pulling up the weeds that had overtaken the planter box in my new back yard, the intent was to pull up everything and start again from scratch. However, as I got further in, there were some plants I found that interested me. There were some huge red clover plants, which my bunnies love to snack on. I found some stray morning glories, which are one of my favorite types of flower. There were also some plants I could not immediately identify.


Vicia cracca

The first one was a vine that sprouted tufts of purplish-blue, tiny, bell-shaped flowers. As I was working, bumble bees and monarch butterflies would land to feed on the nectar, mere inches from my head. It brought a smile to my face every time. After some research, I found out it was Vicia cracca, also known as cow vetch or bird vetch. It's used to feed some forms of livestock and increase their milk production. I don't have any animals of this type yet, so it serves me little practical purpose. I decided to leave it anyway, because of the insect life it attracted. We also caught a glimpse of a hummingbird once. I want to encourage these lovely pollinators to keep returning to my property.


Galium asprellum

Another one that caught my interest wasn't anything special visually. When I pulled it up, though, or damaged the leaves in any way, it exuded a sweet herbal aroma. I became convinced that it must be some kind of herb. I was wrong. It was Galium asprellum, or rough bedstraw. Back when mattresses were stuffed with hay, this was often used, but the stems have little hairs, which become prickly when the plant is dry, hence the name. I did find that it has some medicinal uses, specifically calming symptoms a friend of mine with a chronic condition experiences. I offered her some. If it helps, I'll keep growing it.

At this point, I was still uprooting unwanted plants. I would have to decide before the next phase whether I was going to continue working around the plants I was keeping, or if it would be better to transplant them. That's a story for another day.

Tuesday, August 5, 2014

Building the Potato Condo: Part Two - The Assembly

By the time I finished preparing and laying out all the pieces of the potato condo, I had already accumulated all the tools I needed.

Here's the full list:

  • Hand Saw
  • Jigsaw
  • Oscillating Power Sander
  • Drill
  • Wood Screws

Now it was time to start putting everything together. I began with the sides. There were two beams of the first pallet that had broken in half the long way when I was making my first fumbling attempts at pallet disassembling. I used these as the frame for the structure, and started screwing the slats into place. I made sure to drill holes for the screws first, to avoid cracking the wood, as well as making the job easier.

Here you can see the front in progress, and then from the back once I completed the side. I made sure that the bottom was level, but decided the top didn't have to be, and the uneven line contributed to the rustic aesthetic.

When I was a kid and learning the fundamentals of building by helping my dad, he taught me some crucial sayings, including "measure twice, cut once." I didn't follow his advice this time, and I paid the price. Because I had eyeballed the majority of my measurements, not all of the slats were the exact same length. I solved this issue by cutting twice, using the jigsaw to remove any excess hanging over.

The front and back panels were completed in a similar manner, but the lengths of the slats did not have to be evened out. Instead, I decided to center them and allow the "imperfection" to become part of the design.

I attached the slats of the front and back panels to the same frame pieces that held the sides. During this phase, I had to be careful in the placement of my screws to be sure that none intersected.

Finally, on the front panel, I wanted to add a feature that would make it easy to harvest potatoes from the bottom of the container, rather than having to pull up and replant every time one was ready. I could always unscrew a few of the slats at the bottom, but I knew there was an easier way.

I used some scrap wood to attach three slats together, so that only two screws attached all three slats to the frame. This meant I could easily remove two screws, pull some potatoes, and then replace the panel. This design can easily be adapted to work with a hinge and a latch, but I didn't have any hinges lying around, and I had already made quite a few trips to the hardware store. Frankly, I was getting tired of all the driving.

Once everything was secured in place, I took the power sander to it again, just to make sure there weren't any splinters I may have missed. Structurally, the potato condo was complete at last. If I were growing outside and didn't care for any decoration, I could put it out in the yard as is and start planting. However, I did want to gloss it up a bit, and I didn't want water draining all over the floor in my basement, so I had a little bit more work to do. That's a story for another day.