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.

Upcycled Plastic Bottle Hanging Planter

My husband drinks a lot of soda, and I've been known to occasionally indulge as well. We end up with a lot of 2-liter plastic bottles in our recycling. Of course, like most homesteaders, I absolutely hate waste, so I'm always looking for good ideas for how to reuse them. I came up with this particular design after seeing something similar on Pinterest using tin cans.

The construction is exceedingly simple. All you'll need are five plastic bottles, a length of yarn, scissors, and a lighter or candle flame. Start by peeling off the labels. To get off the glue residue, you can saturate it with an oil-based substance - tea tree oil works great - or use a product like Goo Gone. Then, cut the bottom five inches off each of the bottles. The cuts don't have to be perfectly even, just make sure there are no bits hanging off the edge.

Any unevenness will be smoothed out during the next step. Bring out your lighter, or light the candle, whichever you chose to use. If you're using a lighter, be sure to take breaks every twenty seconds or so to prevent it from overheating.

Hold the flame close to the cut edge, but try not to let it touch, as that will discolor the plastic. This part can take a little bit of practice, so you may want to try it first on one of the bottle's tops, unless you're planning on using that for another project (like a seedling greenhouse). When done right, the plastic will melt slightly and curl in. This makes the container look cleaner and somewhat like glass. It also gets rid of any jaggedness left after cutting.

Now it's time to hang it. For the five planters, I used a length of yarn double my arm span. I'm not a tall person, and I still had plenty of slack left over to tie it up with.

To string each planter, use the scissors to punch two holes, about an inch apart. Thread one end of the yarn through each of the holes, so the first planter hangs from the middle of the yarn.

Next, you're going to tie a square knot six to seven inches away from where the first planter connects. After the knot is tied, attach the second planter the same way you did the first. Repeat this process until all five planters hang from the yarn. The knots are used to create space between each of the planters. You can reduce or increase the distance between as you see fit. If it's less than the height of the planters themselves, you may have some difficulty getting to each one.

At this point, you have completed the initial assembly. If you want to paint them, be sure to use an oil-based paint. Paints with a water base will run when you water your plants. To achieve a stained glass look, you can mix a small amount of color with a dollop of mod podge and paint on the resulting mixture.

If you require good drainage for what you intend to plant, you can either place about two cups worth of stones at the bottom of the planters below the dirt, or you can pierce holes in the bottom of the bottles. If you're growing something like lavender that requires excellent drainage, it's not a bad idea to do both.

This is the simple version of the design. For a more high-end look, you can braid the yarn as I have done in the designs I feature on Etsy.

Building the Potato Condo: Part One - Reclaiming the Wood

In a new homestead, it takes some planning to figure out what you're going to plant and where. To optimize the space you have, you'll have to find the most suitable area for each type of plant, and you also have to worry about running out of space. It's not always easy to find a spot with proper amount of sun, drainage, pH, temperature, etc. One thing I was sure I wanted to grow was potatoes. A true Irish girl at heart, I love potatoes. I could eat them every day.

I decided that this would be one of the indoor plants for several reasons. First of all, this way they could produce year-round. Secondly, potatoes do great in containers. Finally, by the time the homestead was ready for planting, it was already late in the season for planting. Any outdoor crop the first year would be scant and possibly under ripe. In my online search for the needs of different potato species, I found a container known as the potato condo. I liked the idea.

The previous owners of the house had left a few pallets behind when they moved out. My first thought was that I could disassemble them in order to build my own potato condo. I put on my work gloves and glasses, and I took a hammer to the first pallet. I should mention that this was my first time attempting to dismantle a pallet, and these were very old. It didn't go as easily as I expected.

After working up a sweat hammering and prying for twenty minutes or so, I didn't have much to show for it.

The wood was rotted in places and the nails were rusty. I wasn't going to be able to hammer and pry it apart with just a hammer. My husband offered to just buy me some new lumber, but at the same time, I want to teach myself how to reclaim wood from a pallet. I would have to discard a large portion of these particular pallets due to the quality. I wasn't going to trust it to hold my food. If you haven't noticed yet, I'm pretty darn stubborn. Even if it became two separate projects, I was going to break down this pallet, and build a potato condo.

We took a trip to the hardware store, where we picked up a chisel set, a handsaw, and a large crowbar. They helped a lot. After a few days putting in an hour or two of work each, I had roughly half of the pieces laid out for the final structure. My back was starting to hurt. I didn't have sawhorses, so I was working on the floor for long stretches of time. I also realized that I was going to have to sand the wood. Some pieces were more splintery than others, but even the smoother pieces would look better after a good sanding. I just didn't have the oomph to do it all by hand. So, we took another trip to the hardware store. This time we came back with a jigsaw and a power sander.

I went right back to work, and within a couple hours, I had finished cutting the rest of the pieces I needed and I was ready to start buffing them out.

As you can see, the wood wasn't very pretty at first. I told myself that was okay, I could always stain or paint it. However, as I began buffing, the natural wood grain really began to pop and show real depth. It looked far better than I expected that it would. You can see the clear difference in the image below.

Because I had used two pallets of different ages, that had been stored separately and expressed different amounts of wear, the color still wasn't uniform. I still had more time to decide if I wanted to stain, or whether I wanted to keep this more rustic look. In the end, I did decide to put a coating on the wood to add some gloss to it, but I'll cover that in a minute. Once I had all my pieces, and the wood was sanded down, I still had to tackle the most important step - the assembly. I'll get to that next time.

The tools I ended up needing were the following:

• Protective Gear - Work Gloves, Safety Goggles, and a Face Mask
• Jigsaw
• Hand Saw
• Hammer
• Oscillating Power Sander

Upcycled Plastic Flower Pot

Those of you who know me from elsewhere already know that fiber arts are a big part of my life. I am constantly knitting and crocheting, and I have a huge passion for ethical angora. I'm always looking for new projects, and share many of my original patterns on Ravelry.

This project is one of my more useful innovations. As a former apartment gardener, I can always use more plant containers, and with a new foster bunny in the house, I needed to get more greens growing. I decided to solve the problem with my current fiber obsession - plarn. Plarn is a type of plastic yarn that is easy to make at home out of old shopping bags. For those of you unfamiliar with the process, you can check out my YouTube tutorial video below.

For this project, you'll need plastic shopping bags, scissors, a size H crochet hook, and a food-safe epoxy of your choosing (I chose non-toxic hot glue). I use roughly seven shopping bags per flower pot. They're a good size for kitchen herbs with a 4-inch diameter and a depth of 3.5 inches.

CROCHET PATTERN

Create Magic Loop
Row 1:SC 8 in loop
Row 2:2 SC in each stitch around
Row 3:*SC, 2 SC in next stitch. Repeat from * around.
Row 4:*SC in next 2 stitches, 2 SC in next stitch. Repeat from * around.
Row 5:*SC in next 3 stitches, 2 SC in next stitch. Repeat from * around.
Row 6:*SC in next 4 stitches, 2 SC in next stitch. Repeat from * around.
Row 7:*SC in next 5 stitches, 2 SC in next stitch. Repeat from * around.
Row 8:SC around, working in back loops only.
Row 9:SC around.
Repeat Row 9 until the desired depth has been achieved.

Now, because it's crocheted, there are still holes in the sides that need to be closed up. They're less problematic on the bottom, where they offer drainage, but it's less ideal to have water and soil coming out the sides of the pot. At first, I tried using several different kinds of food-safe paints and sealants, but nothing did quite what I was looking for. I found that the best solution was to add an interior lining. Using the discarded bag handles and the chosen epoxy, apply a layer of plastic to the interior walls of the pot.

If you're going to be using the planting containers inside, you'll want to protect your surfaces from water damage. If you're lazy, it's easy enough to put a sheet of plastic beneath the container, or you can use plarn with the same technique to make a base!

BASE PATTERN

Create Magic Loop
Row 1:SC 8 in loop
Row 2:2 SC in each stitch around
Row 3:*SC, 2 SC in next stitch. Repeat from * around.
Row 4:*SC in next 2 stitches, 2 SC in next stitch. Repeat from * around.
Row 5:*SC in next 3 stitches, 2 SC in next stitch. Repeat from * around.
Row 6:*SC in next 4 stitches, 2 SC in next stitch. Repeat from * around.
Row 7:*SC in next 5 stitches, 2 SC in next stitch. Repeat from * around.
Row 8:*SC in next 6 stitches, 2 SC in next stitch. Repeat from * around.
Row 9:*SC in next 7 stitches, 2 SC in next stitch. Repeat from * around.
Row 10:SC around, working in back loops only.
Rows 11 - 15:SC around.

Once that's complete, bring the epoxy back out to cover the base with plastic from the bag handles, the same way you covered the interior of the pot. Feel free to overlap, almost like you're working with paper mache. Alternatively, you could use mod podge to decoupage the base, but that may be difficult with the textured surface. I haven't tried it yet.

Finally, you have the option to add color. Sometimes I enjoy the aesthetic of the bare plarn, but it can also be very attractive to brighten it up with some paints. You'll want to avoid any water-based paints, as these will break down and disappear as you water the plant. Instead, opt for an oil paint.