I propose a toast: To experiments

The Grow Lab started by the county's Master Gardeners has a circular herb garden (PDF page 2) built out of wine bottles. When I first saw it, I thought, "Wow, I want to do that someday. Good thing I drink a lot of wine."

You'd use wine bottles as a border for a number of reasons. Long wine bottles are a good height for raised beds, and raised beds are helpful with drainage and keeping the soil warm. Bottles don't decay or wear down. Bottles are sturdy and pretty. And, also, why the heck not?

Fast forward a couple years, and I still had the inclination, finally had secured the location, but didn't have enough of the bottles for the experimentation.

I put the word out to local friends (like Leslie at Tea with Iris) that I needed their help collecting wine bottles, plus I went by a wine bistro and asked them to save a few cases for me. Soon after I had enough bottles to start my project. 

 

With the first batch of bottles, I scrubbed off the labels with soap, water and steel wool.







It took a long time.

  

I inserted the bottles neck-down into soil that I had softened up with a shovel. 

To keep the bottles in a straight line while I planted them, I used long 2-by-4s left over from a previous project.

Then I piled up soil and mulch on the outside and put my best compost and soil on the inside. The interior level is about 4 inches higher than the exterior level. 

With the second batch of bottles, I didn't take off the labels. I know, lazy.

This is also a beneficial bug experiment. To draw out the good guys, I planted sweet alyssum, lobelia, pansy, borage, viola, calendula and chamomile, plus 3 sages, 2 basils, parsley and a thyme. Here you can see a purple sage (outside) and the top of a purple sweet alyssum (inside).

Oh yeah, almost forgot! I've also got three tomatoes, brussels sprouts, pak choi and red & white onions growing. Really cannot wait to see how the colors explode here. So far everything looks super healthy.

If there is any hint of frost, I'll cover the whole thing with a large sheet/blanket using the tomato cages. (I was going to make those circular tomato houses out of chicken wire this year, but instead decided to save money and use what I have.)

So do you think it looks better with or without labels?

A Case of Gardener's Block

Temperatures have been lower, so the past few days I've been walking my backyard, sketching it, considering it, photographing it, considering it ... everything but DOING something in it.

I started a few seeds indoors for broccoli and lettuce, but my mental now-now-now push to plant a vegetable garden outside, well, it's been waking me up in the middle of the night.

Warning: "Before" photos ahead!

Former planned site for vegetable garden.
South-facing back fence, shed and
black cat Deuce (she says hi).

I thought I knew where I was going to put a huge lasagna mulch for the foundation of my vegetable garden. Now after studying it for a few days, it seems like that area is too shady. So am I going to cut down two trees or choose a new spot?

Something must be planted soon or I think I am going to miss this growing season.

Plus: Close to house. Irrigation ready.
Minus: Close to house. Not a large space. 

My other two potential vegetable garden sites are not as ideal; they would require more work (removal of gravel or pebbles) before mulching. But they do get a good deal more sun.



Plus: Well situated by shed.
Minus: A ton of gravel covers area.
Not a large space.



"But what about ______? I need paper towels for that."

OK, in response to my earlier Paper towels: Not necessary post, a few people have asked about two potential paper towel must-haves. I think I have an answer for both:

1. Bacon (or other greasy foods). How to cope with food items that require blotting? Or are cooked in the microwave inside paper towels?

Answer: Have a very large white cotton cloth that is for food-oil blotting only. Cook bacon
-- or fry tortillas or fries or tofu -- on the stove in a pan (natch). Then lay out your special cloth on the counter or fold on a plate, and blot the grease the same way you would with paper towels. Hand wash the cloth afterward with a degreasing soap like Dr. Bronner's. It's definitely more work, but you're no longer wasting 10 paper towels to make breakfast.

2. Disgusting messes such as a squished bug or cat barf (or worse). If you've given up paper towels, how do you clean up the occasional extremely gross thing? You would never want to use the cloth again.

Answer: Collect and store thin pieces of cardboard or subscription coupons that fall out of magazines to deal with solid messes. Slide the cardboard piece underneath slowly, then lift. Place on compost pile (if applicable) or throw out. For less solid messes, rip or cut off a piece of your oldest, yuckiest rag to clean up the gooeyness, then throw it on your compost pile (if you've got one) or throw out.

Also, a way to get yourself jump-started without paper towels is to put one of your nice cloths where the paper towels used to be. Just hang it right on the holder. I'm thinking of sewing together the ends of a couple of my best cloths so that they'll be like one of those rolling towels you sometimes see in public restrooms.

Note: I am a cold-turkey, out-of-sight-out-of-mind person, so I don't even keep paper towels in the house anymore -- I would end up using them all the time again! But I could totally see a more strong-willed person being able to have a roll or two around for oil-blotting or super-yuck stuff.

Paper towels: Not necessary

My third "Sustainable Tip" for Growcology's March newsletter:

With paper towels, "disposable" is an understatement. Their purpose is to be used once and discarded. Many things you do with a paper towel (mop up spills, wipe counters, clean kids' faces, dry your hands) can also be taken care of with a cloth. What's stopping you? Using cloth instead of paper saves both money and trees.

To get started, collect your cloths. You'd be surprised how many cloths you have within reach. You can use stained table napkins, worn T-shirts, clean cloth diapers, old dish towels or pretty much any fabric items that have run their course. Keep a clean stack or two of these in a drawer or under the sink -- possibly separated into a "nice" stack for drying/wiping things and a "yucky" stack for big messes. (You'd wipe your hands or face with cloths from the "nice" stack, but not from the "yucky" one.)

After using a cloth, either rinse and line dry it or rinse, wring and throw it in the washing machine until your next wash. Soon enough, you'll be weaned off your paper towel habit.

Yeah, I know Christmas was almost 3 weeks ago

But I just finally got everything put away.

I was stuck on the thought of how to pack these ornaments, decorations, pillows, pictures, etc. away without buying any new storage items. Just wanted to use what I already have.

So ... I realized yesterday that I also have a longstanding collection of not-so-lightly-used leftover Christmas gift bags, tissue and wrapping paper. Especially the small strips of wrapping paper that I have been saving for many years. (Why?)

Turns out I unknowingly have kept all this flotsam in storage for this exact reason: To wrap all fragile ornaments and decorations in old wrapping paper and then pile them into old gift bags. Done.

See you later, Santa.

This is crazy, this is crazy, this is crazy ...

I feel like Clark Griswold from "National Lampoon's Vacation" did as he clapped his hands together right before diving in the pool (skinny dipping).

I just had a wonderful (awful) idea.

After watching a YouTube video of a baby dancing in his diapers, I remembered that at one time I'd wanted to diaper my children in cloth. The hopeful plan soon fell by the wayside--it didn't quite stand up to the reality of an infant's 10 to 12 changes a day.

Reminded of this good intention gone awry, I thought, "Well, it's too late now."

But wait a second. This is called NeverTooLateToGreen, right?

You see where I am going here ...

My daughter Charlotte--17 months--still wears diapers. And though she occasionally uses the potty, she generally goes through 3 to 4 diapers a day.

The challenge: Once the diapers I have are used up (maybe about 25 left) we are going cloth! For real this time.

Keep the produce (relatively) local

Last couple months have been pretty busy. But I am ready to go at this green thing again. Got a few ideas percolating in the noggin.

The test for this week:

Not going too crazy on this for now. Instead of going hyper-local, 100-mile radius, I will limit all produce purchases to seasonal and North American. Nothing against Chile or New Zealand, but I'm going to keep it on this continent. The seasonal is going to be the hard part, so I've got to do some research.