Green Thumb Part 2

We talked about our first attempt to garden when I told you how terribly we did with seeds.

Then, The Mister told you about our planter box. So, we had a beautiful planter with no plants.

 We threw around several ideas for the planter box, like painting it with the same yellow paint we used on our nightstands. I was really digging that idea. Then, I started to think about what our patio would look like after the summer ends. How would we decorate for the rest of the seasons (even though the temps of summer can continue well in to the year, long after summer is over by the calendar's standards)? I picture our patio with pumpkins and mini Christmas trees and Christmas ornaments.... Yellow started to seem like a bad idea, especially for the pumpkins. That led us to use the stain we already had on hand for the hutch and Chris's ukulele's.

After staining, adding another 2 supports underneath to make a shelf (Chris had these pieces at our apartment already), we had our planter (sorry, the finished picture wasn't taken until plants were placed inside so keep scrolling for that image).

Well, to continue the story of these gardening adventures, let me tell you the story about how we switched from seeds to the already grown plants. We figured that the plants we could get at the the nursery were already acclimated to the weather and would do just fine in our planter box.

After a short shopping trip, we came back home with rosemary, sweet basil, flat leaf parsley, and a tiny baby cilantro that wasn't doing great, but we got it for fifty cents and decided we would try to nurse it back to health. The Mister also requested a jalapeno plant, but that guy was put in his own pot.

We lined the planter box with a garbage bag (to catch anything that may have decided to slip through the cracks and hurt the objects underneath on the shelf). Then, a layer of marble rocks went down (to keep roots healthy) and regular potting soil went down.

Then, the plants were lovingly laid in their new bed.

Giving us this beauty.



Underneath is a candle lantern we bought about a year ago from Ikea that we like to keep 2 pillar candles of different sizes inside. There is also a soft weave basket with leather handles that we bought from Lowe's for $12.99 that we keep the gardening tools and plant food in.

But, if you remember in the first post, these didn't last long - 1 week. We planted them too late. They did not handle the heat well. So, the journey to find our green thumb continues (because it seems we still don't have one).

Building A Planter from Scrap Wood

I told you guys a little while back about our first venture in to having a garden. I had this beautiful idea in my mind - lovely, flourishing herbs in a planter custom built by my man on our new patio. When we built this planter box, it was Easter weekend and we were at my parents house. The herbs were still holding on by a thread at this point, so we were hoping they would pull through and our vision would come to fruition (or herbition --?? I tried.).

We are saving pennies, but still wanted this idea to come to life, so The Mister scrounged up scrap wood from my dads garage as I helped my mom and brother organize an area of it. He managed to find all of the pieces to build it! Pretty amazing, huh?? So here he is to tell you guys about this endeavor! Take it away, honey -

We decided on a box shaped planter with legs. This style would be easy to build and give us plenty of room for plants. So we gathered a few pieces of scrap wood that would form a box. It is usually a good idea to find a design you like and buy the wood in long lengths that can be cut to size. We built this on a Saturday at our family's house, so we didn't plan much. We designed this planter based on what materials were available to use.

After cutting a few pieces of the wood to form the sides and bottom, I like to lay out the pieces to make sure they fit.

Keep in mind we were still in the design process and still laying out pieces to see what was our best option.

It is pretty simple: Measure, mark, and cut. Don't forget to check your measurements.

When using one long piece, leave about 1/8" between cuts to make up for the material that is wasted by each cut.

Above, you see that I am cutting 3' legs out of a 12' 3/4" piece of 2x2. Its really 1.5"x1.5".

Sometimes its better to measure for each cut.

Safety glasses don't look cool, but being safe is cool. Trust me.

Cutting out a rough corner to make room for the legs.

Screws are the fastest and most secure way to put most projects together, which gives you more time to spend with the ones you love. Lola likes working on projects with us. She's a good shop dog.

Remember it doesn't have to be perfect, just sturdy.

One leg at a time.

After attaching the legs, it's a good idea to stand the planter up and see if its level or not. One leg was shorter on this project. This is nothing a little sandpaper can't fix.

I had a screw go through one side of this piece. I repositioned and a new screw went in just fine.

Notice the fact that I'm not wearing safety glasses? Don't do this. Wear impact resistant glasses when using tools. I was switching back and forth between my glasses and the safety glasses every time I used the drill or the saw, but I forgot a few times when I was using the drill.

Using 2 screws to secure the leg braces was a great idea, but it is really easy to crack the wood if you aren't careful.

Measuring to find the center where I would attach the center brace.

Sanding the legs to level the planter.

The project is almost complete. The only thing left to do is paint or stain the wood.

Isn't it so nice to hear from the love of my life? He is a wonderful, handsome man indeed. There aren't any specific dimensions on this particular post because this was literally scrapped together on the fly - very little planning and whatnot before hand. But, The Mister did say he was willing to write up a "How To Build A Planter Box" with a more step-by-step tutorial. If you're interested. Make a request in the comment box. Ready to show you guys the next phase to this project - in an upcoming post titled "Green Thumb Part 2."

Green Thumb Part 1

It has been much too long since my last post. Life has been happening - moving, finals, graduation (finally!), and then my laptop cord died which made accessing all of my posts and photos impossible. So I am sorry for the extended absence. Let me catch you up on the happenings around our household!

First, I would like to tell you how I DESPERATELY want a green thumb, but it seems that I do not have one. I love cooking with fresh herbs, and since our new apartment has a decent sized patio, we decided to try our hand at growing some. So here is part 1 of this long journey.

We wanted to be hardcore and start our garden from seeds (because that is what "real" gardens are made of) so we went to Lowe's and purchased a Jiffy seed starter kit and some of our favorite seeds - cilantro, sweet peppers, and jalapenos for The Mister (because he wanted a full on vegetable garden), and parsley, basil, rosemary, and thyme for me.

We followed the directions on the seed starter kit and happily tucked our little seeds in to their new beds. I just used a sticky note underneath the container to show what was planted where. And we coddled and cuddled and cared for these babies.

But that Texas sun is not forgiving. And we didn't plant soon enough for our little seedlings to have a chance. The jalapeno plants sprouted quickly and began to push off the cover, so many of the other seeds didn't have the humid environment long enough to sprout. Then, attempting to "harden" the plants by slowly exposing them to the elements caused those jalapenos to fall over (because they got too tall, too fast) and the little guys who had only begun to sprout to die.

It was a sad day when we admitted that they were a lost cause. So we forgot about them while we moved. Our lesson here, ladies and gentlemen, was to plant AS SOON AS POSSIBLE. We live in Texas, after all, and the likely hood of cold fronts after February is near impossible, especially in the DFW metroplex. Anyone else have a climate that puts obstacles in your way when you just want to be able to pick some fresh basil to make a yummy margherita pizza?