Archive for the ‘Design Stimuli’ Category
Staghorn Fern as Fresh Cut Look
I have had my staghorn fern, Platycerium bifurcatum, for some time now, and I like the general funkiness that this plant rocks. I like it kind of smallish however, once it gets to reaching out in all kinds of directions, taking up way too much room, I like to cut it back. I have done this a couple times during the 4 years that I have had this plant. Tonight I decided to use the beautiful flow of the plant, for a nice beyond the grave kind of contribution from the cuttings. I keep these Pure brand bottles around for Humboldt Park public drinking, I know I know, cats out of the bag now. Sapphire and Juice (of any kind really), shaken with some cubes, enjoy the walk. So… yeah, any bottle or cup will do, but don’t take some trip to some store for a vase, I mean really, look around you.
Check out these pretty easy steps.
Care for your plant, if your a plant Pimp, you can harvest these a couple times a hear.
Cut that damn plant, using you for water and light… it deserves it!
Choose wisely.
put water in the vessel, drop nicely.
This will stay on my dinning room table for a few days, then a nice bright window sill for a few, who knows, maybe I can get these to root.
for sometime now,
Soften Up That Block
This is just a rendering by Lettuce design, they have a nice funky web page layout, Lettuce Loves Design You can often see a building taken by ivy here in Chicago, but never in such a clean way. Go plants, thought ivy will mess your place up in the long run.
Milk Crate Boogie, I mean Milk Crate Planters…
Maybe this comes from my dj past, but I”m really into milk crates, I think they are a great easy to find modular furniture kind of item. Many shelves that supported my lps over the years were stacked onto milk crates. They are plastic, this is lame, but peep it…. You can use them as planters, don’t buy some bougie gear. I rode over to a local garden store and got some coco liner material, buy it bulk and it’s a bit cheaper. I bought 3′ of it for like 15 bucks. On the topic of milk crates to hold actual lps, the midwest kind are not wide enough, I have a few from my day in Olympia that are rectangular, and those rock, but nothing beats an old fruit box for lp storage, oh wait, back to the topic. Here is all you have to do.
1-nab some milk crates, if you can’t manage that, well your lame.
2-get yourself some coco liner, loose spagnum moss would work as well, but the coco liner sheets have a nice tight weave, and should work better for holding in your soil.
3-line the bottom and all four sides of the milk crate with the liner material.
4-pour your soil in, this is a good time to pack the soil in so it supports the liner material along the sides, You can skip the drainage rock because the coco liner will drain nicely without any additional material.
5-fill to planting level, the top should be your level, add your plants, water, and chillax the rest of the summer away.
I rocked basil, arugala, swiss chard, and bell peppers and several hot pepper.
On the topic of reuse, most garden centers will give you the larger plastic pots that are usually just stacking up, taking room. This is what my cilantro, and tomato plants are calling home. I like the look of the all black re use plastic planters that I have on my small deck, feels good to keep those crates out of the landfill. Grow and Eat!
If your planters are large enough, there should be no issues with the roots taking up any PVC’s or other badness that is an essential part of the lame ass plastic factory biz.




