There is this Chocolate cake that I buy about once every two months. I wait this long between buying it because I eat the whole thing within 48 hours. Yeah, it’s just something I do. Another thing I like to do, is re use packaging as much as possible, especially for planting up house plants. The dome of this packaging has a #3 recycling type on stamped on it, and I could just put it in with the rest of the recycling, but I had three Kalanchoe (Beharensis “roseleaf”) That needed a home. Ideally I would use the bottom part of the cake packaging as the saucer for the Dome planter part. But it had a 3″ raised section in the middle, and the dome when place upside down on it, wouldn’t sit right. So instead of poking hole in the bottom, I will just plant it as a planter without drainage. One just has to be careful not to overwater, and allow the soil to be bone dry before adding more water. These are succulents, so this won’t be a problem. Easy Peasy…..

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Add drainage rock, I went with two inches because of the lack of holes at the bottom, extra is good if you have the room.

Add proper potting mix, I got this nice succulent cacti mix from work (Sprout Home)

plant!

Done! Now to put this little guy into a bright sunny spot.

I do it in dreams sometimes, and that is nice because I get to smell a mossy goodness while I sleep.

Yeah, you can have a some of my Pilea Depressa clippings that I have started to root.  Let me pack some soil into some foil, then lets get these clippings into some paper towel to keep them protected from the cold bike ride, oh, and lets get them all neatly packed into this container.  Happy Planting G money.

Bol’s and Matilda…. yep.

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I pass this bar on the Richmond and Grand a few times a week while walking my dog.  There is no sign on the door to give any indication that it actually is a business.  Kind of like J&M, but without the hipster takeover.  In time I’m sure, but as for now, it is the random bar.  They have this planter in the side lot on Richmond, that I just love.  It is an old plastic barrel or some kind, bright yellow and kind of busted.  Well, shit.. you can just look at this photo to see what it looks like.   The point of this is to illustrate that these people used something that they had laying around.  They didn’t go to the store I work at, or any store for that matter to purchase a big plastic object, they just made do with what they had around.  I love the purple Zibrina Pendula plant sticking out of the broken spot.  I”m done, that’s it, take a gander.  On a side not, I will check out this bar.  

Birthday coming up, and though I usually hide from anything that resembles a party on my birthday, I think i’m going to, in the words of my good friend Tim, “do it big”.  Why not.

The summer of the egg salad and fresh spinach wrap has been nice.  There have been a few more Spinach containers around my place lately.  I thought I would convert the empty container and lid into a planter.  It has a nice thick rectangular shape, and the lid fits nicely underneath, acting as a perfect saucer.

Step one, eat spinach.

Step two, poke nice 1/4″ -1/2″ holes at the bottom.  I made 8 holes.

Step three, add drainage material, I went with pea gravel.

Step four, add potting mix and plants.

I went with two Fitonia starts that I had on my back porch and an Asparagus Fern that I brought home few weeks ago.  After potting the three plants, I put some harvested mood moss around the top and between the plants to help preserve moisture, and to provide an extra lush look.  Boom goes the re-use!  All those plastic to go iced  coffee cups might be next.  That is the beauty of this, any container can be use in this manner.  Happy Planting.

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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.

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Not just because Sprout Home get a mention…..  This article is tops, well, except for the overuse of the word whimsical.  I love how the woman from SF has tons of little hand blown glass terrariums all over her apartment, tops to those who toil in soil.  Oh shit, i’m a rapper now.  Good friend Tassy Zimmerman get a nice couple photos and quotes up in this piece, check it.  NY TIMES ARTICLE HERE

Race st, just east of damen.. couple blocks in.  This mural and space is on the west side of an old school or academy of some kind.  Wish I had the loot to rock this spot, bet a few good peeps could.  Community garden style.  The mural is pretty damn special as well.  There is a larger dirt/grass area to the west of shown area.  So… who does this?  The Jameson Group is selling the building, which is pretty dope.  There should be, and maybe we can get going, some open space flex lease kind of thing.  Cool breeze among the lavender and sedums.

The Piankatank River.  I miss it.  I miss Bekka’s mom’s house.   I had no idea I was in a Dwell Magzine type setting at the time.  I just knew I loved it there.  There was a walk that happened back then, down the winding road that went into the little enclave that the house was on.  On that walk I saw my first wild turkeys.  Those are some big ass scary birds, and they don’ t share the road very well.  We gave way so the several of them could walk by.  Very trippy, but not as trippy as the Croakers that I caught at the end of the dock.  Look it up!

Photographer Thomas Shahan takes some crazy up close photos of insects.