Don't you think that the best things in life are free? I do, and really appreciate everything that happens to come my way. Besides, keeping things from entering the landfill is very rewarding, and if more people felt this way, our environment would be in great shape for years to come.
Anyway, I wanted to show you these black, 3 gallon plastic shrub pots that I kept out of the landfill the other day. Gosh, there must be at least 40 of them, and I can really use them for my propagation endeavors. A big tomato plant in one of those would probably bring at least 10 dollars, I bet.....
Photo below - I also picked up at least 20 lbs. of used coffee grounds from a couple of Starbucks shops in the Huntsville, Alabama area after my doctor's appointment the other day. This is my favorite thing to add to the compost bins, and you can bet that i'll load up again when my next appointment arrives. It's best to call ahead and tell them to save some for ya, 'cause sometimes they just throw them away...BTW, that pile they are sitting on in the picture is the one that was filled to the brim a while back. As you can tell, it's shrunk quite a bit already. I can't wait to fill all of these bins in a few weeks!
Photo below - Let me show you what was found while putting the finishing touch on the garden cleanup - a couple of volunteer Brandywine tomato seedlings....They'll go inside the little 5 gallon bucket propagation system before this weekend, and will be great for trying the thing out for the first time. Who knows? I might be able to keep them alive throughout the entire winter, and just root suckers from them to get transplants for growing in my garden next spring. At least that's what i'll try to do....
In other news, the japanese maple transplants were moved out into the big raised bed on Saturday - but not before killing about 4 black widow spiders that had setup camp between the pots. One was really big, and had 2 egg sacks already. She didn't appreciate me putting her into a small vial of alcohol, though - she was pretty mad! Hehe...Add one more to the collection of vials with bad creepy crawlies from the garden. Yeah, I know....stuffing live black widow spiders into little glass vials is pretty risky, but i'm careful....
A trial run with the greenhouse door opener over the weekend resulted in failure, because the little printer motor wasn't strong enough to consistently open the door against the tension of the rubber band. This really bummed me out, but i've got another motor that definitely will, though. The only thing is - if one of the limit switches fails to actuate, it could really tear some stuff up! I'll show you the modifications when finished....
However, the homemade squirrel trap is finally finished, and i'll post about it later this week. Yeehaw! Boy, this one is gonna get emailed to some people, I bet. Ha! You'll want to show this one to everybody you know, Hehe....Now, to see if it can actually catch one of the furry $@*!_&#......
Take care, and happy gardening!
EG
14 comments:
I can't wait to see your squirrel trap! I trapped and disposed of 17 squirrels in the spring. Things were good until the past few weeks...now I have a new group of squirrels. They are the biggest pain in the A$$!
Lol, the dang varmit!! You will be the talk of squirrel town. (Armadillos, squirrels, and black widows? I am going to stop complaining about my dogs.) ;)
I hope you get your door issue squared away soon.
Free is good! Glad you can put all of those to use.
Nice find on the coffee grounds too.
As for the black widow spiders--yikes! We used to find them in an old shed and in our garage but (knock on wood) I didn't see any this year.
I have found so many volunteer tomato plants, what they are I don't know. I think I am going to dig them up and try to keep them through the winter. I don't have a great indoor gardening system, just a plast rack with lights attached to the bottom of each shelf. There is no light in my garage and it is not heated, so I will have to figure out a way to keep them warm. Since we have a short winter or at least what Texas calls a winter they may survive. I figure even if they becom leggy, I can use some cuttings from them and be that much farther ahead. Thanks for the idea.
Nice haul of free goodies! Can't wait for that squirrel trap :) !!
Greetings from blustery Wyoming EG!
Your compost bins look fabulous! What fantastic free stuff!!! Can't believe that someone would throw out all those awesome containers!
I was at the pet store over the weekend. They had just unloaded some fish and in each of the boxes was an insulation package... I grabbed a couple... I may line my cold frames with them!!!
Nice find on those pots. The garden centers take them back here, they all have big bins out front to dump them in.
Thank you for the amazing tidbit about coffee ground from Starbucks! Heck, I'll start rounding them up at work! I never thought about using them before!
WAR EAGLE!
Your right free is great, I mean what makes you smile more than some good ole free stuff. Looking forward to seeing the squirrel trap.
Melissa Joe - Used coffee grounds are one of my favorite sources of nitrogen for the compost bins, and they smell good, too! WAR EAGLE!!!!
Char's Gardening - I hope you like the trap!
I love free stuff too. I can't wait until next year. I'm going to start getting coffee grounds from my husband's work again. I didn't this year as there was no place to compost yet.
OK, EG, putting black widows in bottles is really increasing your mad scientist image. Glad you were able to get all the free containers and coffee grinds. I love FREE!
Where in the world did you score all those 3 gallon plastic shrub pots?? That is AWESOME. I'm always taking them from my dad. When he buys plants for his garden, he sets them aside for me to take home.
meemsnyc - My workplace was revamping the landscape the other day, and I just happened to see all of the pots waiting for disposal. I was pumped!
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