DIY Plarn Water Bottle Holder

Being the nerd I am, I wanted to attend the South Park Fan Experience this year in downtown San Diego. My SO and I would be taking the trolley there; parking is a nightmare come Comic-con.

I knew I'd be taking water. A BIG bottle of water. But I didn't want to have to hold it the whole time. I knew I'd need to come up with something crafty to solve my dilema.

Enter the plarn water bottle holder.

Large enough for my water bottle, plarn crocheted thick enough to insulate the bottle; keeping it cold and me dry (from the bottle's condensation).

There was no rhyme or reason, I didn't have a pattern. I just made a circle by crocheting in the round, making the circle the same diameter as my bottle's bottom, then not adding more, just going around and around. For the strap I used sturdy, black plarn.

My mother, The Gardening Soup Queen is my lovely model. She thinks I should make more and sell them (with others like my reusable totes) at our community farmer's market. What do you think?

If you need a pattern, there's a good one over at My Recycled Bags.

South Park Fan Experience? Huge success.

DIY Hanging Upcycled Strawberry Planter

Drawing inspiration from a strawberry topsy turvy I decided to craft one of my own. Its basically a plastic bag cylinder. Besides... Its $10 + shipping. And I'm rather fond of my money.

And upcycling.

So I ironed about 8 plastic bags together (how to iron together plastic bags)and sewed it all up on my sewing machine. My mom saved 3 strawberry plants for me from her surplus, so I cut 3 asterisk shapes in the front (evenly spaced).

Then I popped the plants in the holes and filled it with (my mom's) dirt.

I hung it on my car's laundry hook and took it home.

Doesn't it look happy on my front porch? My neighbors across the way paid for theirs. If only they knew how to fuse plastic.

FREE TIP!

Notice how on every strawberry topsy turvy you see the strawberry plants at the bottom are runty? The plants on the top (where the fertilizer and water are deposited) are hoggin' all the food!

My solution? Cut two small snips in the back, poking a funnel in there for water and pushing in fertilizer from time to time.

Opps, there's my neighbor... Another tip: don't water your neighbors.

Easy Seedlings on a Balcony

Container gardening on your porch or balcony doesn't have to be a chore, or a seemingly daunting task. You and your little one(s) can do what I did and take it slowly at first.

Starting your plants off as seeds is the more economical (and educational) way to go about doing it.

Here's how we did it:

Get some plastic wrap, scissors, seed starter, seeds, and a used cardboard egg carton.

Cut the top off the egg carton and save it.

Cover the top in plastic wrap and place the bottom on top of it.

Put in the seed starter.

Put your seeds in and label them.

Keep them moist for the next 24 hours. Water from the bottom up. Take a water bottle and water in between the egg carton layers, making sure only the top layer gets wet. The bottom layer is protected from the water by the plastic wrap.

Your seeds should sprout after a 3 - 7 days. When they're ready to move to a bigger container, just tear off the individual portion and plant. Your plant will grow its roots through the wet paper.

When ours sprout I'll post more pictures of that, as well as when I transplant them.

Happy gardening!