White trash Martha

Monday the 7th: Planters & beds
Our house is right next to the parking lot of a popular bar, and we have a chain link fence with those privacy strips in it. Aside from being ugly, it also blocks the light from the west. I planted vines in the beds next to it last year, hoping that they'd climb up into the light and cover the fence. They never made it though.

This year, I figured I'd grab the light where it is by hanging some planters up at the top of the fence. I had all these big tin coffee cans; so I drilled some holes in them, hung them up, and filled them with dirt. It looks very classy, I assure you, like an all-double-wide trailer park.

Also, I wanted to plant in the little median strip between the sidewalk & street. In particular, I wanted to create a distinct "gate" or subconscious transition point between the "public" business area around the parking lot and the "private" residential area. We have a large bush on our corner. So across the sidewalk from it, I decided to plant something tall and bushy and create a narrow "passage" into of the private residential sphere.



To that end, I put in a raised bed. It's made of the scrap wood from our old basement stairs, and has, I confess, a certain hillbilly charm. I sprinkled it with mixed cosmos seeds, which should produce a tall-ish bush of purple flowers. Very drought hardy too, which is important for the median.


Finally, in the latest issue of Readymade magazine, they showed a watering can made from an old detergent bottle made by drilling holes in the cap. So I made one as an experiment, and despite how ugly it is, it works great. Good for gently watering potted plants & freshly seeded areas.

All of these garden projects with junk are making me feel very Martha Stewart-- *after* prison.