Garden Update: Hillbilly Engineering
Comments (1) I so desperately wish that I had the ability to show you lovely pictures of my seedlings, but the computer is still kaputz. At any rate, I will give you the update without it, though it will be a sad update, indeed.
Two weeks ago, I planted some of my Brussel sprout seedlings in the garden. In order to protect them, I covered them with “hillbilly cloches.”
My husband drinks at least a two litre bottle of Diet Mountain Dew per day. Rather than waste those bottles, I try to recycle them in some fashion. I cut the bottoms off of the bottles, saving them for starting seedlings. Then, I used the tops as cloches. I planted the seedlings, covering them with the cloches. To help harden the seedlings off, I put some branches from a pine tree over the cloches, to offer a bit of protection from the sun. It seemed to be effective, as I only had two die, and those seedlings were ones I didn’t think would make it anyway. Hooray for recycling and hick-engineering. 
I would have loved to post a picture, but you will have to envision a garden plot with Mountain Dew bottles growing out of it.
Our warm weather seedlings are growing merrily away in the front windows. Interestingly enough, we have relied, once again, on hillbilly engineering. A friend lent us one of his aquarium lights to use as a grow light. We bought two L-brackets and some rope; then, we attached the L-brackets to the window frame and suspended the aquarium lights from wood flooring pieces, left from the fire, which were screwed to the L-brackets. Not pretty, but the way I see it, my house is not a show piece; it’s the place where I work and play. I am curious to know if the neighbors think we’re growing anything illegal.
For the last bit of redneck recycling, I planted some peas. Rather than buy special poles, we used some pine limbs that had fallen during the snow storms. We made teepees out of them, stripping them down to poles and tying the tops together with the rope leftover from the light. The best part: these pea teepees are in the front yard. Good thing the neighbors think we’re “quaint.” However, out of deference to the neighborhood, I did plant Blue-Podded Peas which, in addition to being delicious, are a lovely ornamental with purplish-blue flowers and pea pods. After the peas are spent, I plan to sow Scarlet Runner beans which are also quite gorgeous… or, at least, that’s what the picture in the seed catalogue shows.
In the back yard, I didn’t bother with teepees and just stuck branches in the ground. I suspect that batch will look like modern art once the peas have climbed up the branches.
With just a little ingenuity and eccentricity, you, too, can reap the frugal benefits of hillybilly engineering and redneck recycling.
Themocracy