How to grow your own 2 - greens
Saturday I decided I HAD to get my gutters up so I can start my salad greens and spinach so I can have some cold weather foods. The hubby likes salads and I love being able to feed him ones I grew myself.
Had found a great idea of using rain gutter as planters, so I had been collecting them of the local free group on Yahoo. My gutters and hangers I was able to find, but the end caps are somewhere in one of the sheds and I didn't feel like trying to find them, so I broke out the plastic and duct tape.
I pulled out two gutters and assembled the tools and supplies I needed:
As mentioned, I couldn't find the gutter caps, so I folded up some plastic over the open ends and duct taped the heck out of them. They ain't pretty, but they will work until I can find the caps.
Then I flipped the gutters over and drilled small holes along the bottom from one end to the other. They don't have to be very big holes, just enough to let excess water drain out, but small enough to keep the soil in.
Next up is to put up the brackets,
Once the brackets are all up, fit in a gutter. Then remove the gutter and then unscrew the end brackets and move them inward towards the center several inches each and reattach them to the railing.
PRO TIP: Make sure to accurately measure the length of the gutter and mark it before installing LOL!
Once that is done, fit a gutter into the brackets and fill with potting soil.
You can seed it with any shallow root plant, in this case I have two different salad mixes and spinach. Plus my favorite plant food.
Sprinkle the seed and plant food on top of the soil and then cover. I planted the spinach and musclun mix into the top gutter and then bottom gutter is the musclun mix and Italian greens mix.
Water and Viola!
I have my salad greens started and can't wait until I can have fresh picked salads for dinner. I don't even have to leave my deck to harvest it. Just go out with a big bowl and shears and cut as much as I need. I can then seed in new as the plants start to die back a bit. I should be able to have fresh greens until the weather gets too hot for them. Once that happens I will seed in something different that will like that planter.
I even have enough room on either end to put in some cut down gutters to plant my kitchen herbs. Just need to lay my hands on more brackets.
Had found a great idea of using rain gutter as planters, so I had been collecting them of the local free group on Yahoo. My gutters and hangers I was able to find, but the end caps are somewhere in one of the sheds and I didn't feel like trying to find them, so I broke out the plastic and duct tape.
I pulled out two gutters and assembled the tools and supplies I needed:
 |
| plastic rain gutters |
 |
| Screws, duct tape, water can, cordless drill, drill bits, screwdriver bits, gutter brackets, and scissors |
As mentioned, I couldn't find the gutter caps, so I folded up some plastic over the open ends and duct taped the heck out of them. They ain't pretty, but they will work until I can find the caps.
 |
| Duct taped gutter ends |
Then I flipped the gutters over and drilled small holes along the bottom from one end to the other. They don't have to be very big holes, just enough to let excess water drain out, but small enough to keep the soil in.
Next up is to put up the brackets,
Once the brackets are all up, fit in a gutter. Then remove the gutter and then unscrew the end brackets and move them inward towards the center several inches each and reattach them to the railing.
PRO TIP: Make sure to accurately measure the length of the gutter and mark it before installing LOL!
Once that is done, fit a gutter into the brackets and fill with potting soil.
You can seed it with any shallow root plant, in this case I have two different salad mixes and spinach. Plus my favorite plant food.
Sprinkle the seed and plant food on top of the soil and then cover. I planted the spinach and musclun mix into the top gutter and then bottom gutter is the musclun mix and Italian greens mix.
Water and Viola!
I have my salad greens started and can't wait until I can have fresh picked salads for dinner. I don't even have to leave my deck to harvest it. Just go out with a big bowl and shears and cut as much as I need. I can then seed in new as the plants start to die back a bit. I should be able to have fresh greens until the weather gets too hot for them. Once that happens I will seed in something different that will like that planter.
I even have enough room on either end to put in some cut down gutters to plant my kitchen herbs. Just need to lay my hands on more brackets.
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