The Cheap Vegetable Gardener

Cool way to collect rain water – Rain Drops

15.6 years ago cheap, harvest, water 17 Comments

I came across this great new design and thought I would share.  The inspiration is to provide a cheap way of capturing rainwater for developing countries.  This would be a great way to prevent some water bottles from going into landfills but also a space saving way to capture some rainwater without requiring the large footprint or cost that rain barrel(s) can take up.  No word on these going on sale yet, seems to be in the design stage but great idea.

“The RainDrops system simply allows people to adapt standard plastic bottles to an existing gutter system to collect rain water. This changes water storage from the most to the least expensive part of the system. These are much easier to clean and replace than larger storage units. The repurposing of these plastic bottles will also give value to many bottles that are otherwise headed for landfills. Corruption in the water sector is a real problem in many developing countries. The scalability of this system helps to give more power to the communities in need.
Another large benefit to using plastic bottles as a water collection system is that it fits in nicely with the process called SODIS, which uses a combination of the suns UV rays and heat to remove pathogenic microorganisms that cause disease. This process is spreading across many developing countries due to its effectiveness and low cost. “

First/Last? trip to the NW Home and Garden Show

15.6 years ago Uncategorized 2 Comments

My daughter and I made our first trip to the NW Home and Garden show yesterday.  It was a great experience which if you want to know more you can check out my guest post on Flora’s Blog.  Apparently there is a March 31st deadline to find a new owner, so keeping my fingers crossed since I would love to go next year with both my daughters.

Garden trellis made from CAT-5 network cable

15.6 years ago cheap 11 Comments

Last year over at The Genteel Recessionista their trellis made of twine rotted away.  This year they chose to use wire salvaged from some old CAT-5 Ethernet cables to create a new one.  They were able to create two trellises for about a dollar each which in my opinion look great.

And the winner of the CVG seed stash is…

14.7 years ago Uncategorized 1 Comment

After a week of waiting over a week I haven’t heard back from Aly so I have picked an alternate winner, I reran the CVG Contest Winner Pickorama and the new winner is Angela, please send me an email using the contact link at the top of the page with your name/address and I will get the seeds sent out as soon as possible.

Seeds from WinterSown

14.6 years ago cheap, seed exchange, seed saving, seeds 3 Comments

I know many of your probably already know about WinterSown but for those of you that have not you must check them out.  This is the first year I have requested seeds from them and I they completely blew away my expectations.  By simply sending them an self-addressed stamped envelope (SASE) and an optional donation they will send back some seeds of your choosing.  I have gotten tired of my boring tomatoes I have been growing from the limited selections at local nursery and garden center so I chose the following: Husky Red Cherry, Persey Tomato, Red Brandywine, New Yorker, Mini Gold, Green Zebra, Tommy Toes, and they also sent me some Parsley which was not on my list though I was planning on growing this year.

They also included a pamphlet (mirrored) providing a long but not very labor intensive method of how to save your own tomato seeds which was yet another added bonus.  I will be sure to save some seeds and send many of my extras back their way at the end of the season.

Cheap Light Bar for Seedlings

14.6 years ago cheap, indoor seed starting 6 Comments

A couple months ago we replaced a couple of bathroom light fixtures and it didn’t take too long for me to find the old ones a new home.  An old extension code couple electrical connectors and I have a completely non-code light bar.  I used the smaller fixture and replaced my light bulbs hanging from sockets using zip ties.

When I have some more time I will plan on making a reflector to redirect more light on the plants but for now the little peppers/tomatoes look very happy.