Photo/Illustration: Courtesy of Cindi Martin
Today’s photos are from Cindi Martin in Chambersburg, Pennsylvania. Cindi says, “Every year we add to our yard. This year we are looking forward to enjoying the yard much longer with the early spring. We try to reuse things in a very unique way. The corn crib used for our gazebo came from a friend’s farm when they sold out. My husband works for a feed mill which burnt down 2 years ago. They were going to dispose of the conveyor belting with buckets. He asked if he could have it and they said sure. He brought it home and we made great use of it.
“Last year was a test of sampling what would grow. This year my husband hung 8 strips (5 buckets each) on a frame and we now have 40 buckets of little red potatoes growing. By the end of the month, we will be eating them–Yum! We used other strips at the post that supports the garage door and another on the gazebo. These have pansies in them for now, and later I’ll plant them with sweet potato vines and million bells.”
So cool, Cindi! Your own version of vertical gardening!
****ATTENTION!! FREE STUFF ALERT!!**** (In case you didn’t see it yesterday, or the day before, or the day before that)
Hey all, I have a TON of gardening books (mostly on veggie gardening, Hot Topic #1 these days) laying around my office, sent to us from publishers hoping for reviews in the magazine. They’re all great, but we only have a tiny bit of room, and only once in a while, for reviews in the mag. While talking to my editor about it last week, we decided to spread the wealth. Sooooo…I’ll be randomly choosing two people each day from all of the people who to send me photos of their gardens (or their gardening travels) for the rest of this week to get a free book (my choice)! Email photos to me at [email protected]. No guarantee that I’ll post your photos on the blog (I explain why HERE (way down at the bottom)), but you’ll get a package in the mail in a couple of weeks. When you send in your photos, be sure to include your full contact info (and your username) and a description of the photos you’ve sent. Woohoo! Exciting, yes? I’ll announce all the winners sometime next week, since I’m out of the office most of this week. Now go dig out some photos, or drag your camera outside!
Comments
What an incredible reuse of containers. My first impression was that it was one of those plant walls and it was but not of the type I thought. Is it difficult to water? My mom lives in Penn Hall in Chambersburg so you aren't far from me here in MD. Happy gardening!
Bravo to Cindi and her husband for being such ingenious recyclers! We should always keep our eyes and minds open to the concept of reusing. The corn crib given a second life as a gazebo is a real delight and, I'm sure, always a fun topic of conversation to new visitors to the garden.
Your clever reuse of farming equipment is really intriguing to me, and I, too, would love you to post again when you have potatoes. The old tin silo roof, and its use for the gazebo - amazing!! I'll be looking for one, as there was a gazebo on our RI farm property, which we would like to rebuild - the concept of an old tin roof would make it so much more interesting - and reuse is so good for the environment. Thanks for sharing!!
Fabulous! I love the vertical gardening. Well done!
I am totally enamored by the corn crib gazebo, especially as it pays tribute to the farming culture and history of so many of us and of your area. If I had heard of this without seeing a photo of it, I might have thought that it would overpower your yard, but it seems to fit in beautifully. I also love the conveyer belt with buckets for planting -- I'd like to try something similar on the deck posts in my small city outdoor space.
Now that's what I call thinking out of the box...great creativity and utilization! The buckets make me think of either the amusements rides or the little Igloo lunch coolers...love it!
I can understand that sort of verticle gardening if as aoder1 says there isn't much space available, but it appears to me there is more than enough good tillable farm land in those photos, enough to grow more crops than any ten families can consume... I don't think taters would do well in such small containers anyway. I think the containers have many uses as storeage containers, and that belting would make great garden edging. I like the look of the silo roof for a gazebo, except sitting in there when it's raining would be deafening... my barn roof is corrogated steel so I know the decibles generated from rain pelting a metal roof, there are lower sound levels at a rock concert. I'd coat that metal roof with aluminized sound deadening roofing paint, the type used to quiet/protect house trailer roofs.
What a great idea... love the corn crib!
What a wonderful way to keep something out of the landfill. I love the gazebo and think the conveyor belt planters are fantastic. I love going to garage sales and looking for things I can use in my gardens and yard. I have a beautiful old soup tureen that I bought at a yard sale for 50 cents, because it had a chip in the edge, now filled with a mixture of succulents. I picked up an old chair that someone threw out for the gardbage truck to pick up. The seat was busted through and there were some gouges in the wood. I removed the rest of the woven seat, added some wire to make a place to rest a nice big (cracked)bowl (also a yard sale find at $1) then painted the chair a pretty pale green. After sanding a little to let the previous white paint show through some, I have a one-of-a-kind plant stand that draws attention from everyone that visits. Keep up the great work of recycing, reusing, redoing!
Brilliant reuse of materials. I hope you'll let us know how the potato crop turns out. I love this gazebo. It has character and has given me ideas. Thank you for sharing!
What a great way to do vertical gardening!! I just love the idea of recycling all the old farm equipment.
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