Posted in DIY, Gardening, Recycling | 1 Comment

Line your garden with old wine bottles

Lifehacker has the scoop on reusing old wine bottles as makeshift garden edging.

Annie and Alexis Thomas were looking for a green way to edge their gardens in an interesting and novel way. They edged their sizeable garden with 489 bottles—most collected from local restaurants and wine stores—partially buried, as the demarcation between the gardens and the foot paths that wind through them.

Now what can you do with all the corks?

Posted in Gardening | 0 Comments

The best places to buy seeds online

We’re lucky; The Yardhacker home offices are day-trip distance from the wonderful Baker Creek Heirloom Seed company (and we’ll be heading out for the March Heritage festival this weekend and bringing back tons of photos).  But if you’re not so lucky, yet still on the prowl for some great seeds for this year’s garden, have a look at this recent Ask Metafilter question: Where is the best place to buy seeds online?

Along with Baker Creek, members also suggest Seed Savers Exchange and Johnny’s Selected Seeds, among others.  Have a look at all the answers here.  Happy gardening!

Posted in Gardening, Landscaping | 0 Comments

Calendar of monthly gardening reminders, tasks, and projects

Wow, March already? You know what that means: Spring is right around the corner!  It’s time to start prepping your backyard for the change in weather.  But what, exactly, should you be doing, and when?

Check out TheGardenHelper’s “Calendar of monthly gardening reminders, tasks, and projects” — a blast-from-the-web’s-past site listing “all the important tasks, maintenance and projects which should accomplished in your garden during the given month.”  For example, the entry for March begins:

In most areas it is still possible to do dormant spraying of fruit trees until the 15th, after that date dilute the spray by 1/2. Spraying should be done on a still day with the temperature above 40 degrees F. Late March and early April is a good time to transplant shrubs and trees. As soon as the soil is workable, but before buds have swelled or broken open, you can move shrubs and trees.

To read the rest of March, click here, and bookmark the calendar’s landing page to view your to-do’s for the upcoming months.

Posted in DIY, Fencing, Gardening, Inspiration | 0 Comments

Welded wire fencing secures your garden in style

Keeping dogs, deer, kids, and other pests (I kid, I kid) out of your garden and off your plants is always a challenge, and more often than not a simple fence will do the trick.  Flickr user sundry took it a step further by creating this unique barrier that blends nicely with the existing fence and offers a clean, modern look.

Fence and metal tubs are farm supplies from a local grange. Fencing is galvanized, it’s called welded wire. It comes in either a roll or in straight panels, and it was cut to length with bolt cutters.

See another photo — with swinging gate — here.

Posted in Gardening, YOTD | 0 Comments

Snow covered herb boxes — YOTD

These snow-covered herb boxes from Flickr user kal313 not only do a great job of making you pine for some nice Spring weather, but they’re also lucky enough to be featured as today’s Yard of the Day.  But the really crazy part?  This backyard exists in none other than Austin, Texas, which saw a significant amount (relatively speaking) of the white stuff fall this week.  Keep warm, amigos!

If you’d like to submit a photo of your yard to be considered as a YOTD, simply join our Flickr group, Yardhacker’s Yard of the Day, and add your photo.  If you want.  No pressure.  Really.

Posted in DIY, Gardening | 0 Comments

$100 drip irrigation system for your backyard

Constantly forgetting to water your tomato plants?  You’re not alone.  Matt Haughey (of Metafilter fame) spent $100 and a Saturday afternoon (albeit a few years back…) installing a drip irrigation system to keep his plants alive while on vacation.

It’s amazingly easy, like putting legos together. Cost about $100 and took about an hour to set up the first section.

Follow along step-by-step in his short Flickr tutorial to make your own.