Creative Gardening Tools: The Kitty Litter Bucket Rain Barrel

The day after I planted the sickly tomatoes, the zucchini, and the onions and shallots, the good- weather reprieve was over and we were back to April weather. Three rounds of rain followed by hail that day, rain the next day, and rain yesterday have saturated the ground. Everything is soggy, and therefore my beans and cucumbers are not yet planted.

Luckily, the hail really only damaged one tomato plant, which I should have attached to the stake a little higher. I'm hoping when I tie it back to the stake it will recover...it already has baby tomatoes that I don't want to lose.

I did, however, have the foresight to put out some rain barrels--Fresh Step kitty litter buckets! I never know what to do with them and don't want to throw them away, but they make excellent rain buckets. I saved the lids this year so I can cap them and prevent skeeter babies from swimming around in them. I also had the foresight to put a rock in the bottom of each one so they wouldn't blow away in the gusty winds.

So here is a rundown of the short-term gardening projects I have left to complete if Mother Nature ever gives us a break:

1. Plant cukes, beans, and dill seedlings
2. Put up rabbit fencing around the garden
3. Add compost to the garden
4. Put together the gated arbor
5. Put together the bridge
6. Start remaining seedlings

Wow, the list seems overwhelming when I don't know when we will have dry conditions again. Keep your fingers crossed for a couple of dry days for me!

Tag! You're It!

I was reading My Grandpa's Garden shortly after posting my "April Showers...." post, only to discover I have been tagged with a gardening meme! Since this is my first official tag, it's only right to contribute. Here are the meme rules:

For this Meme, all you have to do is take some pictures and post them. Any embarrassing commentary is strictly voluntary.

1. Flash Your Seed Stash - Show us where you keep your extras. Or, if your like me, dump that big bag onto the living room floor and grab the camera!

2. Your Favorite Garden Photo - Doesn’t have to be current, just the one you’re most proud of.

3. The Secret Spot - Take a picture of that part of the yard that you’ve given up hope on, nothing will grow, sun doesn’t shine, there is no hope. No yard is perfect!

4. Your favorite garden tool - you know it, you love it, its not getting enough facetime on your blog - showcase it!

5. Your garden rainbow. Go out into the garden and try to find a picture to represents each color in the rainbow, whether all in one photo or seperate!

After reading through the suggested meme options, I realized that my blog has already supplied many of them: I have already flashed my seed stash, I already have mentioned "The Secret Spot" (where the pool used to be), and I've already talked about my favorite garden tool (The Claw). My garden isn't mature enough yet to provide a garden rainbow or favorite garden photo.

I thought instead I would provide a few pictures of gardening tools that I use that weren't necessarily constructed as gardening tools.

#1: The Rain Barrel
I don't have any old-fashioned, wooden rain barrels. I did see that Lowe's has DIY instructions for creating your own rain barrels, but that was going to cost money and take time and expertise that I don't have. So I settled for the next best thing--empty kitty litter buckets. I have them sitting out in various parts of the yard, weighted down by a rock, to catch the rain. Eventually I'll try to remove part of the gutter so the water flows directly into the barrel.

#2: The Plant Stake
When bean and pea plants are small but leaning, I've staked them to provide some support. The stake shown in the picture is a bamboo skewer. I found a pack of 200 of them at the dollar store! One end is pointed, so it's easy to get into the ground, and the top end is flat (when I remember to put the proper end into the dirt, of course). Cheap stakes, bamboo, easy to use, what more could a gardener ask?



#3: The Water Reservoir
Okay, I know that this tool looks like a big pile of twigs and branches. It is. But I was recently reading Food Not Lawns: How to Turn Your Yard into a Garden And Your Neighborhood into a Community, which recommended digging a trench in your yard near your garden, placing twigs and branches in it, and then recovering the trench with dirt. The trench acts as a reservoir for water that will help keep some of the moisture in your garden during the dry summer months. Additionally, the branches and twigs break down and contribute to soil building. I haven't dug the trench yet--planting is my priority right now. But I'll dig it (or more likely, hire someone to dig it) soon!

I don't know many gardeners to tag. So the tagging is voluntary--if you'd like to participate in this garden photo meme, consider yourself tagged, post your photos and any commentary you desire, and then post a comment here, indicating that you've completed your meme!