I have a whole bunch of hanging baskets that over the years have managed to end up with those spider plants in them - as not much else can survive endless days of sun followed by floods - gotta love that Queensland weather!
After re potting my hanging baskets on the front of the house from spider plants to flowers a week ago, I looked to the ones on the back of the house. I could have gone more green or flowers - both would have been nice, but in the end I opted to have a go at transplanting some 'wild self sown rouge' tomato plants into the baskets and having go number 3469,788 at growing something to eat!
When I pulled the mostly dead spider plants out of the basket - I decided the baskets probably needed a bit of a re-vamp them selves...
Here's what I did...
First, I simply ripped all the grassy coverings of them to leave the bare wire skeleton.
Like this!
Then I used the base of a dead palm frond cut into 1.5 inch strips to wind in and out of the wire skeleton. (like basket weaving therapy!!)
It gets a bit tricky as you get to the bottom. I used thinner strips and chose the softer more pliable parts as I got closer to the bottom.
Here are my three finished baskets. I used different sides of the fronds to get the different colours!
Then I lined them with plastic and filled them with potting mix and a bit of compost.
I found some self sown rouge cherry tomato plants under the lemon tree and transplanted them into the newly potted baskets.
And then hung them back up!
Now all I have do is wait is for the tomatoes to grow!!
Update: 24/07/2012
Two tomato plants are growing well. One even has flowers on it - so I might actually get a tomato on it! The third one at the back got eaten by a possum that got up on the beehive (so we got a fake owl to scare them off) and I ended up planting a fern in there as the scond tomato plant I put in didnt make it.
Score card:
Green-ness: Its very green to grow your own food! (If I can!)
Frugal-ness: I didn't spend a cent! I'm the frugal Queen today!
Time cost: It took me about an hour to weave all the baskets and about 10 minutes to do the rest!
Skill level: Nice and easy - maybe a holiday project for the kids!
Fun -ness: Great fun and a great bit of entertainment for the afternoon!
After re potting my hanging baskets on the front of the house from spider plants to flowers a week ago, I looked to the ones on the back of the house. I could have gone more green or flowers - both would have been nice, but in the end I opted to have a go at transplanting some 'wild self sown rouge' tomato plants into the baskets and having go number 3469,788 at growing something to eat!
When I pulled the mostly dead spider plants out of the basket - I decided the baskets probably needed a bit of a re-vamp them selves...
Here's what I did...
First, I simply ripped all the grassy coverings of them to leave the bare wire skeleton.
Like this!
Then I used the base of a dead palm frond cut into 1.5 inch strips to wind in and out of the wire skeleton. (like basket weaving therapy!!)
It gets a bit tricky as you get to the bottom. I used thinner strips and chose the softer more pliable parts as I got closer to the bottom.
Here are my three finished baskets. I used different sides of the fronds to get the different colours!
Then I lined them with plastic and filled them with potting mix and a bit of compost.
I found some self sown rouge cherry tomato plants under the lemon tree and transplanted them into the newly potted baskets.
Now all I have do is wait is for the tomatoes to grow!!
Update: 24/07/2012
Two tomato plants are growing well. One even has flowers on it - so I might actually get a tomato on it! The third one at the back got eaten by a possum that got up on the beehive (so we got a fake owl to scare them off) and I ended up planting a fern in there as the scond tomato plant I put in didnt make it.
Score card:
Green-ness: Its very green to grow your own food! (If I can!)
Frugal-ness: I didn't spend a cent! I'm the frugal Queen today!
Time cost: It took me about an hour to weave all the baskets and about 10 minutes to do the rest!
Skill level: Nice and easy - maybe a holiday project for the kids!
Fun -ness: Great fun and a great bit of entertainment for the afternoon!
Comments
I remember my mom had tons of spider plants when I was a kid. Almost seems weird that I don't have any.
I hope those tomatoes reward you with some yummy goodness.
Hey Nicole - I figure if they are popping their heads up in the garden they are probably finding the weather to their liking! Winter in Brisbane is just lovely - and probably a better time to grow veges than summer. Well, at least if I didn't have have a brown thumb when it comes to veges, it might be!
- Kara