Eight Square Metres » diy

Giving Peas a Chance: Building a Trellis

cheese — Wed, 25 Mar 2009 23:19:34 +0000

The peas have been down now since early February. They are now several centimetres tall and complete with tendrils so it’s time to make sure they have adequate support as they start to climb.

We have the peas in quite a deep container – about 40 cm – as their roots can be extensive. In order to maximize the growing area, I planted the peas in a circle only a few centimetres from the edge of the container.

Building a Trellis

I aimed to maximize space by building a trellis out of bamboo and twine. Here are the steps I followed:

Place a number of bamboo canes around the very edge of the container so they are pointing straight up in the air.
Counterbalance the bamboos by tying a piece of string (twine, rope, yarn etc. – whatever takes your fancy) around each bamboo at it’s base, leading it under the container and tying it to the base of the bamboo directly across the diameter of the container from it.
Tie the bamboos together tight at the top. This adds stability and as they are now counterbalanced, they won’t just all move into the centre. There should be a slight bend in them caused by the tension.
Finally, tie some twine at the bottom of one of the bamboos (I actually tied it to the container handle) and lead it up and around the outside of the bamboos. Maintain a reasonable tension and tie off at the top. I looped it around some of the bamboos on the way to give it a bit of extra grip and stop the spiral slipping.

This should give the peas enough stability and support to grow. Maximizing space usage means we maximize the light our plants get and (hopefully!) produce.

Spring Onions

I planted some spring onions in the middle of the circle of pea plants so there wasn’t good soil going to waste in the container. They require much less root room and if all goes to plan will get sufficient light to grow in the middle of the peas. They’re only just coming up now so set your eyes to strain!

Recycling the Kitchen Part II – Building Storage

cheese — Tue, 17 Mar 2009 14:21:00 +0000

Last week I put together a trough out of my parents’ old kitchen for growing potatoes. Today I made a box out of some kitchen press doors so we could have some outdoor storage for gardening paraphernalia on the balcony.

In an apartment, any space-saving measure is a good one. In particular, anything which helps avoid domestic disputes arising from traipsing mud through the living room is a step in the right direction. Hence I thought building a box for storing outdoor things outdoors was a sensible idea.

Ingredients and Equipment

4 cherry wood kitchen press doors
4 short battens and 2 long battens made from maple floorboards
A drill and 1 1/4″ wood screws
2 end pieces made from a fifth press door
2 hinges
4 wheels left over from some Ikea purchase

Method

As you can see from the images, the box again was made in a similar fashion to the trough last week, using battens to strengthen the structure and allow for some easier screwing – it was quite tricky to screw the cherry wood directly into cherry wood.

I used some old simple hinges for the door. I’m not sure what the origin of the hinges are but I suspect it was an old press or wardrobe, rather than a door, as they are quite small. I attached the door so it opens downwards with the hinges at the bottom. This meant that I needed some clearance underneath so I attached four wheels we had leftover from some piece of Ikea furniture. This allows the door to open down fully.

To complete the door I screwed a screw into the top and attached the doorknob to it with an elastic band. Not the most exotic solution but it does the trick.

Conclusion

If after making it for 3 hours and with a very sore back someone had asked me whether this a better option than say buying a box for twenty quid, I’m not sure what I would have said. Nonetheless, we have a box now and I’m proud of it. It also looks better aesthetically in my opinion than anything you might buy. Well it definitely has character. We are contemplating painting or stencilling the outside of it but have no concrete plans as of yet.

Turning a Kitchen into Potatoes

cheese — Mon, 09 Mar 2009 02:01:00 +0000

Over the weekend I’ve been putting my limited DIY skills to the test to construct a trough-type structure for growing potatoes out of some old kitchen presses.

OK so strictly the kitchen isn’t literally being turned into potatoes but it is definitely going to help in potato cultivation. My parents have just renovated their kitchen and I was able to salvage some scrap wood from the builders. Prices for large containers can be very high (for a reason which escapes me) so I thought a more recession-proof home-grown solution could do the trick. The idea of having a container made out of solid cherry wood and maple seemed a bit unique to say the least.

Ingredients, Equipment

There were a few things that helped me along the way:

Cheery wood paneling from the kitchen
Some spare maple floorboards from when we put the floor down in the apartment
A drill and 1 1/4″ wood screws
A soon-to-be father-in-law with more power tools than Tim the Toolman Taylor and an all-round gift for building things from other things (thanks for the help Nathy!)

In particular, having someone with access to power tools (and who is expert in using them) was a distinct advantage. It’s best not to think what would have happened if I had been locked in a shed with the table saw on my own. Or for that matter, what would have happened had I resorted to using the handsaw I bought during the week in Lidl.

Method

Below are the steps used to build the trough. There are some photos at the end of the post for illustration.

Cut out two long sides of the trough about 40cm deep. If necessary, allow side to be comprised of multiple sections.
Cut 4 narrow battens to support the panels, one for each side. The battens should be shorter than the whole side, allowing for the end panels.
Cut the end panels. In our case we made the sides about 4 times the width of the end sections (30cm).
We made the bottom of the trough out of tongue-and-groove floorboards we had and cut them into lengths equal to the with of the end panels.
Screw the battens into each side. I used 5 screws on each. The lower should be be positioned the width of the bottom from the bottom edge such that when the bottom is added, it can be screwed into the batten.
Screw the end pieces into the battens – this makes four screws in each end panel.
I then turned the whole lot upside down and added the sections of floorboard one by one, screwing both ends of each section into the battens.

Conclusion

Overall from an aesthetic, economic and general Ibuiltthatwithmyowntwohands point of view, I’d regard this small construction effort to be a success. It remains to be seen how this stands up to the elements however. Let’s just hope no one talks it into coming down.

The whole process, took only an afternoon or so and was relatively painless. It’s definitely an approach I hope to use again in the future. I have some more press doors from the kitchen and some hinges so I’m hoping to build a storage box for the balcony next time I get a chance. I’ll be sure to post when I do.