Going To Plan B

You might have noticed on my new blog header a succulent picture. 
Here is another project I completed a couple weeks ago. 
This project is really a redo from a past project that didn't work out.

Back in November of 2011, I blogged about my experiment of making a vertical garden out of a pallet. I hung it inside my house and hoped it would thrive.

The experiment didn't turn out as I hoped. 

There were several issues that I knew might become a problem when I made this. 

Some came up that I didn't think of.

1)  Watering was a huge issue.  I tried to not water very much.  Lack of watering caused the soil to dry out.  When I did water, streams would funnel into channels and pour all over the floor.  The good news is the pond liner I used on the back of the pallet kept the drywall completely protected and dry.  I have concrete floors under this pallet, but still it was a problem.  I had to place towels on the floor to sop up the water every time I watered, slightly inconvenient for my busy lifestyle.

2)  Not enough sunlight.  I hung the pallet on an East facing wall.  The indirect light was too low for my plant choices.  All of the succulents I planted grew long and spindly searching for the sunlight.  The roots rotted and eventually most of them died.  I used succulents so I didn't have to water much, but it created another problem.

3)  Gnats, need I say more?  The pallet changed from a succulent garden to a gnat farm, yuck!  The gnats were feeding on the rotting plant material.  Every time anyone poured a glass of wine or juice the "swarm" would find the glass and take a swim.  I know, gross right?  I tried non-toxic soap, but had to go with the harsh stuff because the organic wasn't working at all.  Still the gnats would come back even with poison.  My girls were totally grossed out when I told them gnats were good protein.

Plan B

If you are a do it yourselfer, there ALWAYS has to be a backup plan B.

My Plan B was to Go Faux

Here is my new pallet using floral foam, moss and plastic succulents.  Some of the plastic succulents I already had.  I purchased a few more at Shinodas.  Shinodas is a floral supply here in San Diego. 
I still need a few more to fill in.

No watering, no rotting succulents, and best of all, no gnats.

Yay, I don't have to drink wine from a sippy cup anymore!

My other pallet has been moved outside where it will hopefully recover and thrive.

I hung it from my eaves with heavy duty hooks and chain.

Here is my sad little vertical garden. 

 I added more succulent cuttings and hopefully they will root and fill in.

I'll show you how it progresses. 

I'm not totally giving up on the idea, just adjusting my expectations.

Ahh, pretty and no maintenance.

Perfect for summer time.

 

Have any experiments that didn't turn out?

I'm off to go workout at the beach playing some volleyball.

Hope you are out enjoying summer too.

Thanks for checking it out.

Look What I Dragged Home

Hi friends, I haven't been blogging much lately.  I've been traveling, enjoying the summer with the kids, and working out more.

I've managed to complete some small projects and here is my latest.

New decor for my front door that I made with stuff I already had and some found seaweed.

I play beach volleyball and often find things that the surf washes in and drag them home with me.

 

Hear are a few of my previous finds.

I found this old lost buoy last Winter.
I cleaned off the stinky barnacles and added some rope to it.

I drug this water logged 9' piece of driftwood home and put it in my front yard.  This was really fun putting in my car, but totally worth it.  I kept checking my rear view mirror all the way home to make sure nothing crawled out of it.

Here is another piece of drift wood I painted and made into a jewelry organizer for my daughter's room.

Here is my latest find. 
While cleaning off our court from washed up seaweed I found this dried up piece.  I liked it's shape.
Trash to some people, door ornamentation for me.  I added two faux sea fans to the back, hot glued a starfish to the front, and added a rope hanger.
In case you were wondering, no it doesn't smell at all. 



You never know what you'll find for free from nature?



Dragged anything home from the beach lately?
Hope you are enjoying your summer as much as we are.

Thanks for checking it out.