Monday, May 2, 2011

Weekend Projects - Compost Tumbler, Deck Planter

I don't really have anything to report on the gardening front from this weekend, but I did do some garden related projects!

Compost Tumbler

Saturday morning, I made a compost tumbler.  I found a guy on craigslist selling 60 gallon food grade barrels with screw top lids a couple weeks ago and I picked one up to make my composter.  I picked up the other materials I needed Saturday morning - pressure treated 2x4 lumber, some scrap pressure treated 1x6 decking, a 48" piece of black pipe, 2 end caps to fit the black pipe, and a 2' piece of PVC pipe (just large enough for the black pipe to fit in it).  I'm not going to go step by step here, but basically I made a nice frame, drilled (in the barrel) a few 7/8" holes for the pipe, a few more in the bottom for "large" drain holes, and then a whole bunch of 3/8" air holes in the sides.  Here's the finished product!


I've got it about half full of stuff right now - mostly green grass clippings, along with some twigs, leaves, crushed pinecones, stump grindings (aka sawdust) and some shredded cardboard and coffee grounds.  Hopefully in a few weeks I'll have some nice compost!

Deck Planter

Another weekend project that I did last night, using my 18 guage brad nailer was a deck planter.  I'd gone to the hippie gardening store on Saturday because they sell cheap black nursery pots, and I wanted a BIG one.  The largest they had was a 13.67 gallon pot, which cost about $5 - heck of a lot cheaper than anything Home Depot sells at a similar size, I can tell you that!  Then I did head over to Home Depot for some wood.  I had a picture in my head but no plans of any kind.

It actually turned out surprisingly well - not perfect, but I'm no carpenter!  Here is is:


It still needs to be painted (the white stuff was pre-primed), but overall I think it turned out pretty nice!

1 comment:

  1. I love what you have done to your deck. I would be happy to look out on that too. I think you come up with so many perfect ideas. Wish I had that talent. garden decking

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