Recycling: Container Gardening

With spring trying really hard to arrive around here, my thoughts have turned to the yard and garden. I want very much to grow some of our food this year, but with little garden space, I am thinking of how to arrange planters around the deck. With a big private school tuition bill coming due at the end of the summer, I am always trying to think of ways to cut costs. What can I do instead of spending a fortune on new planters? I took a look around the kitchen, and the first thing I found was a recently emptied plastic popcorn bottle.  What can  I do with this?









First I took a serrated knife and cut the top off. Then I used my corkscrew to make four holes on the bottom of the bottle, and four on the sides close to the bottom. (It worked great for this!!)

 I filled the container with potting soil, leaving a little room at the top.

We use a lot of fresh herbs in our cooking, so I planted some basil. Basil makes a great container plant. I taped the top flap of the seed packet to the side of the container with the date.

Voila! We should see some sprouts in about a week! No expensive containers, I've reused something that was headed for the trash, and my children can see how easy it is to grow your own (organic!) food and one way to reuse, rethink and recycle! Now... what else can I use...?

Healing With Whole Foods by Paul Pitchford

I have a feeling I will be blogging a lot about food in the future. I bought myself this book with the hopes of gaining a better understanding of how food effects our moods and our health. The book is huge, and when I first saw I figured I probably wouldn't end up spending a lot of time with it. Two nights ago, during my evening "break" I picked it up and started reading. I spent 45 minutes at it. Wow. Interesting stuff! For example:

Magnesium: "...(An) attribute of foods concentrated in magnesium is their ability to strengthen the structural aspects of the body to counteract conditions such as chronic fatigue syndrome, arthritis, and osteoporosis. ...Excellent research suggests that absolutely no calcium enters the bones without adequate magnesium..." Magnesium rich foods include beans, soy products, peas and lentils.

Milk: "...Dairy with its fat removed may not support the absorption and utilization of the fat-soluble vitamins D and A, which are necessary for maintaining and laying down new bone mass. Thus, calcium may go primarily into the soft tissues rather than into the bones in those who persist with reduced-fat dairy products."

Wow. Food for thought-lol!