Wheelbarrow Work Station

Wheelbarrow Work Station

Here is an addition to your potting shed that is not new, but one that is new to us.  LaVille was complaining about a sore back after working for long periods of time repotting plants.  She was having to bend down into the blue half barrel that you can see in the upper part of the photo to scoop up potting mix.  I turned our wheelbarrow, which is seldom used, into a potting station by cutting an old piece of plywood into a work surface and adding cleats to keep it in place atop the wheel barrow handles.  Now LaVille can sit on a medium height stool and do her potting without bending over. 

Wheelbarrow Work Station

Wood tops wheelbarrow handles to form surface for potting plants.

The potting soil is a mixture of RediGro potting soil, perlite, vermiculite, and worm castings.  Note the trowel that I have painted yellow (I hope you know why.) and the bag of Sure Start (which I have yet to discuss). The white coffee filters are to block the holes in the bottoms of the pots.  The plants coming out of the quart white pots are variegated abutilons—my favorites.

I was surprised to find that we only have about 20 empty gallon pots remining.  I never thought we would come close to using up the supply that I gleaned from the returned stack at Redwood Barn Nursery.  I counted up the number of potted gallon pots around the yard and came up with 145.

If you would like your own portable propagation potting station, email me the greatest width of your wheelbarrow and I will cut you a work surface that will make this garden chore even more enjoyable.

Stan, The Tool Man

It’s A Wanderful Wand!

It’s A Wanderful Wand!

You know, it’s not easy coming up with a new tool to write about, but I am really excited about this one.  As soon as I saw LaVille use it, I just knew there must be at least two other gardeners out there who would appreciate this one.  If you are like my wife, she uses a watering wand almost daily.  You see, she has probably around 100 potted plants that are under cover outside that don’t get the benefit of rain showers.  So even in the winter, a watering wand is used regularly.  The last wand was good—until it wasn’t.  A crack appeared in the side of the aluminum shaft that caused LaVille to get sprayed along with the plants.  I found that applying J-B Weld epoxy to the area, and wrapping with electrician’s tape sealed the leak.  LaVille was still unhappy because . . . well, the wand was too long, the control valve was sticking, and the spray was irregular. 

So I went to Amazon and ordered what you see below.  This, in her opinion, is the perfect watering wand. Adjustable sprays, adjustable head direction, full and fine spray, and a short handle which can still reach higher up hanging plants and water a potted plant held in the other hand.  (The full spray is emitted from around 200 minute holes!)

If you cannot read the description from the photo, I am talking about “H2O heavy duty 21 inch Watering Wand” from Amazon.

Happy watering,

Stan, The Tool Man