Red Dirt Farm and Studio

Sandwiched between somewhat sunny days and snow days; my garden fantasies have run rampant.

Mr. Cottage and I shopped for garden supplies and treated ourselves to soft serve ice-cream over the weekend.

Tuesday it snowed.  Again.

Maybe we pulled the trigger on these too soon.  They have been covered with protective plastic since we purchased them.  The harsh winter has killed many of our plants, so we are starting over.

Especially hard to take was the loss of my beloved rosemary it was every bit of 6 feet by 4 feet.  We lost the smaller bushes as well.  The thyme looks to be a loss, but I won’t call it yet.

Creeping phlox on the back of the Koi Pond and down the front bank, mostly gone.

I’ve wanted to go to a large-scale container gardening system for a while.  I would love to use galvanized animal stock containers.  They are however, quite a bit expensive, so they are out of the budget at this time.  I have a lot of old galvanized buckets, wash tubs and sap buckets.  A few chicken feeders too; that I’ve used over the years in my gardens.  This year I hope to step it up a notch.

One of our chicken feeders from last year.

Some inspiration from pins on my In the Garden board at Pinterest.

I purchased a few replacement herbs over the weekend.  Rosemary rests in a sap bucket I purchased many years ago on a trip up to New England.  The sign I made using my plasma torch and re-cycled duct work.  Parsley in an old rusty funnel.

I have these hanging on the side of the house outside the kitchen door, where I can easily bring them in at night; until it stays warm enough to keep out.

Asian Cabbage in an old tub.

Snapdragons wrapped in snow.

I’ll have to put a hold on working outside for a bit, until the latest snow melts.

Do you use old containers in a repurposed way in your garden?

See you later, Bye!

Kim

P.S. There has been a bit of debate as to whether galvanized material is safe to plant your food in.  From what I have read – the concern is if it leaches zinc.  My understanding is that Zinc is a mineral that we all need and the quantity mostly like absorbed by the planted material would not be harmful.  Zinc is not a poison.  Cold tables (which I do not personally use) are made of zinc – just sayin.  So if you are concerned about using this material don’t.