Good day to all the Hivers out there and especially the Gardeners and Do-It-Yourself on Hive. I have been so busy working at the docks in Cape Town Harbour, South Africa that my posting, gardening and crafting has been a little quiet.
I did however make some great progress! In this post here: DIY Mindset - One man's trash is another man's treasure I found a bunch of materials that were discarded by someone. Asking their permission, I quickly loaded what I could and took it home!
As you can see, the tomatoes are doing well! I had a sick tomato plant, I cut away the sick part but I will have to see if it makes it.
Right, now to make use of all this building material that I collection. I LOVE the concept of building something like a self-sufficient garden using as many recycled and repurposed materials!
Without buying new materials all the time, I do the environment a favour and do something productive at the same time. There is too much trash in the world, and people have too much of a disposable attitude.
The change starts with each and every one of us!
Of course, I did not just collect just any junk on the side of the road without an idea or concept of what I wanted to do with it! All those flat paving/flooring stones were collected for a very specific purpose!
The garden path is under way!
So in previous posts I show how I have made space for different grow areas and paths. The paths are there so I can tend to the plants better and easier. I need to be able to walk and work from those paths.
So I can pave them over. I do not need to just walk over dirt and am not growing plants in the pathway.
I started another little path with the leftover matierals. Thus I have run out and will collect other flat bits in the future to carry on.
With these paths I am compacting them, stamping them down, adding sand/dirt on top and brushing down with a broom, stamp them down again and finally I water them to further the natural erosion/compacting process to set the stones down better.
I have a bit of a longer method but for what I need right now, this will do! I think that once I have enough paving bits for the whole path, I will think about doing something more to the foundation of the path.
Another angle.
And with all the bricks and half bricks I could take away all the stakes in the ground and frame my veggie beds.
This is the spot I cannot dig down, so I am raising it up and will be filling that up. Just enough for a bit more room on a root system.
Another angle!
Not too bad for a single day off from the 6 days of work I did before I made these alterations.
It may seem strange to some people that I would choose to do so much work instead of resting on my one day off. Working with my hands is therapeutic and I get to enjoy and admire the results of my labour!
I cannot wait to get back in there and get even more done!
Until next time!
