a headlamp for gardening after dark

Repurposed for the Garden: All Night Long

After the alembic copper still and a new camera lens that I will never be able to afford, all I really wanted for my 40th birthday was a headlamp so I can keep working in the garden past dark — and I got one. The headlamp that is. I’ll be saving up for the lens

Repurposed for the Garden: We Recycle!

I’ve taken the message on the side of this recycling bin quite literally and am recycling it by turning it into a salad greens garden. This house came chock-a-block full of junk, especially the backyard. Not that I’m complaining — we’ve found new uses for a great deal of the items and have saved some

Repurposed for the Garden: Giant Nail

To the average person it’s just a gigantic, oversized nail, or a weapon of intimidation (who needs to carry a can of mace when you’ve got this up your sleeve, am I right?), but to me this is the perfect tool for making drainage holes in things that were not manufactured to function as plant

Build a D.I.Y Lighting System

When we moved, I abandoned the cobbled together grow light setup I had been struggling with for years in favour of beginning again with a much improved, bigger and badder system. In the old place I had to stuff the grow light shelving system into a corner nook of my office. Consequently, it couldn’t be

Repurposed for the Garden: Flag Highlighter

When the folks behind this product sat down to envision a highlighter/post-it flag hybrid, I hardly think they knew they were creating a useful tool for gardeners. Students, office managers, and anal retentive note takers? They’re the obvious users. But I’d bet they didn’t know that around about midwinter gardeners everywhere are kicking back with

Repurposed for the Garden: Forceps

The other day, while shopping in the plant section of the Montreal Botanical Garden’s gift store I came upon a long pair of forceps that a staff member must have forgotten, left sitting among the cacti. In that moment it occurred to me, aha, yes, THIS is just the tool I need to help wrangle

Handy Garden Tip: Hair Bobble Tomato Tie

A friend gave me a pack of these “I Double Heart Jesus” hair bobbles years back and I’ve been trying to find an excuse to keep them ever since. I lived the bulk of my life with long hair until I cut it all off around age 30. Chances are good that I’m well over