I know myself well enough to not fight the phases. Anyone else go through creative shifts? Like my bus home last week (picture above, the one in flames) you gotta just let it go.

I was on a roll last year. Writing and editing and finally publishing. Started this year off with some promoting, then I went into reading mode. Marathon reading. Read some amazing books I had every intention of reviewing and sharing, but went onto the next one and, well, there’s been computer access issues and then internet problems. Still internet problems (Do NOT get Comast). That’s a bassackwards battle I really should write about.

Great reading and then I couldn’t read another written word. Went into a bit of dormancy, a quiet, contemplative absorbancy period.

Then spring maybe kinda hit, and I saw what my new backyard is composed of once the mountains of snow actually melted. Got my tax return and- absolutely new phase smacked the crap outta me. Forget the inside of the house. (House issues, so will be moving- again- once the lease is up. ) I want plants. My plants did not do well in my mom’s house. Now that I have a yard that is mine, I want an actual outdoor space. Writing RMOS and being completely cooped up in my mom’s house without my own yard, without the hiking and camping abilities we’d had in Colorado, without the sunlight!- it was not a good mix. Think I wouldn’t do well in Alaska after all.

My absorptive phase ended quite abruptly and went into blueprint and project phase. I need a project! No matter what I look at, I’m seeing possibilities, plans, tools, and finished product in one glance. The boys would keep calling me, getting nervous cause I’m just standing somewhere staring. I’d have to shush them with ‘I’m thinking!’. I unearthed my tools. My god, I have some decent stuff. And I needed an upgrade.

But I am all about the garden. I’m renting, so can’t dig, and want things that I can take with me. Container garden! I got super-overeager and bought some plants on our first 80 degree weekend, which was mother’s day, which ended promptly Sunday evening, plummeting back down into wet, cold winter-spring. I brought my brand-new tomato plant and several herbs inside, crowding up my crowded living room, and panicked that my new greenery were all going to die.

(plans and blueprints flash through my brain)

This calls for a greenhouse.

Pinterest is the best thing on earth, you know. After compiling a few perfect options, two weekends ago I made my very first greenhouse! While the instructions I followed called for a six by 3 foot, I did not have such space. I raided the scrap pile at Menard’s and found exactly the size 2 x 4’s I wanted and built a modest @ 2′ x 3′ greenhouse, with 2 10′ PVC pipes as a frame.

 Click here for the Sow and Dippity blog, which provides the how-tos.

You know what’s good about being a creative hoarder? You do actually use those weird odds and ends you save for no idea why. My new Ikea couch came in three boxes (which upset the old-school plumber trying to get water into the house). Each section also came wrapped in large sheets of plastic 🙂 Yes. I saved those. AND in a place I’d remember! That was a brilliant bonus. I used two to cover the greenhouse, and one as a dropcloth for Memorial weekend’s spray painting project (came out fantastic! Will post later!)

Yay! The scrap lumber cost about $1.60 for the four pieces, PVC pipe was $2. I had a black trash bag I brought from work to transport some styrofoam I’m saving for another project (frog tank decor). Used the bag as my bottom liner (thinking the black will help draw heat into the greenhouse).  Free. Metal brackets and screws were about $4 total only cause I bought the larger packs to have on hand for unforseen future things. The instructions I followed for the greenhouse called for an old garden hose cut into small sections and then slit up the long side to use as clamps to keep the plastic attached to the pipe. I don’t have old garden hoses…..but I do have tubing left over from the turtle tank! It worked out great. Store bought greenhouse kit for smaller would have run me $100. My greenhouse, for $8:

If you look closely, you’ll just make our the clear plastic tubing that clamps around the PVC pipe, holding the layers of plastic on the frame.

 

Have the tomato, lemon thyme, cilantro, parsley, and two lavendar plants in there, along with the boys’ carnivorous plants. Doing good! Monday, after verifying that the weather was going to stay consistent day and night this week, I took everything out and replaced them with some vegetable seedlings. I’m growing some black beans! Never knew you could!  My next greenhouse will be made from salvaged windows. Can’t wait for that one!

Current project, redoing cast iron chairs 🙂 Coming out fantastic! Stay tuned for photos!