Here goes nothing . . .

Well, I promised pictures, and I have some!

I realize that the last thing I should want to do is find a way to pull off a project without using power tools - but the logic goes as follows . . .

It's my day off, I want to enjoy it
If I need to use the power tools in the shop, I have to clean the shop to get to them
Cleaning the shop is not enjoyable
So . . . I'm going to get this project done without needing the power tools.

And I did!

Welcome to our fire escape herb and vegetable garden:


I had been hanging the pots off the railing of the fire escape with brass coat hangers, but they were sagging more than I would have liked. So I set out to find a way to support them. I had thought about hanging a board from the railing with chain or rope, but because the railing doesn't have vertical slats, that wasn't going to work. So I went to Home Depot with the idea to buy a prefab laminated shelf, and figure out how to hold it on the railing. Well . . . in the wonderful world of Oz, solutions just come to you . . .

So I bought two wire shelves - one 4' and one 3' (both 12" deep), two treated wooden balusters (like you'd use on a deck railing) conveniently already 3' long, and the supports for the wire shelves.

I came home and found the household collection of zip ties (everyone should have some in their utility drawer, or something) and used them to attach the shelves to the railings, using the balusters to fill in where the railing was lacking - it was that L shaped metal railing. So, it looked kinda like this:





And then I attached the support braces, to help hold up the weight of all my pots.

So, growing on the fire escape we have:

Lemon Basil
Sweet Basil
Cinnamon Basil
Thyme
Sage
Cilantro
Flat Leaf Parsley
Six kinds of Lavender
Chives
Oregano
Catnip
Spearmint
Peppermint
A roma tomato
a Jalapeno
Snap peas
morning glories
and Aloe

And I'm excited!

The times they are a changin . . .

If anyone's wandered through in the past couple weeks . . . which I kinda doubt since I haven't posted anything in a while . . . you may have noticed the face of Toy Soldiers has changed a couple times. I was playing with some software, and testing out my attempts here. I'm done for now. I have gone back to a straight up template, which I'll probably get bored and tweak, eventually. But I picked this one, because I want to focus on something that has become a strong interest of late.

I'm gardening. So for now - Toy Soldiers (haha, littleGREENarmymen, get it??) will operate on a more growing-green-things kind of theme. I'll have pictures, and info on my attempts as well as what I plan to change next time around. I'll still post other random stuff too, y'all know I can't concentrate on one thing long enough to make my main blog have a true theme!

Also, on that note, a website to share, as it has helped alleviate my gardening jones when I have to do other things - You Grow Girl - they have great content, and forums. I haven't gone so far as to buy the book yet, but I might consider it eventually.

Anyhow . . . that's what's on my mind, at least for now.