Growing Tiny Plants Indoors

I love to grow miniature African violets, very small cactus and other small plants. I grow these plants in self watering pots I create using common plastic food containers, plastic jars and other unusual items.


I obtain the small plants from cutting or starting from seeds. The plants range in size from a quarter of an inch to 14 inches for a couple of everygreen trees I have in a container garden.


I embellish some of the plant arrangement with small stones, animals and other miniatures. Additional information is available on my Web site.

Kingman Flower Shop Open House

Mary Lou and I enjoyed the open house at the Kingman Flower Shop Open House yesterday and today! I spoke to many persons that lived outside of Kingman. There was a great deal of interest in my miniature African violet in a self watering pot created from a seashell. Many have African violets growing in their homes, however most said they had never used self watering pots. Also they were concerned with watering miniature African violets since the root ball is so small.

I explained how the soil mix was very inmportant while about any man made string or yarn could be used as a wick to transfer the water to the soil. I am completly sold out of seashell planters for small plants until more arrive via UPS. I greatly enjoy sharing my love of small plants with new friends!
Happy Gardening!
Laris Pickett

I Sell My Seashell Planters

August 15th we went to Kingman on the way to visit our son in Wyoming to deliver the seashell planters. The seashell planters with miniature African violets were sold before noon! So before we traveled through Hays on I-70, all of the African violets growing in self watering pots made from seashells were sold! I will need to find a source for large seashells if I hope to sell more of my miniature African violets.



The planters made fromlarge seashellsebook is the third one I have written and am selling online. The other two are Mini Desert Garden and Self Watering Pots. The Seashell Garden provides information and photographs for creating self watering pots so less time and effort are required to grow a very large number of small plants.



The Mini Desert Garden ebook explains how to grow succulent and cactus plants together in a container creating a desert plantscape.

Mary Lou Sells Art Work In Kingman, Kansas

Earlier this year Mary Lou painted a vase for our daughter-in-law, Jeana. Jeana had sent a photograph of a design she loved, and Mary Lou painted a similer design on a vase for Jeana. Jeana took the vase to the flower shop where her sister worked and showed it to her sister and Jill, the owner of the shop. They were very impressed with the painted vase and Jill asked if Mary Lou would be interested in selling some items in her shop. (Thanks Jeana!!!)



On August 10th, Mary Lou and I went to Kingman to meet with Jill and Joyce at the Kingman Flower Shop. Joyce is my daughter-in-law sister, so I already knew her, however I had never been introduced to Jill.






Mary Lou showed Jill and Joyce photographs I shot over the past year of her art objects. Jill and Joyce pointed out items they would like for Mary Lou to paint and bring to the floral shop. Just before we left, Mary Lou mentioned I grew miniature African violets in self watering pots I created with recycled plastic containers from the kitchen and seashells. Jill and Joyce were surprised to see African violets growing in seashells and how pretty the recycled plastic pots were after Mary Lou painted the water reservoir. Jill and Joyce asked me to bring some of my miniature African violets growing in self watering pots created out of seashells and recycled items from the kitchen.


Mary Lou has photographs of my art at www.ArtByMaryLou.com. I invite you to look at the photographs of her art work on her Web site.

Ruth has a new Web site where she is selling various gourds she designed this winter.

The URL is
http://www.gourdgrower.com.

The drum gourd required many hours to clean the gourd, decorate it, and assemble all of the various parts of the drum.

I have attended some of the club meetings and Ruth is a wonderful teacher. She is always bringing a new design or technique for fellow club members to learn. The club members love her.

Check out her new Web site at
http://www.gourdgrower.com.

My Yard

My Yard

Completed DIY PVC Bonsai Stand

Completed PVC Bonsai Stand
Completed plant stand may need additional rocks or dirt to level the plant stand if it is sitting on a slope. The PVC pipe is very cheap if purchased in 10 foot lengths. The couplings are about $1 each, and the drip pan price will vary with the size of the drip pan, but it is very important not to try to save money by using a small drip pan. The larger drip pan will hold more cement and make the stand more stable and easier to level.

Paint the stand with plastic enamel.

2 inch screws in one half of PVC coupling



Drill a pilot hole for the four deck screws into each of the 4" PVC couplings. Cement will fill this half of the coupling, the PVC pipe will be inserted into the other end of the coupling after sanding the PVC pipe with sandpaper so it may be inserted into the coupling easier.

Large drip pan for planter with 4 inch screws

DIY PVC Bonsai Stand

Materials required are two 4 inch couplings, plastic drip pan for pot, round paver stone, four 4" deck screws, eight 2 inch deck screws and cement glue.

The tools I used were a power drill to drill the holes, and to screw in the deck screws.

The longer the length of PVC pipe, the larger the plastic drip pan needs to be. It is leveled, then filled with cement. After the cement has set, turn the drip pan upside down. Place the coupler on top of the drip pan with the vertical screws sticking out of the drip pan into the bottom of the PVC coupler. The screws in the coupler should be in the bottom half of the coupler. Fill the bottom of the PVC coupler with cement and allow to set. The top PVC coupler is placed on a sheet of plastic and the bottom half with the deck screws is filled with cement.

After all of the cement has set up, insert the PVC pipe into the bottom coupler, then insert the PVC pipe into the top coupler. Center and glue the round paver onto the top PVC coupling.

Hanging Strawberry Planter

PVC Hanging Strawberry Planter

I cut a three foot length of 4 inch PVC pipe, glued a end cap to the bottom. Next I drilled a hole in the center of the end cap large enough for my drip irrigation hose. Then I pushed the drip hose into the hole in the PVC end cap until it came out the top. I drilled 1/2 inch holes for the strawberry plants. I drilled a hole in the top of another 4 inch end cap and added the eye hook with a small chain to attach it to the planter. I added another chain to the end of the PVC pipe to hang the planter to the bracket. I started a few strawberry plants and waited for the runners to develop. I would push a runner into another hole where it would grow.

Gourd vine with the 30 inch gourd behind the 20 inch gourd.

30 inch gourd

Lowes $11 trash container

Lowes 34 gallon container with a flat side which would be easier to attach a hose fitting.


The fitting must be attached as low as possible on the trash container or tote box. This will allow gravity to empty most of the water in the container through the valve controlled by the timer. The timer is powered by three 'AAA' batteries.


Multiple containers may be use if more water is required. A 'tee' can join two containers, or many conatiners may be daisy-chained together to hold as much water as required. It is very important to have water tight connecters at the bottom of the container, otherwise the water will drain and will not be available to water your plants as many days as you figured on this setup providing water for your plants.

Lowes $10 trash container

Lowes 32 Gallon trash container

Materials to assemble watering system

This is a gravity flow system and does not require a pressure regulator or back-flow preventer. Do not attach to your water system without these safety devices!


Materials to assemble watering system

labeled on photo of assembled system



1/2 inch adapter for the container with hose fitting

'Y' hose adapter

double female hose fitting

pipe to hose adapters

Vacation Watering Setup

This is a gravity flow system and does not require a pressure regulator or back-flow preventer. Do not attach to your water system without these safety devices!

Battery powered irrigation for potted plants (water tank not shown).

Attaching this system to a rain barrel would be the perfect solution, but the cost is much higher than a trash barrel!!

Materials:

½” Electrical Conduit Which Will Fit Inside Of Hose

Adjustable Drip Emitters (1 for each pot)

6” Stakes (1 for each pot)

¼” Tees (1 for each pot)

¼” Hose (length determined by pot placement)

Hose ‘Y’ Connecter

Double Female Hose Connecter

6 – ¼” Outlet (adjustable)

Garbage can, tote box, or plastic container to hold water, which you can make watertight where the water hose attaches.

Bell peper, buds and flowers

Bell Peppers

Two bell peppers

Bell pepper Plants:Setting fruit; two green bell peppers May 27.