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I've been wondering this for a while but haven't gotten around to posting it.
Aside from gardening what new skills / hobbies are other gardeners trying to learn or start?
In the last few years, aside from gardening, I've taught myself how to knit, bake bread, and my newest endeavor is home brewing beer. There are probably a few others that don't quickly jump to mind also.
I am re-exploring soap making. I did it years ago but have forgotten most of what i knew. So I made my first batch a couple weeks ago and need to fine tune my skills.
Pond building: I did a much better job this time around and I think I learned a few nes things.
With winter coming on I will have time to "get into" more things. My mom was a knitter, but not me. I have green thrumbs not knitter thumbs
Been thinking about making more hypertufa pots.
Made quite a few of them years ago and some still survive without any cracks.
I lost 2 this spring. They fell apart from accumulated frost damage over the years, because there was not enough cement in the mix!
I don't think I have any new skills, but I'm still using at least some of the old ones. I saw a newborn baby this morning and I have made berry-picking caddies for three siblings as they came along. So I will have to make one for Mr. Carlton so he can begin to pick berries next summer. His mother will have to teach him that at least part of them should end up in the caddy. I cut the bottom 4 inches off gallon milk jugs and that fits inside the caddy for a replaceable tray. I made some larger caddies about ten years ago and each caddy will hold four of those milk carton trays and about 20 pounds of berries.
I didn't think I had taken any pictures of the little berry caddies, but I checked and found this one. The aluminum piece on the end of it has the child's name stamped in it. The ones I have made for adults will hold four of the milk carton trays.
It is, Ron. Although the larger size would be better for that application. I'll see if I can find a photo of the larger ones. The plastic trays all come out so you would have a nice tool tray.
Okay, this was taken after a berry-picking session and the caddies are loaded. But you can see the plastic trays and those all come out. I think I gave those particular caddies away, but I have made a couple of others that are about 4" shorter.
I like the berry caddy and think I will make a few. Slight tweak to size them for long neck bottles will be in order though.
I read about hypertufa pots a lot but erred away when I read about the cracking with freeze thaw cycles. I'm building a few wooden planters this winter. How long did the hypertufa last Ron? I did cast a concrete planter - 18" tall, 30" across at the top tapering to 24" across at the base, 6" thick walls reinforced with steel rebar and wire - meant to slow down a car. My house is on a busy street and at least one car has run into it before.
I made mine over 10 years ago and found that the more portland cement I used the harder and more moisture resistant the finished product was!
Too much peat is another factor on the ones that fell apart this spring! They were around 2 inches thick with a thicker base. They would have been fine if I emptied them and flipped them over for the winter....just got lazy!
The ones I made later on, after adjusting the ratio by upping the cement, are still holding strong!
I have given quite a few of them away, Ron. I probably try and save too much scrap lumber and when I have the time cut out pieces for projects. They work very well for what they were intended and the bottoms are very solid, so they will never come apart. I dado a slot on the inside of each piece so the bottom piece cannot come out.
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