The Porch Garden Expansion

Since I have very few tools, I could not install our new window boxes on the porch railing until Kat's Dad's next visit.  I took advantage of the few days' wait to assemble, paint the home-made mounting brackets and hang them out to dry.  I needed 12 nuts and bolts to do the assembly so I was somewhat frustrated to discover that the package I had purchased contained only 11!  Imagine....eleven....which knucklehead in the marketing department came up with that packaging strategy?  Oh, wait a minute, I get it now...if you need an even number of units greater than 11, you must purchase two packages and retain 10 if you only need 12!  Not to be outdone by a sadistic marketing person, I affected the final connection with a couple of cable ties....works just fine and I managed to resist the duct tape!!

Yesterday, Kat's Dad came over for a visit and we installed the new window boxes.  Initially, we had discussed expanding our herb garden and we went to Walmart's Garden Center only to learn that their herbs had, for the most part, been taken away that morning.  We did manage to find some Rosemary and Thyme, picked up more potting soil and some Begonia to introduce a bit of colour to the Porch Garden.  On the way back to the cash I found some Cilantro and Parsley seeds....what a score!

This morning I planted begonias in both window boxes.  I think the effect is rather pleasant.  The begonias came in a 9-pack...what is it about these odd numbers?.....and I had used 8,  What to do with the lonely, leftover begonia?  Realizing we had more than we would be likely to use, we had discussed an adopting-out program.  But there was only one so I decided to pot it thinking we might find a place for it in the apartment or that perhaps Kat's Dad would give it a home.

After a few more transplantations, I decided to start the Cilantro and Parsley seeds.  Hopefully, they will germinate and build sufficient strength to winter over in the apartment.  Our little Porch Garden has grown in so many ways as to provide us with a peaceful, fragrant environment for sitting out in the evening and a good variety of food sources, coupled with the colour and elegance that the begonia provides.  All in all, a very good gardening day.

Excursion to Walmart

With all the growing our little Porch Garden is doing, we needed to do some re-potting and were short of potting soil.  Nevertheless, in my enthusiasm, I had transplanted our rosemary and one of the houseplants, a Croton, and wound up a little short of soil.  This had to be addressed.

Now the good thing about potting soil is that it is readily available.  The bad thing is that the closest bag of soil weighs 100 pounds and is really too heavy to carry home.  We have been enjoying the good graces of Kat's father, who comes to visit regularly and drives us to the various shopping hot spots in the area.  But his next scheduled run out this way would not be until the following week.  So this was going to have to be a journey on the Shuttle Bus.

There is minimal public transportation in Westminster; no municipal bus service as we know it, no taxi service either.  There is a Shuttle provided by the County that caters primarily to senior citizens and does a loop that includes twenty stops and takes approximately an hour and a half to complete.  Wherever one exits the Shuttle, ninety minutes of shopping time is available until the next arrives.  It is a good service for those of us with lots of time on our hands.

I took the Shuttle to Walmart.  The stop is a short walk from the apartment.  I caught it at 12:35 so I reached Walmart at 2 pm.  I was delighted to discover they had window boxes identical to the one I had recently installed in the Porch Garden.  Kat and I had discussed the possibility of mounting two more on the porch rail but our original source was out of them. 

What they did not have at the gardening centre were mounting brackets for the window boxes. This required a visit to the hardware department.  They did not have mounting brackets either so I would need to get creative.  What they did have were 4" angle brackets that were reasonably substantial.   I imagined joining two together such that the window boxes would be supported by the bottom brackets which would be bolted to the top bracket in a straightened out "Z" format.

So I bought angle brackets, nuts, bolts and screws a little heavier-duty than those supplied in the package along with two bags of potting soil and several other items on our wish list.

How would I get this booty home?  I always carry a backpack and the primary section was able to accommodate both bags of soil.  Almost everything else fit into the centre section.  The window boxes and the large pot were in separate plastic bags and easy to manage, even with my cane.  I was good to go with a few minutes to spare.

Kat met me at the Shuttle stop to help carry our purchases home.  Naturally, I could not resist experimenting with the bracket arrangement.

 The more I thought about it, the less satisfied I became with the mounting brackets.  I thought about fastening the window box directly to the porch rail by replacing the uppermost bolt with a screw.  This would be pretty secure.  But after dry-fitting the components, it became clear that this was not practical as the screw could not easily be driven from inside the box.  A trip to
Big Lots produced a set of 3.5" brackets that would extend the bottom support and provide a retaining brace as well.  Drill a few holes in the bottom for cable ties to secure the box to the brackets and we're there.  Pura Vida!