How to Make an Outdoor Brazier For Free!

A lot of people have plenty of garden waste that would only make the garden worse if returned back to it. A good way to get rid of masses of weeds, sticks, branches and even grass is to burn it in a brazier. This brazier is easy to make and makes for a great night outdoors with family or friends.

You Will Need:

1. Washing machine/dryer.
It needs to have a fully stainless steel tub in it. These can be picked up from most rubbish dumps for close to free cost.
2. Welding gear (optional).
3. Hacksaw 

Construction Time!

Thanks to backyardaquaponics.com

1. Start by removing the stainless steel tub/drum. This can be tricky and take some time. It is usually best to turn the appliance on its side and undo all the screws. Try not to damage the drum. The motor and plastic especially need to be removed.

2. This step is optional! Most drums will have a steel pipe that sticks straight out the bottom. This is what you will weld the legs on to. Inside the washing machine that you've just destroyed, there are metal brackets. These make the legs. Your job now is to basically find any parts from inside the washing machine to make the legs as strong as possible. Weld them on so it is tidy, clean and not sharp.

3. If you haven't got access to welding material or simply don't want to weld it, cut the shaft off the bottom of the drum and sit the brazier on some old concrete, rocks or bricks. Make sure its stable!

It is as easy as that! Burn something! They are so easy and cheap to make. When you get them hot enough, they'll glow red at night and look like you can almost see through them.

Enjoy your new brazier!

How to Take a Cactus Cutting

Taking cuttings from cacti is easy! Although a little patience is required, it pays off in the future when you have twice as many cacti from all you favorite plants. Have a read and enjoy taking and rooting your own cacti.

You will need:

1. Cactus to cut
2. Sharp (clean) knife
3. A place to plant it
4. Rooting hormone (optional)
 
This is a quick and easy guide on how to take a cactus cutting. I have made it as simple as possible as I know most guides are a hassle to follow and can cause mistakes.

Step 1: Choose where you want to make the cutting. Avoid rotten parts of the cactus as these can cause problems later on. Use the knife to cut through the cactus with a clean cut. It can be diagonal or straight cut.

Step 2: Allow the cutting to dry out. Cuttings from 2 inches wide+ should be left for a much longer time to dry. This can be for a long time (ex. 1 month). So don’t throw them out if you forgot! However, best left until the cut end is not sticky anymore. This can take patience!

Step 3: (optional) Powder: Wet the cactus cut end and dip in the powder. Tap off any excess powder. Liquid/Gel: Dip the cutting in the liquid/gel and tap off any excess liquid.

Step 4: Place the cutting in the soil about an inch deep. The larger the cutting, the deeper it will need to be planted. Another option is to use a stake to help with stability so it doesn’t fall over.

Step 5: Dampen the soil by either watering from bottom (preferred) or lightly watering from top.


The cutting should start to grow roots within 1-6 weeks. With my many cacti, I’ve grown hundreds from cuttings without rooting hormone without failure. However, this doesn’t mean that it wont work! A fast growing and easy to propagate cactus is the peanut cactus (also known as Echinopsis Chamaecereus). For this cactus, you only have to pull out the small stems and plant them in soil. Within a week or two, you have roots and rapid growth. These cacti are fun and great to give away to friends and family.
Good luck!

How to Propagate Hydrangeas

Propagating Hydrangeas

Unlike most plants, Hydrangeas are super easy to propagate. They always seem to root easily and relatively quickly! These are great plants and add a unique look to your garden. These are easy to propagate much like my cacti that I propagate.

You Will Need:

1. Knife or sharp branch cutters

2. Seed raising mix or soil of some sort

3. Rooting hormone

4. Some sort of plastic covering. Zip lock bags work well

Steps:

Have a read and decide whether you think it easy to do. Here’s how to do it:

Step 1: Take a cutting from a Hydrangea. It needs to be 5-6 inches long and it is best if this cutting has not flowered yet this year.

Step 2: Remove the leaves on the bottom of the cutting. It is best to have just the leaves on the tip of the cutting left. This makes the Hydrangea cutting not require as much water therefore it will not die before it roots.

Step 3: If the leaves are quite large and look out of proportion, it is a good idea to cut the in half so only half the leaf is left attached.

Step 4: (optional) Dip the cuttings into a rooting hormone. They come in powders, gels or liquids. It should be about 1 inch up the cutting. Once held in the hormone for 5-10 seconds, tap off the remaining hormone.

Step 5: Now its time to plant them. Gently push them into the soil you’ve chosen. They can be as deep as you want but usually 2-3 inches is enough.

Step 6: Water the soil until it is soaked. Allow it to drain though too! Cuttings like to be wet.

Step 7: Place the plastic over the cuttings. If it is pushing down onto the leaves then use stakes to hold it off.

The plastic covering acts as a miniature greenhouse and keeps the cuttings warm and moist until they root.

Rooting hormone is not essential. Of course, as you may know, it increases the chance and potential speed of root growth but some people prefer to do it without rooting hormone.

Try this! Its easy and rewarding. Good luck!

Making Your Own Compost With Simple Household Items

If you're looking for some secrets on how to make your own compost from common things, you're in the right place.

This page has a few ideas on how to make your own compost to help support your good and healthy garden.

Lets Get Started

Making compost for your garden is easy. There are so many household items that we take no notice of and throw out each day. For example, paper and hair are two annoying things that we always seem to have too much of around the house. The nitrogen content of hair is actually higher than the nitrogen content of manure.

 

1. Look around heaters or extraction vents in your house. Use the hair from these and mix it into the soil. Like stated above, hair has a higher nitrogen content than manure.

2. You know when you’re vacuuming and you get build ups of fluff on the carpet or end of vacuum cleaner? Yeah, that stuff works too! Mix it in.

3. Have any newspapers or old documents you need to get rid of? These work great when ripped up and/or shredded. Another option is emptying a shredder at home, work or a friends house. This can help hold moisture in your garden and breaks down to make good compost.

4. Food scraps are a great way to get your compost flowing nicely. They may stand out in your garden at first when you see vegetables smashed up everywhere but once they break down (in a few days), it won’t stand out at all. If you need a quick supply of compost, you can also blend all your food scraps, add an equal amount of water, and then water your plants with it. Avoid meat and dairy products.

5. Add some grass clippings to your compost. It is best to do this is small layers so put something between each layer of grass clippings and don’t forget to mix it every now and then to add air to the soil.

6. Tea bags and tea leaves can also be put in. Easy! No explanation needed!

7. Pine needles and pine cones can be mixed into the soil. Obviously something more woody like a large pine cone will take a while to compost but it still works.

8. Dry leaves, twigs and small branches can be put into the soil too. Be careful not to put in anything too big as it will take longer to compost.

9. After boiling your vegetables for dinner or another meal, let the water cool and pour it into the compost or soil. This water is nutrient rich and can really help your plants with growth.

How Often to Water a Cactus

A common question I get is "How often do you water your cacti?"

It really is quite simple once you've got the right information. Carefully read the easy guide following this and let me know if you want to know anything. Remember, its simple.


This is something most people do not think about when going to buy a cactus as they treat it like any other plant. I have even heard in the local nursery and hardware stores that they water theirs twice a week. This will work for a short period of time and in summer, when in the other seasons, the cactus will bloat and die.

While you, being the customer, will always listen and take the advice from a staff member at stores like this, the best answer is usually on the internet. If in doubt, Google it!

The majority of cacti originate from dry areas. Every now and then, they receive heavy rainfall then a few weeks dry.

With this in mind, the cactus can take several weeks without water. This means they can go months in good soil, without being watered! I have a cactus cutting (with no roots) that has not been in soil for over a month – it is still healthy and looking strong.

A guideline I run by is to let the soil completely dry out, then give it a few more dry days on top of that. This way, you’re being safe. I also find that I get rapid growth after this as well. The cacti seem to die down and go dormant over the last couple of days of being dry, then as soon as I water them, they shoot up with a growth spurt overnight. It’s exciting to watch!

Remember these tips:

1. Water from bottom up. Sit it in a bucket or sink with the water about 1 inch below the soil and let the water absorb up through the soil until the top changes color. 2. Let the soil dry up completely. It wont hurt to let it go thirsty for a few days!

It is better to under-water, than to over-water!

Enjoy watching your cacti grow, survive and thrive! Good luck!

Introduction

This is a blog where I can share my knowledge with you and learn from your knowledge. I will post regularly! I would appreciate it if you had a read and let me know if there is anything to post about and I'll add it to the list. Cheers!