We're all about adding splashes of greenery to small spaces around here, and whether you have a big back yard, a tiny porch, or just a windowsill to work with, container gardening can help you do just that.

The kind folks at Timber Press sent me a copy of Fern Richardson's new book, Small Space Container Gardens, and I have got to tell you, I am in love! The book is all about how to plan, plant, and maintain beautiful container gardens, and she does an great job of demystifying some of the trickier parts of gardening.

Richardson talks you through planning your garden from choosing the right plants for your climate to how to arrange them in their containers and deck out your container garden's space. What really struck me about the book is that so many of her tips are useful for even a back yard gardener. When I read the chapter on using plants to create privacy walls, I ran out back to my husband to show him Richardson's suggestions. Sure, potted bamboo is a great way to get privacy on your patio, but it also just might be the eco-friendly solution for covering up our ugly chain link without the disruption or footprint of putting in a wood privacy fence.

I loved the common sense ways that she talks about choosing your plants and the breathtaking photos of small space container gardens from all over the world. Her ideas are inspiring, and the photos make you want to run to the nearest garden center immediately.

She also includes crafty ways to create containers and accent pieces for your garden, often using reclaimed materials. Even the ones that don't specifically call for reclaimed materials are ripe for upcycling. She offers some ways to make cheap garden center pots super cute, but you could also use her stenciling and painting techniques on containers you find at the thrift store or even ones you already have in your stash.

Whether you're planning a small container garden or want to beautify your backyard, this book is full of helpful tips for beginning gardeners.

Getting ready to plant your spring garden? Whether you want to grow flowers, potatoes, or fruits and veggies, you want to make sure that you plan the most eco-friendly garden possible. That means skipping the chemical fertilizers, doing your best to xeriscape and choosing low-impact or reclaimed containers, if you're planning to do any container gardening.

We were hitting up the Lowe's by my house when I spotted a display of Jack Daniels whiskey barrel planters. At first glance, I was wary. Rustic planters like old barrels are super hip right now, so I was sure that these suckers were just new barrels distressed to look used. That is, until I got close enough to get a whiff. Woah! Booze city, y'all.

They smelled like used barrels, so I took a closer look at the tag on the side, and it turns out that these suckers are the genuine article! Whiskey barrels that have done their time in the distillery are great for planting all kinds of ornamental and food plants, and they're low impact to boot! These barrels seemed a little pricey to me: ours were $50 apiece at the Lowe's. A friend told me he saw them at the Home Depot for closer to $35 or $40, so that might be worth exploring.

To prep your whiskey barrel for planting, just use a big drill bit to drill holes in the bottom for drainage, fill with compost and potting soil, and you're ready to rock!

What fun, reclaimed planters have you guys been using in your gardens?

I know, spring is a long ways off, but the beauty of container gardening is that you can grow your plants in a sunny indoor spot when the weather gets too cold!

This wine box container garden from LLH Designs is such a simple, sweet way to create reclaimed containers for growing herbs, greens, and other plants that are happy in containers. Linsey started hers back in March and has them set up outside, but you could just as easily stick these beauties on a table under a sunny window.

Sourcing Wine Boxes

Want to get your hands on wine boxes to try this out? Try asking around at the local liquor store or grocery store. I bet they have some in the back that they'd be happy to part with if you ask really nicely. If stores around you are a bust, you can also find second hand wine boxes at the thrift store and sometimes even on eBay.

Via: Pinterest

Reader Brandon Koots is a 15-year-old student from Curacao who's been growing his own food for over 4 years. He runs a site where he talks about hydroponics and gardening, and he shared some great tips on starting a simple hydroponics system, called a "raft system."

Build a simple raft system in just a few minutes

Hydroponics is an easy way to grow your own food. It can be made very small and put anywhere you want. It reduces work, and you don’t have to water your plants, since  that happens automatically. That means that you save more time with watering plants, and you save more water because you keep using the same water over and over.

A raft system is a hydroponics system where the plants grow in a medium and their roots hang in the water. This system is easy to set up and is perfect for when you don’t have a lot of space. It is commonly used in very large commercial gardens, but you can make a smaller one to use at home.

In a hydroponic system you can plant more food than in the same area of soil. The plants grow faster than normal, and it hydroponic plants are less prone to diseases than when they are in soil.

Materials:

• a knife or drill
• a plastic bin (size doesn’t matter)
• some plastic cups
• a marker
• a ruler
• an oxygen pump - choose one that comes with an airstone

Here are the steps:

1. Measure the cup’s diameter. Then, drill holes that are slightly smaller into the lid of your bin, so the cups won’t fall in the bin. If you don’t have a drill, you can use a knife. For example: I used a cup with a diameter of 7 cm, so I made 6x6 cm squares. If you heat up the knife, it will cut through the plastic lid much more easily.

2. Start making holes in the cups. This is how the water will get to the roots. You can make the holes with a knife, scissors, or a heated nail. The more holes you make the better.

3. Add water to your bin. If it is hydroponics, remember to add nutrients for the plants, but if you're using your raft system for aquaponics (see below), put only the fish in the water. Choose your fish based on the size of your bin and your climate. I use guppies, since these don't become larger than 6 cm and are perfect for the hot climate here. Ask at your local pet store to find which fish are best for your aquaponics setup.

4. Place your oxygen pump in the bin. Put the pump's airstone into the bin with water. This is important, so that the plants or fish get enough oxygen.

5. Fill the cups with your growing medium. Place the cups into their holes and fill them with the medium. The best medium is hydroton, because it keeps the water at the perfect temperature and also the pH at the perfect temperature. The downside to hydroton is that it can be expensive, so you can also use gravel or crushed coconut.

6. You're ready to plant your plants in the system! I’ve planted 3 peppers, 1 celery and 1 tomato. But you can plant anything you want in this system.

You can also use your raft system as an aquaponic system

The only extra supplies you'll need are fish and fish food. Aquaponics has almost the same advantages as hydroponics. It:

• reduces work that has to be done in a garden
• helps you to save more water
• requires less space.

And in an aquaponics system you can grow fish while you’re growing vegetables at the same time!

They say that the plants’ roots shouldn’t be in the same water as the fish. But I don’t think that it matters. I have a few peppers growing in a raft system and look at them, they’re growing great!

Extra tips:

• If you have another bin, you can fill it up with water and put it in the sun to create algae to feed your fish.
• If you're using a transparent bin for your raft system, you should paint it white. Otherwise algae will start growing into the bin, and algae take the oxygen out of the water.

My name is Brandon and I’m a 15 year old gardener from Curacao. I’ve been growing my own vegetables for almost 4 years now mostly in hydroponics and aquaponics. I write gardening tips on my blog and right now I’m writing my own gardening book too.

We all have our 2012, “I wills” right?  I’m not one much for New Year’s resolutions, but even without realizing it, I somehow always have things in the back of my mind that I want to strive for in a new year. It just helps to have a starting point to launch from somehow. So, regardless of whether or not you want to call them “resolutions,” per say, in 2012, I do plan to do more of something, and that something is composting.

In my mind, it’s always been one of those really “greenie” green things that involved getting your hands dirty and some form of earthworm and wasn’t even relevant since I’m an apartment dweller without an inch of garden to my name.  I also generally didn’t even know what I would compost, if indeed I suddenly decided to compost.

Turns out, composting is really easy, even clean if you’d like it to be, and there are some surprising things that you can be and should be composting. If you feel a bit lost like I did, here are some basics on how to compost.

What do You Compost In Exactly?

While most of us envision piles of compost out in the back yard, you don't need a back yard to get in on the composting action!

For containing small amounts of compost at a time to save yourself running outside so frequently, you can easily find inexpensive countertop composters.  You can also use a DIY version, using an empty covered container in the freezer.

For the larger compost pile, if you don’t have access to backyard, you can purchase an indoor compost kit.  For outdoors, you can build your own wood compost box or purchase a tumbler.  Basically, you simply need something that’s covered, will keep out any stray critters, and will allow you to stir it up or tumble it as necessary.

What Are the Benefits of Compost?

Outside of creating fantastic garden fertilizer (it does!), which is what most of us think of when we think of composting, there are many reasons why you should consider composting if you haven’t jumped on the compost train yet.  You ready for a few of my top reasons? Here goes!

• Reduce your home waste drastically (generally by 25%)
• Save money on garbage bills
• Save money on garbage dump-runs
• Lessen your contribution to landfills
• Improves your soil and its ability to hold water (decreases water consumption), improve soil pH (suppresses plant pathogens) and even destroy a variety of pollutants

By far, the two biggest reasons are related to waste and soil improvement: you reduce your own waste and you create a fertilizer that improves soil and helps grow healthier, heartier plants.  If you’re an apartment-dweller without a lawn, let alone a garden, don’t let that deter you.  There are always ample community gardens (even University gardens) who would be more than happy to take that nutritious compost off of your hands.

Where can I compost? Home, office you name it!

Of course you can compost your own food waste in your kitchen, but why stop there? Even outside of the home, you could consider getting your office on board with composting.  In fact, 12% of all municipal waste comes from food scraps and thrown out leftovers. Tossing your shredded paper and leftover apple peelings into a classy countertop composter could go a long way toward greening up your office.

Bring the neighborhood together by organizing a block-wide composting initiative.  You can help provide the information, even organize a “Build-A-Compost-Maker” get together/backyard barbecue weekend.  You’ll all go home with a backyard composter and a new support group in your green endeavors.  Plus, you’ll have the greenest, and probably healthiest, gardens in your area!

What Can You Compost?

Finally, there are some really surprising things that you can compost. Whether you’ve got something from the kitchen, the office, or your last party and you’re wondering if it might be okay, check with this list {adapted from Planet Green}:

Kitchen

• Coffee grounds and filters
• Tea bags
• Used paper napkins
• Pizza boxes, ripped into smaller pieces
• Paper bags, either ripped or balled up
• Crumbs
• Plain cooked pasta
• Plain cooked rice
• Stale bread
• Paper towel rolls
• Stale saltine crackers
• Stale cereal
• Used paper plates (the ones without the wax coating)
• Cellophane bags (be sure it's really Cellophane and not just clear plastic)
• Nut shells (except for walnut shells, which can be toxic to plants)
• Old herbs and spices
• Stale pretzels
• Pizza crusts
• Cereal boxes (torn into small pieces)
• Wine corks
• Moldy cheese
• Melted ice cream
• Old jelly, jam, or preserves
• Stale beer and wine
• Paper egg cartons
• Toothpicks
• Bamboo skewers
• Paper cupcake or muffin cups

Bathroom

• Used facial tissues
• Hair from your hairbrush
• Toilet paper rolls
• Nail clippings
• 100% cotton cotton balls
• Cotton swabs made from 100% cotton and cardboard (not plastic) sticks

Office

• Bills and other shredded documents
• Envelopes (remove the plastic window)
• Pencil shavings
• Sticky notes
• Business cards (not glossy)

Home

• Contents of your vacuum cleaner bag or canister (unless it contains something hazardous, like broken glass)
• Newspapers (shredded or torn into smaller pieces)
• Subscription cards from magazines
• Leaves trimmed from houseplants
• Dead houseplants and their soil
• Flowers from floral arrangements
• Natural potpourri (not the kind with "fragrance")
• Used matches
• Ashes from the fireplace, barbecue grill, or outdoor fire pit

Party and Holiday Supplies

• Wrapping paper rolls
• Paper table cloths
• Crepe paper streamers
• Latex balloons
• Raffia
• Natural holiday wreaths
• Christmas tree (chop it up with some pruners first)
• Evergreen garlands

Do any of you compost? Was there anything on this list that you didn't know you could toss into your compost pile or something I missed? Share away in the comments!

You know we love upcycled birdhouses around here, so when Brian from Gadget Sponge emailed to tell us about his creations, we were pleased as punch!

Artist Brian Carlisle turns found objects into beautiful, upcycled birdhouses. Each of his birdhouse is a one-of-a-kind work of art. While the metal birdhouses are for decorative use, you can use them as a traditional birdhouse if you keep them out of direct sunlight and cold winds. How lovely would these look on a covered patio or front porch?

Brian took some time to answer a few of our questions about what he does, why he does it, and what inspires him!

gUP: What inspires you to make your birdhouses?

Brian Carlisle: Many things inspire me when making the birdhouses. Knowing that I'm rescuing things from the landfill to hopefully give them a longer lifespan than originally intended. Encouraging the public to think about our birds, wildlife and nature and to keep in mind or daily affect on them. And lastly, just getting excited each time wondering where each item will take the next birdhouse to completion. By trade, I'm a professional graphic design of almost 20 years. So design is always in my mind as far as the composition of the pieces.

gUP: Can you tell me a little bit about how you source your materials?

BC: Most of my materials come from thrift shops, antique shops, friends and family. Most of the time, it's the things that have been sitting on a shelf forever either in a shop or in someone's home with no future.

gUP: What draws you to upcycling?

BC: I find it very satisfying reusing the things that have either met the end of their intended purpose or reusing items in totally new and creative ways.

gUP: Do you have a crafty hero?

BC: My crafty hero is probably made up of a lot of people. Most of the time, it's whoever I've been exposed to recently. When I see someone doing really creative work and exploring new ideas in art, it really pushes me to try even harder to push the envelope within the creative work I do. One of my dear friends, Chris Broussard, has been a professional artists for many, many years. She works in several different mediums. Her work, her enthusiasm and creativity have always been a source of enjoyment for me. If I had to pick one person, it would be her. I can always go to her to bounce ideas off or to get an honest opinion when my creativity is stuck.

gUP: Where can folks find your work?

BC: My upcycled decorative birdhouses can be found on Etsy and also at Timeline Antiques on Line Avenue in Shreveport, LA. My upcycling blog is Gadget Sponge, and my ephemera blog is Paper Sponge.

Photos via Gadget Sponge.

Next time you polish off a bottle of vino, save those corks and reuse them to make super adorable plant markers!

Are you guys planting a fall garden? My husband and I just built a raised bed out back, and my seedlings are almost ready to go in the ground! I've never planted from seed before, but one thing I figured out immediately is that plant markers are your friend. Without them, who knows what those baby sprouts are!

I've been making my plant markers using clothespins, but I love the idea of using corks, like Rachel Hollis did in the photo above. You can check out more photos of the project and some detailed instructions (get out your drill, ladies!) over at My Chic Life.