Miracle Grow add

Diapers? Well, I'm getting so old that I might have to start using Depends soon, so now I'll know what to do with them once I'm "done" with them. I'm a firm believer in recycling, but geez, I wonder if I can find a hanging basket huge enough to handle the Depend that would fit my bod.

Welcome Gardenbeads!

I too am a newbie, but since I've been with this family for about 2-1/2 months now, you should see my garden. And I laugh so hard I may as well use those baby diapers for what they're meant for!

This is a great group of collective wisdom and standup wannabes!

Anything you want to know, this is the place!

Gymgirl,

Thanks for the welcome and the laughs! I am surely finding out anything I might want to know/ask will be answered here. I think I will try the diaper, sounds like a good idea, I don't care what anyone thinks if I buy them. I will love if anyone here in the neighborhood asks how I keep that hanging wire basket so lush. It will be hilarious. I love funny people and making people laugh, so good for our health; that is why I am enjoying DG's so much. Thanks for everything guys!

Hi gardenbeads... I want to welcome you too,from another Michigander...Your right all your neighbors will be asking you how your plants are growing so lush..!!I tell mine and they laugh but I betcha this year they will be trying it..!!

Ok. Run down the procedure for the baby diaper liner ONE more time, please, so I can picture this in my head. I have two WAVE petunias at home that need to be in a coco lined basket. May as well kill two birds, uh, snails with one gun!

Thanks.

All you do is soak your liner and 2 diapers..Then I do 2 plastic shopping bags put them on the bottom of your liner then your diapers with the soil plant your flowers and your done...I do the same thing in window boxes and my in ground plantings...If your planters are the small ones just put one diaper or 2 depends..What ever you might have on hand...I don't have a camera so I can't show you my containers...But they look great all summer..!!

Thank you Demstratt for the welcome. Yes, we are not far apart are we? I have never been to Lincoln Park but know of it. Your diaper/depends idea is great, wait until I tell my sisters who are fantastic gardeners also. They will love it! I have a beautiful black hanging (iron) basket that I have not used yet, I am very excited to get that started.

Maybe I should try the diapers some time, but as for the other one......no way! I don't know if the diapers would fit in our window boxes though. Or maybe I'll just stick with the gel after all :D

Steve

Just cut out the center of the diapers and make them fit so there's no waste...

So, I leave for a few hours and come back to find you all talking about WHAT!?!? Good grief! I'm imagining the beet red color of Steve's face. Poor Steve, LOL!! You know, it used to be a man's world.

My planters are small. I think I would have to cut the diapers...but you could also buy premie diapers. They do come in sizes.

Steve, just give someone who has a kid some money to buy some diapers for you. Then smuggle them home in an unmarked paper sack in your trunk...but don't speed or you might get pulled over and they could search your car!

Loretta, when you say that you use 2 plastic grocery bags does that mean that you open up the bags and fill them w/ the diapers & soil? (NO pun intended!) Or does that mean that you just lay them out on the bottom of the planter and then lay out the diaper on top of them?

I wonder how bad these diapers look by the end of the season. Wouldn't it be fun to have an 8 yr old over, tell them some long story about someone visiting and they lost a dirty diaper...then have them reach down into a pot to help you clean it out...and what do they find????? ROTFLOLOLOL!!!

Making a mental list of all the kids that love to help me garden....he he he

Heather, that's just too mean!(kidding :) It would be hilarious to see though and would probably work perfectly on my neice.....if only she was into gardening. I'm not embarrassed at all by the way this thread has turned, I just think it's a 'unique' way to reduce the amount of watering :)

Steve

Heathrjoy, you are too much, I actually laughed out loud. What a blast this is.

Steve, the gel works the same way as the diaper, I've seen both, so just stick with the Soilmoist at the bottom of your planter or in the ground. That way you can avoid all embarassment, especially with depends. Have a good evening everyone! oh, it's morning already, oh boy have to go.

I really do want to pull this one on my niece and nephew. They pull stuff on me all the time. One winter day I left their house, putting on my gloves as I walked out the door. I froze right on the threshold. There was SOMETHING in EVERY one of the fingertips of my gloves...and I was so afraid to look! Ewwww! What was it? At least it was hard and not slimy. As I worked my fingers out my fingernails turned the hard little balls into crumbles (I have fingernails in the winter). My stomach was turning as I looked at my hands and fished into my gloves to see what I'd find.....cereal. It was cereal. Cap'n Crunch Crunch Berries to be exact. Little yellow, pink and blue things. Sheesh. I'm still not sure if my nephew or brother did it, they blame each other. I think I owe them. =^)

LOL Heather too funny..!!All kidding aside you can do your tests with all kinds of soil if your plants don't get the water they need you won't have lush plants...Plus with the high water bills your saving money...A women on another site saw her grandchild get out of the pool with a diaper on it was down to her knees..Then she got the idea hey that holds that much water that should be good as liners for my plants...She's a MG and even her garden club uses them easy does it...I do lots of pots too and some require lots of water but this way they get their much needed moisture...I just wish I could find someone to go buy me some depends they are'nt as bulky as the diapers and there's no cutting them...like some of the diapers...
Steve I still say you should try them..the diapers that is...I don't call them diapers or depends..I call them pot liners...The crystals are a good thing to but with the other it's way cheaper...Try it you'll like it...Heather do you think you could run to the store and buy me some depends??I'll pay you plus shipping and will even throw in some coleus...I do have a nice healthy selection of them...

Ok. I must be really, really dense. Let me repeat the procedure, please.

1. line my coco baskets with the cut open plastic bags.
2. soak the diaper and the "liner". By "liner" do you just mean soak the entire diaper and the plastic liner that's part of the diaper? Or is there some other "liner" I'm missing?
3. Line the basket with the soaking wet diaper
4. Put the soil on top of the soaking wet diaper
5. Plant the plants
6. Pray I've done it correctly...

HELP!

Please take into account that I am still a newbie in "diapers!"

You got it..!! :o)))

woo hoo:0)))!!!

Loretta, if you really want me to ship you some depends I will. ROTFL I'll just wait till senior discount day and go buy them. Would anyone else like some? Steve, how about some nappies? (that means diapers, not what you originally thought)

You all do know that you can buy this stuff at drug stores online, right? Like CVS.com, and I think walgreens and eckerts has .coms too. Wal-Mart may even ship these things.

But, I'll get them for everyone if they want. I'll just get a case of Depends. I'll tell the clerk that I think my dam is going to break soon.

So, why is it that you just assume I'll have no problem buying these??? LOL *snort*

Loretta, so you just lay the plastic grocery bags on the bottom under the diapers?

Yes Heather just lay the plastic bags on top of the liners..Lol that would be funny you buying a case..Just came from CVS and spotted the depends but the store was crowed I think I'll go back late tonight and get some..thats if theres not lots of customers..!!

I must be really dense but I don't get how it drains. Doesn't all that plastic keep all the water in?

Nope it still drains...We have had rains for over a week and my pots all drained and my diapers are holding moisture..It's not like all is covered in plastic just the bottom and you still get air flow thru it so your soil does'nt smell rancid..

aah soooooooooooo... Very clever, Weed Hopper.

Hmm.....I still think I'll stick with the gel. Thanks for the offer though Heather. :D

Steve

Uh, why not just buy these instead?

http://www.parkseed.com/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/StoreCatalogDisplay?storeId=10101&catalogId=10101&langId=-1&mainPage=prod2working&ItemId=6866&PrevMainPage=advsearchresults&scChannel=Supplies%20Gifts%20AS&SearchText=p10.v72&OfferCode=S1H

Chunx,
You could do the same thing with the Depends. And for $6.50 you can buy a whole CASE of depends (approximately 2 dozen)!

And poor Steve can't get those things shipped to Canada. That makes me wonder what's in them?

I'll prolly use the depends or diapers. I want to try this soon, so I'll let y'all know what I end up using.

Heather :) , Don't forget we need to pick a date still to start our experiments!

Steve :D

We'll set it for June 10, Steve. I'm sorry I wasn't more clear about that. I think I can pull it off even if I go to the plant swap.

Ok, June 10th it is! I'm thinking of adding a container or 2 with the gel to my experiment...

Steve

So I came here to learn more about container gardening and MG.....and I end up with (horrible) images of bone crushers, feminine things with wings, babies diapers, incognito depends boxes delivered by mail.......oh my is all I can say!! I have some images in my head that its gonna take more than a few diapers to "soak up" !!(oh dang it, they won't do cause they hold stuff in!) I was supposed to go to bed early tonite!!! My god y'all are hilarious!!!
I have learned more than I ever wanted to!!! I am fairly new to container / gardening and was just following the "normal" way of doing things, container, soil and plants, add some sun and fertilizer and go! Nope, it turns out I have been sadly mistaken, I need to amend my shopping list to include several stores now, local animal crematorium, the machinery shop (for the crusher), big box store to the pharmacy!!
I had no idea a gardening forum could be so much fun!!
Keep up the good work!

Welcome BecNoVa! Glad you're here with us. Also glad to hear you're learning about our ways of gardening! LOL!

The images can be difficult to deal w/ at first, but once you become desensitized to them you'll find yourself wanting to try some of the methods. Then you'll find the methods work and you too will begin to recommend them to friends! They will go thru the process also, until they make the recommendation to their friends...and so on and so forth until we have achieved total container plant control. It's part of our overall plan, and it's for your good. We come in peace, and in plastic and terra cotta, sometimes in coco lined wired also.

Have a moisture controlled day,
Heather

BecNoVa -

Well, at least we aren't delivering the bone crusher by mail.....

Oh that thread just had my blood boiling, I am owned by Cats and Dogs (and Birds and Fishes) and would not DREAM of doing something like that!
I am going on vacation next week, but when I get back I am going to invest in more planters, both indoors and outdoors. With or without "supermoistureretention"!
Being from Europe I was always fascinated by the planters you could buy in the local flower-shops, not the outdoor ones, but the indoor ones, so I am going to visit every store I can find at home (Norway) and learn more about the plant combos they use. I have seen the trend here for outdoor planters, but it does not seem that the indoor ones have gained the same popularity. I grew some plants from seed (banana, lilies etc. and just planted them together in a huge planter on the deck)

In the meantime, keep up the witty banter, I was rolling on the floor last night, and the critters just looked at me like I was nuts.
Being I actually make a living writing, this forum thread has inspired me even more, I need to indulge my somewhat sick sense of humor!!

Very lovely container! Where on earth did you find Banana seeds? Mind you, if they aren't on Earth I don't want them!

And what type of indoor containers are you describing? I'm not sure, but very interested. Make sure to take pics of them while on vacation for us. Well, take lots of pics while on vacation for us...but don't forget those indoor containers.

What kind of writer? Where can we read some of your work? I'd love to be a writer, but I don't think anyone would have me. =~( Prolly just not much call for bone crushing, water retaining, fertilizing, world dominatrixes who can form a good sentence. Oh, well. I'll stay in the garden where I belong. *sigh*

LOL :) Now I have another image in my head, a world dominatrix who won't shut up!!! ROTF

I work from home as a translator, it keeps me very busy and also pays for my plant obsession!!

I will take lots & lots of pics, hubby got me this incredible camera for Christmas that I have been experimenting with as the plants have been growing!!

The Banana seed (and others) I ordered from the "Seedman" (I think) but to be quite honest, it took forever for it/them to sprout, so being the instant gratification kinda person I am, I decided to bench that hobby for the time being.

The indoor planters tend to be all kinds/types of containers, and houseplants grouped together in sometimes stunning results. If I can find some websites I will post the links to them, (might be in strange languages, but you will get the general idea). What I have done previously is buy some small plants in the 2" pots, some tall and some short, grouped them together in whatever container I have found and plopped them in whatever sort of plant-medium I had available at the time, and had some great results!

Congrats on growing the banana's! I have one but I just bought it :) Did you grow all the plant's in the first photo or just the bananas? Very nice combo in the second photo too!

Steve

Grew 'em all with the exception of the Lucky Bamboo (yes, they can be planted in soil). But I can't say I will be doing it again! :) Like I said it took forever and they are still smallish.

Did you grow the plants in your latest photo? They're gorgeous!
Very nice touch, by adding the sweet pea :)

Steve

Wish I could take credit, but due to deadlines and work I had no time to play with seeds and seedlings, I ordered most of my plants online, and the rest I bought at local nurseries!

I am working on another msn.spaces website to post all my plant/flower pics, since I have tons it might take a while, but I ran out of space on the first one!! :)