Gardening · Homesteading · Urban Homesteading

Starting A Container Garden

It’s been just over a week since I arrived in West Virginia.  The younger two boys, the cat, and I flew out at the end of March. Kirk, the oldest son and the dogs, drove across the country.

In early March, Kirk and I had driven across the US and I had planted a couple things before we flew back. Everything made it except for the strawberry šŸ“ plants. They didn’t get enough rain, as they were just bit too far back. But that wasn’t a huge loss financially. I’ll get my alpine strawberry seeds going this week.

I love 5 gallon buckets for pepper plants šŸ«‘, this frame I found at Home Depot slightly classed it up. I decided to treat myself.

We were here a few days when the first drop of shipped items showed up, from the U-Haul boxes:

We had sent thru 10 of these, and a lot of my garden gear was in them.
With time to spare, I started building on the lower patio.
I had ordered another pop-up greenhouse so I could start seeds quickly.
Fully built and weighted down, with it being the second one Alistaire has built, it went up fast.
Bricks, blocks, or pavers hold down the cover to protect from the wind. It’s even windier here in WV than it was on Whidbey Island.
I set up a potting area so I could make soil and get going on filling pots.

The cheapest potting trays are cement mixing trays. I found 2 sizes locally at Home Depot. It gives me one for soaking coconut coir, which is handy. The work table I had shipped through, though I almost didn’t. I am glad I did!

Clancy Potatoes šŸ„” and Hedou Bok Choy seeds started today.
The last frost date is later than I am used to, so it has bought me time to seed and plant. I am now in grow zone 7a, where as I used to be in grow zone 8b
Yukon Gold and Blue potatoes šŸ„” that I bought in early March, I got into pots this past week. They were definitely ready to be planted!
With my garden gear there, I started filling my grow bags. This morning, I seeded Tom Thumb dwarf green peas šŸ«› outside. They are cold hardy.

I have in the container garden so far:

2 kinds of potatoes, 2 blueberries, 2 grapes, 4 containers garlic, and 2 of peas. In the greenhouse, more has and will be seeded. The weather predicts freezing temperatures a couple of nights this week, so I stay patient. Soon, it’ll be lettuce and pea harvesting time, and then to plant tomatoes šŸ… and peppers outside.

There’s nothing wrong with extensive container gardening. It lets one grow, but not have to build the infrastructure. You can work it around everything else that is crushing you and not feel overwhelmed by it. Meanwhile, as we settle in, I have taken a few moments to walk our land and to think where the permanent gardens will go in.

– Sarah

DIY

3d print tripod quick release plates for Manfrotto 701HDV video tripodĀ heads

Like many photographers and videographers, I have multiple devices to put on my tripods. Cameras, phone holder, video camera, and I even have a teleprompter that can go on a tripod. Because of how expensive the branded quick-release plates are for my Manfrotto 701HDV fluid video head, over the years I just kept swapping the one plate for whatever I wanted to put on the tripod. Inevitably, I never had a screwdriver or coin handy to tighten the screws down either. So the screws were always finger tight, which for many things is not good enough.

A 3d printed quick release plate for a Manfrotto video tripod head.

Manfrotto branded 501PL plates on big photo sites are around $42, and knockoff plates are still between $7-15 per plate on eBay and other sites. Well, no longer!! I found a model for the plate that is 501PL-compatible, bought stainless steel mounting screws, and now I made five 3d printed plates with thumb screws that cost $1.41 per plate.

Now, every device I have that needs to go on my tripod has a dedicated plate to make swapping devices on the tripod head so dramatically easier.

Thumb screw with d-ring for making your own tripod quick release plate
Thumb screw with D-ring for making your own tripod quick-release plate

I printed the plates in both Elegoo PLA+ and Sunlu PETG, on a Prusa Mk4. The plates were printed with a .20 layer height (.20 speed profile in PrusaSlicer to be specific) at 40% infill and no supports. You might be able to get away with less infill, but I wanted to be sure they were rigid. Also, the print times and filament use were not that much different. From some quick testing, the PETG prints are a bit more rigid (which I prefer), with nearly the same settings between filaments. Regardless, you cannot go wrong with either filament.

~Kirk