Invention convention

What??  Has it really been over a week since I last posted anything?  Unbelievable!  Well, it has been a busy time...  I am a mere SIX shifts away from completing residency and thereby finishing my lifelong (since preschool to be exact) journey through school and training.  A long road it has been, and here, where the road forks, is an exciting, exhilarating place.  Not so exhilarating that I would ever forget my lovely garden though.

So when I was in 4th grade, I won Invention Convention in my class and went to the school-wide level (where I did not win, but hey).  It was a crowning achievement for me, to the degree that I still talk about it with slightly odd frequency and take it as a sign of wonderful things ahead (I'm talking destiny).  Anyway, I invented a "Bug Smasher-and-Picker-Upper" which was a long handled wooden block attached by a spring to an equally long handled flat piece of pliable board below, such that you could trap an insect, demonstrated by an origami square with a roach drawn on top, by laying the pliable board on top and then squeeze the handle, causing the block to smash on top of the board/bug.  Then you could scoop up the bug on the board (it was very thin) and toss it in the trash.  I hated bugs.  Still do.  And that invention was ingenious.

Anyway, fast forward to 2013, I am stuck with the problem of a vertical planter that kills all my plants because it dries everything out.  And it killed half my plants while we were in Italy.  So I decided to try to fix it, somewhat crudely.

This was square 1, ie, my planter about 1mo ago, post-trip, pre-plants:

Clearly the Dipladenia (top left, red flowers) is a superhero plant because it has managed to grow through all forms of hardship since last fall, despite being an annual.  Aside from that, though, nothing has managed to grow successfully in the top two rows all because of the dryness.  Simple solution:  Figure out how to retain water...

Plastic bag lining!  Fancy!

A bit crude perhaps, but a way of keeping moisture from evaporating out the sides.  I did this on the top right and middle left.  And as a separate mini-experiment, on the middle right, instead of using plastic bags, I added a Plant Nanny with a water globe, which I had previously stuck in the dirt with my dahlias, where it was useless -- all of the water would immediately drain out the bottom in 2 minutes or less, rather than seeping slowly as the advertising insinuates it will.

Row 1:  Dipladenia, Marigold (1).  Row 2:  Marigolds (x2), thyme.  Row 3: Figaro Dahlia, Spearmint.  This is maybe the oh, 5th, incarnation of this vertical planter...  And about a month later, through a bit of hot weather as well, we have the following results:

Looking pretty good!  Okay, so not an invention, per se, but still a solution with results I am happy with.  Both the plastic lining and the plant nanny/water globe combo seem to be helping.  Of course, there are the variables that marigolds are pretty awesome in terms of hardiness.  That's why you see them literally everywhere -- they're easy to grow.  Thyme isn't so fragile either.  But still... not bad!  So let's hope that the 5th time's a charm!