GardenFork – Eclectic DIY

Category: Video

Beehive Swarm Is A Beautiful Thing To Stand In The Middle Of – GF Video

Not many things match a beehive swarm in terms of amazing nature. One of my beehives swarmed and I was lucky enough to be on the roof while it was happening. Watch the video:

This beehive swarm is from a new package we installed this spring, which is unusual.

I made two huge mistakes while the hive was swarming.

First, I saw the queen on crawling on the roof. And I went to pick her up, but I wanted to take a picture first. I got the picture, but then the queen flew off. Had I gotten the queen into a queen cage, I could guide the swarm into a new hive. But no, I wanted to use my camera. Not Smart. I’m still annoyed at myself for that.

I should have capture the queen. I didn’t.

The other dumb thing I did was to not realize that the swarm was alighting, or forming, on the front of the hive, instead of a tree branch. The hives are on top of a 4 story building, above the tree line. No tree limbs above the hive for the swarm to collect on, so they just formed on the front lip of the outer cover. I was so wrapped up in what to do, and recording the spectacle on with the camera, that I completely blanked on what was right in front of me.

Grab the swarm!

This only occurred to me after I called my GF Radio Podcast host Rick, and then I bolted down the ladder and 4 flights of stairs to get a bait hive. By the time I got back up, the swarm had left the hive.

I had two unique chances to grab the swarm and I blew it. Insert choice words here.

Its unusual for a new hive, started from a package, to swarm. My radar was not attuned to this hive swarming. I had just put a third brood super on the hive, and had not opened the hive to check for swarm signs. I have never had a package swarm before. Now I have. Lesson learned.

Going forward, I will be more vigilant about swarm signs, even in packages. Rusty at Honey Bee Suite has a Taranov Split that I will try next time.

Watch us hive a swarm in this great video:This same hive gave me another headache earlier this month, see it here. Minor Beekeeping Meltdown

May 30, 2017
Getting Rid Of Stuff, The Urban Way

I used to be something of a pack rat, now I’m that guy always getting rid of stuff. Before, I always thought something might be useful later on. My thinking was, “I might need that one day.” No more.

I’m not sure exactly when it happened, but now I get excited to look at the model apartment layouts at IKEA, and marvel at how you can live with less in less square footage. And do so with two large Labrador Retrievers.

I’ve built a few projects with IKEA cabinets, check them out here, but this post is about getting rid of stuff.
How did I come to be able to let go of stuff, and not bring more home? I think two things influenced this.
First was me starting to meditate. Not to sound all wooh and crunchy, but its allowed me to mentally let go of a lot of daily mental baggage. Lots of stuff just doesn’t matter, it drags you down. (my favorite app for meditation is Headspace, it is great)

Second was the fact that I do all the cleaning in the house. If there was less stuff on the floor, I wouldn’t have to move it to vacuum. Less Labrador dust balls could collect around that stuff. Fewer horizontal surfaces (piles of stuff) meant less surfaces to dust.

And when I wanted to do a project that involved large stuff, like plywood or cardboard, I always had to move stuff around to do it.

Then there is the visual. Less visual clutter. For some reason now, I like to see less stuff around.

I’ll see stuff in the house, and ask myself, “Have I used that in the last year?” If the answer is no, out it goes. Many cookbooks have left the house lately. I have favorites I reference, and they stay, but I don’t get the amount of cookbooks people have.

Case in point: A few years ago my neighbor was giving away a propane grill. It was in pretty good shape, but it didn’t work. I fixed it, and of course made a video about it here. But I’ve since realized, I just don’t grill. I’ve used the gas grill more for seasoning cast iron than cooking steak.

So it was time to let go of the gas grill. First I took a photo of it and emailed friends. With no response, I wheeled it out in front of our Brooklyn apartment, with a bilingual sign on it. I kept the propane tank for to help make maple syrup up at the house.

Literally in a few hours, someone was out front hauling it away. Nice.

Neighbor taking away my clutter

I still see stuff and think “I should bring that home, I could use it” and then I stop myself, usually. A box of electrical wiring supplies did make it home, but its being used and anything left is put back out on the sidewalk.

Getting Rid Of Stuff, Some Suggestions

If you don’t have an urban sidewalk, maybe your local community has an email list you can send to, or you can use Craigslist and Freecycle. There some drawbacks to using the free section of Craigslist, we talk about it on GardenFork Radio. But if done correctly, its a great way for getting rid of stuff. Freecycle’s attraction is the people in that group understand the process, and are better to deal with. Either way set specific time and dates for pickup, or you will be waiting all day.

I look out the window and love that the grill has gone to a family who can use it, and I have more space in my backyard. It’s a great feeling, just letting go. How do you let go?

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May 16, 2017
Love The Instant Pot! – Instant Pot Pressure Cooker Review – GF Video
I have used a stovetop pressure cooker for years. Then a friend of mine showed me his Instant Pot Pressure Cooker. Then I bought one. Buy Yours Here: Instant Pressure Cooker 6 Quart Watch our review video and read on for more info below the video.

[Being up front here, the above link is to Amazon and we get a finder’s fee for referring you to Amazon, its part of how we pay the bills to make more videos and posts for you all to watch.]

OK back to the story:

Its literally “set it and forget it”. Put in ingredients, turn it on, and go do something else in the yard or house. Don’t leave the property, OK?

I make beans and chickpeas ever week, we cook pork shoulders and short ribs in it, and I want to try a carrot soup recipe I saw in the Modernist Cooks At Home cookbook next.

The advantage of electric over stovetop pressure cookers:
- You don’t have to adjust the stove burner
- It stops cooking at a pre-set time and goes into keep warm mode
- Its incredibly quiet
- It makes cooking super easy
Read more on the Pressure Cooker review page here.

America’s Test Kitchen has a great pressure cooker cookbook, Pressure Cooker Perfection and a new book, Multicooker Perfection.

I’ll go more into this with more posts as I cook more with it. Let me know what you think in the comments. thx!

Pressure Cooker Short Ribs Recipe – GF Video

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May 13, 2017
How To Apply Frosted Window Film – GF Video

Want to apply frosted window film? Its easy, and I made a video to show you how. This works for either window privacy or decorative window film patterns. Watch the video and read through the how to below.

We have some french doors that separate two bedrooms. We love the glass doors, but wanted privacy between the rooms. I started researching how to frost glass doors and decided that using frosted glass film was the way to go with these doors. If you’d like to see how to use frosted glass spray paint, watch our video here.

Why Frosted Window Film?

For a french door, which has a bunch of small windows in it, the film was a much easier option than using the spray product. We wouldn’t have to mask off all the wood, we could just cut a piece of frosted glass film to fit each rectangle.

You have a few choices when shopping for window film. (Please consider using our link when buying the film, it helps us pay the bills!) They come in different diffusion densities and sizes. You will need more film than you think, learn from me. I made several mistakes in cutting, and I’m glad I bought more than I thought I needed.

You will need a utility knife with a few brand new blades, and some thick cardboard to cut on. It helps to put down a piece of plywood under the cardboard so you don’t cut your floor. A metal ruler or straight edge is key for cutting the film.

Important, be sure the glass is super clean before applying the film. Any traces of paint or polyurethane need to be scraped off and the glass cleaned, or the window film will peel. Learn from my mistakes, OK?

Let me know your thoughts and questions in the comments below, thx!

April 26, 2017
How Do You Frost Glass? With Frosted Glass Spray Paint – GF Video

If you are wondering how do you frost glass, I’m here to show you. Its easy, even I can do it. Watch this how to video, and step through the photos below.

How To Frost Glass, Step By Step

First, buy some frosted glass spray paint here. The next thing is to either remove the glass from the cabinet door, or remove the cabinet door from the cabinet. If the glass is not easily removed with a few retainer clips, you can detach the hinge. Unscrew the large screw shown in the photo above, and slide out the door. Do not remove the screw, just loosen it, OK?

Next take the glass outside and clean it with window cleaner, the frosted glass spray paint wont stick to dirty glass. Do this on a warm day outside, don’t spray this inside your house. Use long smooth strokes when pressing down on the spray nozzle, don’t hold the can in one place or do circles or zigzags. Long side to side sprays, with overlap are best. The frost will appear in about 10 minutes as the glass dries. If you want a denser more frosted look, apply a second coat.

After the frosted glass has dried, replace the glass back in the cabinet door. If you pulled out the whole door, have someone help you align the hinges and tighten down the set screws.

Here’s what one coat looks like. You can see one fuzzy object close to the glass. Its a ramekin of salt, but the one coat works perfect for me. I like that its less than a solid coat. How about you? Let me know in the comments.

Here’s the whole cabinet after the process, pretty nice I think! I am still getting used to where I moved everything, but the kitchen works more ergonomically now. Support GardenFork and shop here for the spray to frost your glass, thx!
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April 26, 2017
Winter Beehive Inspection – GF Video
A winter beehive inspection can be either a good thing or a bad thing, here’s a video I made about how I check a beehive in winter.

Winter Beehive Inspection Rules
1. Only do this if its warm enough. If its above 40F, its ok, but warmer is better.
2. Open and close the hive real fast. You don’t want to chill the hive.
3. Don’t pull any frames, peer down into the hive as best you can.
In winter, you can’t do much for your bees. What you can do is make sure they have enough food. Of course, you have prepared the hive in the fall, by going through this Winter Beekeeping Prep list. Now about all you can do is open it up quick, and add some sugar if they need it.

I use the dry sugar winter feed method, and it has worked well for me. So in the winter, I can just pop the cover and top off the layer of dry sugar if need be. If the bees are not looking good or if there are very few bees in the hive, there isn’t much you can do in winter. The hive will probably die, as a result, be more prepared going into fall next year.

A winter beehive inspection can tell you if you need to order a package or nuc of bees. If the bees are alive, it can also give you a sense of accomplishment. Getting honeybees to survive winter is no small challenge, especially in norther climates.

You can see in these photos how the bees have chewed through the newspaper and are now eating the dry sugar. Through the winter, the sugar has hardened as it absorbed moisture from the hive, this is a good thing.

So again, work fast, keep the hive open only as long as needed. Its not summer, its cold out, and the hive has to be kept warm.
February 15, 2017
Steam Table Pan Maple Syrup Evaporator Improvements – GF Video

After making boiling sap with out steam table pan maple syrup evaporator for 2 seasons now, I have a few thoughts on improvements. The build videos for our homemade maple syrup evaporator are here. Watch the update video below:

How To Improve the Steam Table Pan Maple Syrup Evaporator

I’m not sure why I connected the chimney stack about 6″ below the top of the cabinet. But I think the air flow might improve if the smoke exited higher up, in addition, the hot air would wrap around the back pan more. Also, consider a higher chimney pipe, it will cut down on the smoke the downdrafts on top of you.

For the turbo fan, which really womps up the fire, consider connecting it just below the fire door. I plan on adding a dimmer switch in the power cord, since controlling the fan speed is important. You can find bathroom fans at tag sales or in your neighbor’s garage.

For most 4 drawer letter sized file cabinet, two regular sized trays fit, but there will be space. As a result, that gap needs to be filled in with a scrap piece of metal or a small food tray. Put this small space above the fire door, and move the pans closer to the chimney. Because your fire is moving toward the chimney, the hottest part of the fire is on that end.

I found that putting the fire grate about 10-12″ below the steam table pans worked for me. It depends on the kind of fuel you are burning, consequently, adjust yours to the size of the wood. We burn pallets, which slide uncut into this evaporator.

This homemade maple syrup evaporator gets really hot, so be careful when standing near it. For our next evaporator build, I may line the sides with firebrick.

If you are thinking about buying a real evaporator pan, read our post here.

January 30, 2017
DIY Pendant Lamp You Can Make – GF Video
You can build this DIY Pendant Lamp with parts you buy online. Put them together and you save a bunch of money. Watch our video and read on:

Build A DIY Pendant Lamp, what you need
- Shade in the color of your choice
- Light Socket and related hardware
- Clamp to attach socket to shade
- Cord of your choice
There’s all sorts of choices when picking the pendant lamp shade, however, keep in mind the decor of the surroundings.

You can buy the parts from suppliers on Ebay or Amazon. I will list out the main parts you need, add to them what styles you like. If this lamp is in a bathroom or kitchen, use 3 wire cord, because it needs to be grounded. Be sure the power is off when attaching this to an electrical ceiling box.

I found that sharp wire cutters, a utility knife, and multi-tool screwdriver were key here. The antique style lamp cord can be trick to cut cleaning, because it is cloth wrapped. Order more cord than you think you need and take your time cutting it.

Also, something to consider is whether the lamp switch will be on a wall or on the socket above the shade. I ordered a socket with a switch built in, but it ends up we wired this to a switch on the wall. one thing to consider in your project. In addition, a third alternative is to hang the lamp from a screw eye and have it plug into a wall outlet. This method is the simplest way to build a DIY pendant lamp, however, you have a cord coming down the wall.
- Threaded light socket
- Threaded shade fitter
- Threaded strain relieve for socket and canopy
- Cloth covered wire
- Ceiling canopy or electrical plug
- Hardware mounting kit for ceiling canopy
You can buy these items on Ebay or on Amazon
January 23, 2017
How To Use A Sewing Machine To Repair Pants – GF Video
Here’s how I use a sewing machine to repair pants, specifically my work pants. If you have a sewing machine in your basement, go get it out, so you can start learning how to sew.

If you don’t already have a sewing machine, however, all is not lost. Yard sales and craigslist often have sewing machines for sale. People don’t seem to understand these amazing machines, and how versatile they are.

How To Use A Sewing Machine – Some Tips
- Be sure to read the manual that comes with the machine.
- Buy several basic colors of thread.
- Pick up spare needles and bobbins at the store.
- Practice.
Thankfully my sewing machine came with a manual. Maybe yours came bare bones, as a result, it has no instruction manual. Thankfully, we have the internet, so a quick search with the name and model of your machine with the phrase “instruction manual” can help.

I mainly use black thread, as a result of me wearing black dungaree work pants most of the time. But pick up white, black, blue, and other colors you may need. Thread is inexpensive.

I have broken a few sewing machine needles when repairing clothing. Consequently, I have bought a package of replacement needles to have at the ready. Again, these are not expensive, so go get some. The needles break when I run over the plastic end of the pins that hold the patch in.

For whatever color spools of thread you have, buy bobbins to fill up with the same color thread. The bobbin supplies the thread from the bottom of the machine, while the needle supplies the top.

Most of all, practice makes perfect. It becomes a zen thing with me, as a result, I lose myself in the sewing process, which is great. And you get to extend the life of your favorite pants.

Let me know your thoughts and suggestions in the comments below.

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January 22, 2017
How To Plant Garlic In The Fall – GF Video
I made this video to show you how to plant garlic in the fall, which is the best time to plant garlic, FYI. Watch the vid then read through the how to notes below, there’s lots of info here!

To Plant Garlic, Do These Things:
- Order garlic ahead of time
- Prepare the garden bed
- Separate the cloves
- Plant root side down
- Wait Until Next July
Probably the biggest mistake people make when they want to plant garlic is to wait too long before ordering some seed garlic. The stuff sells out fast, so order early. The seed garlic supplier will ship just before planting time in your area. I order from Filaree Farm. Most seed garlic is not cheap, but keep in mind you will get many plants from one bulb. You can save your own seed garlic going forward.

You can obsess about prepping the garden bed for the seed garlic, or just do as I do. I make sure the bed has a good mix of compost and soil. Loosen the soil up with a garden fork. Garlic likes some nitrogen, so I sprinkle over the bed some time release fertilizer. I do add some rock powder like azomite, but I can’t say it makes a big difference, its just feels right. I can say that garlic does not like clay soils, or soils that are too sandy, but isn’t that true for most garden vegetables?

The ideal is to plant garlic 2 weeks before the hard frost in your area. For those in warm weather areas, you will usually plant between November and January.

Why Separate The Day Before?

Depending on who is doing the talking, some say you must separate the cloves of the garlic bulbs the day before, I don’t. Usually because I forget, and I have yet to see a difference in doing so. I would suggest getting some help splitting up the bulbs. Many hands make light work.

I plant garlic about 6″ apart in rows about 8-10″ apart. Its not rocket science. Garlic doesn’t like to be crowded, and it doesn’t do well with weeds. Plant about 2″ down, with the root tip facing down. The grow tip should be about an inch below the soil.

I don’t mulch my garlic with straw. I will put down a light layer of leaves I have run through the mulching mower, but its not a thick layer.

If your garlic starts to grow in the fall, don’t worry, the green tip will die back a bit with the frost, and will restart in the spring.

What to do in spring? Watch more of our how to grow garlic vids here.
November 30, 2016
Deep Fried Turkey Hacks – GF Video

My best deep fried turkey hacks all in one video. What not to do when deep frying a turkey, OK?

Deep Fried Turkey Hacks, My List

Practice to make sure you know what you are doing. Plan on buying turkeys 2 weeks ahead, defrost them in the fridge for 3-4 days, then do a practice run at making the best turkey you’ve ever tasted.

Test your deep fryer gear ahead of time, make sure it fires up. If something is broken you don’t want to be dealing with that on Thanksgiving Day, the hardware store will be closed. AND have a back up tank of propane. I can never tell exactly how much propane I have left, so I have two tanks.

Wash out the cooker every time. New deep fryer pots may have a coating on them, and pots that have been stored may have something else on them, you never know.

Calibrate the thermometer. Boil a small pot of water, then place the tip of the thermometer in boiling water. It should read about 212F at sea level, at 1,500′ where I am, it will read 210F.

Measure how much oil your fry pot needs to cover the turkey. I put the turkey in the clean pot, pour in enough oil so just the ends of the legs are sticking above the oil. I then remove the turkey and let it drain on a tray, and fire up the oil to heat it to 350F. Coating the bird with oil will not ruin it prior to cooking, OK?

Wear oven mitts and long sleeve shirt. We’ve talked about this one before, but its the easiest safety measure you can take.

Clean out burner with compressor or canned air. The propane burner can get debris stuck in it, and it wont burn nearly as well. As you can see in the video, cleaning the burner made a huge difference.

November 29, 2016
Easy Leftover Turkey Soup Recipe – GF Video
After making a deep fried turkey, make this easy leftover turkey soup recipe the next day. Watch our video to learn how.

My turkey soup recipe, A few thoughts:
- Use what you got, in other words, if you don’t have carrots, use potatoes.
- Celery and Onion are key, and you should keep celery in the fridge anyway.
- This cooks down in about an hour.
I can’t say I invented this Thanksgiving leftovers recipe, but it seemed like an obvious thing to do the day after the big holiday meal. But you can do this anytime you deep fry a turkey, and I think we all should cook turkey a lot more. Its a huge amount of food for the price of a turkey. BTW, you can also roast a turkey in the oven, if that’s your thing. We did a video about that here.

One GF fan suggested cooking down the soup in one of those pasta pots that have a strainer insert. You could cook the vegetables in the pot, then put in the strainer and add in the turkey parts. That way you could pull out all the bones at once, then separate the meat, and boom you are done.

It helps to use an oversized pasta pot for this turkey soup recipe. The pot I used had turkey and stock up to the rim and it made it easy to spill. I have about 3 pasta pots in the basement, but I blanked on that when cooking this. Note to self.

Keep in mind that if you put in a lot of celery, that flavor will be more pronounced after a night in the fridge. The second time we heated up the soup for dinner, you could really taste the celery above the carrots. But I love celery so that was ok with me.

The videos I talked about this video: How To Deep Fry A Turkey Build a DIY Mini Greenhouse
November 29, 2016
Healthy One Pot Pasta Recipe – GF Video

A healthy one pot pasta recipe video inspired by Anna Cole. Take your typical one pot recipe, add kale, and turn it from a carb meal into a green meal, at least thats how I look at it. Check out my video, then read through the recipe.

I read about this version of a healthy one pot pasta recipe in the the NY Times Food section, where they reviewed some cookbooks, one of which was Anna Cole’s A Modern Way To Cook.

Cherry Tomatoes Are A Secret Ingredient

Cherry tomatoes are key here, I think. They seem like these pedestrian items, but when you cook them down, they morph in to something more than a store bought tomato. Of course, garden fresh cherry tomatoes are even better, but use what you got.

Don’t forget to add the kale!

The pasta and most of the ingredients go in the pot at once, consequently, its super easy to make this. Even I can do it. Of course, I forgot to add the kale, but it worked out OK. As the spaghetti cooks, it releases starch into the cooking water. This starch mixes with the tomato juices to make a nice sauce.

Be sure to mix the pasta as soon as you add it in, and as it cooks. I didn’t stir it right away so the spaghetti stuck together a bit. Keep the lid off while it simmers, I forgot that one.

Chop the kale into smaller pieces than I did in the video. The smaller pieces mix together better when the dish is finished.

Easy to follow directions for you:

[tasty-recipe id=”13308″]

September 30, 2016
Cleaning Cast Iron With A Battery Charger – GF Video
Cleaning cast iron with a battery charger, aka cleaning cast iron with electrolysis, makes it super easy to remove rust and crud from rusted cast iron. Watch this video I made, then we’ll step through the process.

Caution! Use the setup outdoors and away from open flames. Don’t smoke while doing this. Restoring cast iron with electrolysis produces hydrogen and oxygen. Use this info at your own risk, OK?

Cleaning Cast Iron With A Battery Charger, Step By Step

Above is what my setup looks like for cleaning cast iron with a battery charger. Let me walk you through the process.

You will need a battery charger with a MANUAL mode. This is important. The first one I bought said it was manual, but it wasn’t. It should have a switch on it for manual. Here is a link to the battery charger I bought, it works well.

For the metal plates, I used two old baking pans. I used a wire wheel on my drill to remove the coating on the pans to expose the bare metal. DO NOT use stainless steel, bad chemistry will happen. I used a self tapping screw on each pan to attach a 12 gauge copper wire to them, as well as the wire that goes from the pans to the battery charger.

Here is a top view of how my cast iron cleaning tank looks. It is important that the metal cake pans, or whatever metal you are using, does not touch the cast iron to be cleaned. I have been told that you can also use several pieces of rebar wired together for the metal plates. Or visit a scrap yard. Again, do not use stainless steel.

Turn On The Charger And See What Happens

Use a wire brush to clean off the handle of the cast iron where the negative (black) clip of the battery charger connects to the pan. I don’t suggest submerging your battery clamps in the solution, therefore, if you want to submerge the whole piece, wrap copper wire around the handle and attach the clip to the copper wire above the water line.

Important Things To Keep In Mind
- Use 1 tablespoon of Washing Soda per gallon of water for the cleaning solution.
- Red clamp from battery charger attaches to metal pans in the tank, Black clamp attaches to item to be cleaned.
- Wear gloves while doing this, OK?
If you’ve got the rig set up correctly, you will see bubbles start to rise from the solution almost immediately. Let it run for several hours, so all sorts of stuff will have time to bubble off. Most of all, make sure the cast iron pan being cleaned does not touch the metal plates.

Every few hours, pull out the cast iron and clean off the crud with a dish scrubber. Flip the pan 180 degrees in the solution every time you pull it out. Finally, depending on the age and how many layers of seasoning are on the piece, you may need to use steel wool to remove some of the last bits of the material. Learn how to season cast iron here.
September 29, 2016
Grow Salad Greens In Fall And Winter – GF Video
You can grow salad greens in fall and winter, its not rocket science, even I can do it. Watch the video and read on below:

Couple of key things to grow salad greens in fall and winter
- Plant cold hardy lettuces, mustards, kale.
- Use a mini greenhouse
- Start seeds earlier than you think
- Plant in your sunniest raised bed
Luckily, most salad greens don’t do well in hot weather, they actually like cold weather. You have that going for you when you want to grow greens in winter or fall. I usually have too many packs of mescluns, greens, etc, so I drop them into a shallow row right next to my soaker hoses [video here]. Fedco sells fall and winter salad seed mixes, which make this even easier.

Be sure the seed rows are on the sun side of the soaker hoses. The way my raised beds are oriented, one side of the hose gets more sun than the other, so I drop seed on that sunnier side.

The other key ingredient here is a mini greenhouse, aka hoop house, to extend the growing season [how to videos here]. The mini greenhouse will keep the plants warmer in the fall and early winter months, and can extend the season greatly.

If you don’t have a mini greenhouse, you can surround the salad greens with hay bales. Lay an old storm window over the bales. The bales will hold in the heat nicely.

In the northeast U.S., where we are, the salad greens will eventually freeze, and stop growing. But if you can manage not to let the frost melt and drown the plants in late winter, you can get the salad greens to start growing again. They may bolt, so plant new seed as well.

How do you extend your growing season? Let us know below.
September 14, 2016
How To Put In A French Drain – GF Video
I want to show you how to put in a french drain, which will help keep water out of your basement and away from your house.

A french drain is what i call a surface drain, or a drain just below the soil level. For this one, the gravel is exposed, sometimes the french drain is covered with dirt or sand. I prefer to keep the gravel exposed.

What you need to put in a french drain
- Perforated pipe – either PVC or corrugated
- Filter sleeve for the pipe Avail Here
- Silt fabric – don’t cheap out on this Avail Here
- Clean 1/2″ or 3/4″ stone (aka gravel)
I was fortunate to have my neighbor bring his backhoe over and he dug a trench along the wall of the house where I have a water issue. You can also dig this by hand, its not hard unless there are a lot of rocks. I would dig down a minimum of 8″.

You want the trench to pitch toward where ever the water is exiting, aka going to ‘daylight’. The pitch can be very gradual, 1/4″ per foot is fine.

The first thing to go in the trench is the silt fabric. Run it all the way to the drain exit. Be sure there is enough on each side of the trench so it can fold over on itself after adding half the gravel.

Then lay in the perforated pipe. If you are using the PVC pipe, the holes along the pipe face DOWN, OK? Slide the filter sleeve over the perf pipe. Close off the filter sleeve at the top end of the trench and tuck the other end into the pipe itself when it connects to the solid drain pipe.

Shovel more stone over the top of the perf pipe about 2″ and then fold the silt fabric over itself on top of this gravel. Then add more gravel to bring it level with the ground. You can also bury a french drain, and grow grass on top of it. Be sure to put a grate over the daylight end of the pipe to keep animals from nesting in the pipe.

One more thing when you put in a french drain, do not connect any roof gutter downspouts to the drain pipe. The rain water can overwhelm the drain and fill the pipe and gravel with more water, when you are actually trying to drain the water.
September 13, 2016
Troy Bilt Rototiller Review Of The Bronco Axis Tiller – GF Video

Here’s my Troy Bilt Rototiller Review video of the new vertical tine Bronco Axis Tiller. All the rototillers I have used have always been horizontal tine machines that break your back. Watch how this machine goes through sod to make a new garden bed.

FYI, GardenFork was provided this tiller, but my Troy Bilt rototiller review is my own opinion, I don’t say yes to many companies.

What is the Bronco Axis vertical tine tiller? Its pretty amazing. The tines are similar to a dual blade food processor that cuts through sod and soil without bucking like most tillers do.

I used this at a friend’s house, he wanted to convert part of his lawn into a vegetable bed. We fired up the Bronco Axis and it churned through the grass quite well. I was able to steer the tiller with one or two hands, and it never jumped up and out of the path we were cutting.

It has a hood that sits over the tines, so the dirt is not flying, and any rocks the rototiller kicks up stay in the dirt.

One issue is the tiller stalls on rocks about 3-4″ in diameter. This happened to us a few times. The rock can get stuck in the tines, we used a long chisel or piece of rebar and hammer to drive it out.

The wheels are powered and pull the tiller along nicely. It has only one speed, slow. But for the most part, that is good. I found I could push the tiller across the yard faster than using the powered wheels, then fire it up to start tilling. Also, this tiller does not require you to be the ballast, keeping the machine in line and digging into the soil like horizontal tillers do. Much easier on your back muscles that way.

The tines are powered at all times, so if you are driving the machine across your yard, the tines are rotating. The rear wheels, which are tucked under the rear hood, hold the tines up off the lawn, but it be good if you could turn off the tines when driving it to the job site.

This tiller is completely different than any tiller i have tilled with, its quite easy to use, and doesn’t destroy your back in the process.

Teresa of Seasonal Wisdom also checked out this tiller on her site.

You can find more info on the Bronco Axis on the Troy Bilt site here.

July 19, 2016
Drip Irrigation for a Container Garden – GF Video

Here’s a DIY project to provide drip irrigation for a container garden, easy to do watch the video to see how.

Container gardens dry out quickly, which is why I built this system. This is based on using soaker hoses to wrap around the inside of each container, and attaching the hose to a water timer.

The hardest part of this drip irrigation for container garden system is getting the water. I can’t answer that one for you, as each situation is different. For this rooftop, we were able to bring the water up through a kitchen window in the back of the building. If you are going to bend the hose over a ledge, be sure to provide support where it bends over the wall, it can rub and leak.

The first thing to do when starting this is to uncoil the hose in the hot sun, and let it sit there for a few hours. This will allow the hose to straighten and you can work with it easier. Try to find 3/8″ soaker hose for this project. It bends easier.

To keep the hose inside the containers, you can use coat hanger wire cut into a U shape and pushed over the hose into the soil. Or use cable ties with holes drilled into the plastic pots. Rocks can also hold down the hose, but then you have to get rocks onto your balcony or roof. Not fun.

If you have a container garden on a patio, this is perfect. Water is easy to get to. I push the pots together to create a mass planting, and to hide the hose as it goes from pot to pot. As you can see from these photos, this system also works great for urban areas. How are you planning on using this? Let us know in the comments below.

June 28, 2016