The big project was a plant holding bin to hold my propagated plants that aren't ready for in the ground planting yet. Fortunately I was the recipient of some old deck wood a couple years ago that since then has been resting comfortably in the back. Amazingly it is still in pretty decent shape after two years of sitting through our weather. I'll write a full post on its construction later this week but here is the finished product:
It's essentially a set of three raised beds that will be nestled into the slope of the hill. The middle one is 4'x8' and the two triangular raised beds are 4' on two sides and about 5'8" on the slope side (remember your Pythagorean formula here!) The bed on the left is in the shade for most of the day while the center and right bed receive part shade. Eventually there will be another bed further up the hill for some other plantings. This slope is part of a larger project to make a couple tiered gardens. So far I haven't spent any money on this project since the wood was old and donated and the screws were left over from garden shed construction. I need to add a lid that will keep the rabbits and deer from munching on my plants.
The short project of the weekend was a bird house. I've been itching to add one to the yard and had this idea to use a dogeared fence board to make one. It was a very easy project and came together quickly. I pre-drilled hole then used finishing nails to hold the sides together. If you don't pre-drill holes you risk splitting the wood. (I'd say chances are about 90%!) I didn't use any written down measurements and sort of improvised the bird house. Many websites have the ideal dimensions for certain types of birds and I actually printed a list off of one of them but lost the list! The birdhouse turned out fine though for a first attempt. I'll improve upon my design with the next one. It was so easy to do that I have to make a few more!