Saturday, April 4, 2015

Alaska Botanical Garden Spring Conference

Well, sure feels like Spring! The Farmers Market season hasn't started yet, but Black Dog Gardens will have a vendor space at the 9th Annual Spring Garden Conference and Annual Meeting on April 10th and 11th at Alaska Pacific University.
I'll bring a few boxes and benches as samples, but mostly I hope to line up some fun garden projects for the season. If you plan to attend, keep an eye out for our table! If not, send me an e-mail about your garden plans and whether you can use an extra hand before we get too busy!

Thursday, February 5, 2015

Coming out of hibernation... slowly...

No, it's not quite gardening season yet, but it's a great time to lay out plans for when the ground does finally thaw out. I'm slowly getting things running in the workshop again, sketching out ideas for creative garden box designs and thinking about starting some seeds before too long.

Contact me (Nick) at blackdoggardens@gmail.com or give me a call at 907.301.4644 if you'd like to set up a time to meet and plan out the garden of your dreams.


Here's an idea! You know your little trash can house, now made obsolete by the Muni's larger bins? That's halfway to a ready-built chicken coop. Share your ideas with me, and I can help make them a reality.

Wednesday, August 13, 2014

Early hibernation

We're well into the growing season now, and Black Dog Gardens is getting ready to go into early hibernation. Feel free to share your garden ideas, but work won't start up again until the spring. Thanks for a great season!

Friday, July 18, 2014

More carpentry projects

Here's another sample of the projects I've been up to. Remember that Black Dog Gardens also offers all kinds of gardening services to plan, design and create a beautiful, productive and unique garden space.




Thursday, June 26, 2014

Composting made easy

Ready to bring your composting to the next level?

Check out this totally slick design for an elevated compost tower! The way this is set up, you can park your wheelbarrow under the pile and sift the finished product right in. The all-cedar compost tower makes composting easy on your back, fun, and looks nice too!



Here's how it works:
Add the slats as you build up your compost pile with food scraps, grass clippings, leaves etc.
Check out the brown-green-straw layering on this one:

When the compost has cooked down and matured, pull out the bottom two slats and spill the finished compost into your soil screen. Whatever doesn't make it through the screen can go right back onto the pile.

You can start with one tower and add more later, or go ahead and get three right away!

And for those who want to start with something a little simpler, I also have these Lincoln Log-style compost kits for $55. These are a back-saver as well: if you want to turn your pile, all you have to do is pull it apart piece-by-piece and reassemble it right beside.

Prices as follows:
One tower- $195
Each additional tower- $125
You can bring down costs by up to $100 by providing your own materials. I can work with any lumber between 1"x4" and 2"x6".
Lincoln Log-style compost kit- $55

Monday, June 23, 2014

Workshop experiments

It's been a very busy month, but last week I found some time to get creative and build a few fun garden projects. How about a strawberry tower?















I'm working on a 5' tall one next.


Here is a fancy compost tower that I'll write about in the next post:

And finally, what better use for an old sink than as a soil basin in a potting table?

Have any creative gardening ideas that you would like to see made real? Let Nick know at blackdoggardens@gmail.com or 907.301.4644

Wednesday, May 7, 2014

Black Dog Gardens is on Facebook!

Yeah, whatever. I guess it's the thing to do these days. Like us if you like us.

https://www.facebook.com/BlackDogGardensAnchorage