Wednesday, October 20, 2010

Plant Yourself in a Book

Gives a whole new meaning to "book worms,"doesn't it??
I. Love. This.
I mean, I love it.

We've already hashed through my defacement of books here.
Books should be loved.
And, if they're no longer being read,
then they should be used and loved in a different way.
This is my way.

.
This one was snagged for a quarter at a sale. Unloved...
until upcycled.
We (meaning I) cut a hole in the cover, and through most of the pages.
Doesn't need to be very deep. Then line your hole with a plastic baggie. I failed to get a picture of that step.
Choose a small plant or grass seed, and pot it in your hardback!

Talk about a conversation-starter centerpiece!
Admittedly, that project was more for me, than for the kids.

Then I did a "school project," just to say I did one. ;)
Take an empty, clean bottle, and cut the bottom off of it.
Use a hole puncher to punch two holes, across from each other,
in your open bottom section.

Choose a small plant, and stick the roots in through the bottle spout, like so.Fill with dirt.Thread ribbon or twine through your punched holes, and hang your plant.
Yes, it grows upside down.
Why?
Because plants only need 5 things to grow:
soil, sunlight, clean air, water, and space to grow (not much space, for small plants!)

They receive all of these things upside down.
Most plants will bend towards the sunlight.
Why try upside down gardening?
It's a space saver, keeps plants out of reach of ground-crawling pests (including children!),
and because it's just plain neat!
After we completed ours, I realized that we probably should have put the roots through a small hole in a coffee filter, at the spout of the bottle, to prevent any soil from leaking out during waterings. I think ours will be okay, as it's in there pretty tight.
Just a tip, in case you are inclined to try it. :)

4 comments:

Allison @ Modern Montessori Mama said...

I can't wait to try this! I however do not have a green thumb so it might prove to be am unmitigated disaster. I think I also might have a hard time deciding which book to use. I feel like that is significant somehow. Thanks for the fabulous idea.

Debbie said...

Hi Wendy!

I see there's plenty of " artiness " going on at your house too! Love both of these ideas... very fun! Sometimes " our " hands on projects get higher ratings from me than the kids too, but that's because the little darlings come up with some pretty cool stuff on their own... Thanks so much for stopping by and leaving your nice notes at Dandelion House Home-school! So great to meet another artsy home schooling mama! Are we few and far between? I hope not! :)
Enjoy this day and thanks for the cool ideas.. The book/planter is way cool!
Deb

Michelle said...

HA! I love it! Okay, well love is a really strong word, so I will just say that in all my weird, creative thoughts, I must confess to never thinking of trying that before and that I really,really think that is neat!

Siemens said...

Very clever! I love the concept, although the weird, prudish, compulsive part of me kind of thought "Eek!" when I saw dirt touching the pages. But I got over it.