Handmade wooden dibber...

A quick guide on how to make a dibber, perfect for planting bulbs of all variety's, cheap and quick to make, this one is made from an old pallet, or at least part of an old pallet.

Obviously you'd need a lathe to make this, it's what I used, but your could make one like this with hand tools easily enough, it'd just take a bit longer.

This one would be good for planting bulbs as it's quite thick and with the added lines down it, it will be easy to make sure things are planted at the right depth, the marks are made at 1cm intervals with a total of 12cm in all.

Here's the video of me making it -

Thanks for visiting.

Handmade row marker (without a lathe)

I said in my last post that I'd write a post on how to make a row marker if you don't have a lathe, and so here is that post, in fact all you need to make this row marker (in terms of tools) is a drill, cordless or otherwise, some drill bits, a forstner bit (at least 16mm) if possible, a saw (handsaw is fine) a hammer and a sander although this isn't essential, it's just for aesthetics, a pencil and a ruler (or tape measure)

So here's the finished marker -

Doesn't get much easier.

This row marker is basic, and there a numerous variations on this, all are easy to make, for materials you'll need three types of dowel, 16mm, 9mm and 6mm and a bamboo skewer, or very thin dowel, you'll also need some tile batten (38x19mm) or similar sized wood.

First cut two lengths of wood, one at 5 inches (127mm approx) and one at 6 inches (152mm approx) these are just the sizes I used, you could go bigger, or smaller.

Like so -

Any wood of a similar size would do.

Next mark the centre of one of the pieces, I marked the longest length, mainly because you'll need to drill and extra hole in this bit.

Centre marked -

A centering tool is a good thing to have, and also easy to make.

Next you need to mark out where to drill your holes, this will depend on what size you decide to make your row marker, again using the longer piece and from left to right I put marks at half an inch, 2 and half inches, 4 and a half inches and then 5 and half inches.

Drilling points marked -

Now for drilling.

I drilled the largest hole first, this is where the spike for pushing into the ground will go, it's also the point at which the reel will spin round, I've used a 16mm forstner bit, if you don't have one then you can always use the largest drill bit you have and file / sand the hole to the right size.

You don't need to mark both bits of wood as long as you clamp the two together you should be okay, you can put them both in a vice, or if needs be use some tape to hold them together whilst you drill, do try to keep the holes as straight as possible.

First hole drilled -

Few more to drill.

Now for the next set of holes, these are for the pegs that will hold it together, take an 8mm drill bit and drill two holes, one either side of the larger hole.

Holes for pegs drilled -

It will make sense at the end.

You should have a mark left, this needs to be drilled out using a 7mm drill bit, this hole will be for the handle that you use to wind the string back up with.

last hole drilled -

Drilling done.

Take your 9mm dowel and cut two lengths the same size, I cut mine at 4 inches (100mm approx) for this next bit you may need to give each end of the dowel a bit of a sand because you need to knock the dowel into the 8mm holes you drilled and you don't want the wood to split.

Dowel cut -

Assembly can begin.

It's time to start assembling the row marker, knock the two bits of dowel into the holes you drilled on the pieces of wood until they are flush with the other side.

You should end up with this -

Not much left to do now.

Cut a piece of 16mm dowel, I cut mine at 8 inches, and I made a point on one end using a sander, but you could also use a sharp knife.

Put the dowel in the large hole you drilled and stop when it's flush with the top piece (the longer) of wood, then mark two marks next to each piece of wood and drill them out using a small drill bit, I used a 3mm drill bit as this was the size of my bamboo skewer.

Dowel in place and holes drilled out -

I know more drillling.

You need to cut two lengths of skewer (or thin dowel) these will go into the holes and stop the centre dowel falling out, they'll also allow the frame to rotate, if the skewer / dowel is too thick shave a bit off, and leave about 5mm sticking out of each side of the dowel.

Skewer pins in place - 

Now all we need is a handle.

To make the handle take a piece of 16mm dowel and cut about an inch off, then mark the centre of one end, what we're going to do is drill into it so that a bit of the 6 mm dowel fits tightly into it, so use a 5.5mm drill bit if possible, if not use one as close to the 6mm dowel size and sand things to fit.

Dowel cut and marked -

Guess what ? More drilling.

Cut a piece of 6mm dowel long enough to fit into the hole you drilled in the 16mm dowel and through the frame work with about half an inch poking through.

Handle almost done -

Nearly done.

I also used a bit of skewer to fix the handle together - 

You could glue it together.

All that's left is to make a cap for the handle, to do this I drilled into the end of the 16mm dowel I had left and then cut it to the size I wanted, I found it easier to do it this way, then I drilled a small hole so that I could use a bit of skewer to stop the cap coming off.

Handle done - 

A bit of sanding to tidy it up and we're done.

I used the last of the 16mm dowel I had left to make a peg and drilled a hole through so that I could fix some string to it, and that's it, after a bit of a sand it was done, I've used no screws, nails or glue to make this despite that it's quite sturdy and it works well, it works so I'm happy with it, there are numerous ways you could make something similar to this just as cheaply.

All done -

It works, not much more to say.

Here it is next to the one I made on my lathe - 

Spoilt for choice now.

Thanks for ready.

Homemade trug ... ...

I decided to use up some of the bits of plywood I have lying about, and so I made a trug, it's actually a prototype for a potential future shop item, I do tend to build these things at least once before I decide to sell them, just like to get the method down so I can make them quickly.

Anyway it's pretty easy to make your own trug, although it's not the traditional type made of thin wooden strips, but even so they can look quite nice.

To make a trug you basically need 5 bits of plywood (that's if you got for sheet material) you need 2 ends and 2 sides and a base, you'll also need something to make a handle out of, a piece thick dowel is ideal for this.

I haven't included any plans, mainly because it's a preferential thing, I made mine to suit us, but you can make yours to how you want, I'll give you some pointers though.

Here's what mine ended up looking like -

Perhaps a little larger than it needed to be ?

You can get an idea of how it's built, it's basically a fancy box. I cut the 2 ends to a nice shape, but you can just make the ends square, you will need a way to cut the shape out though if you choose to go down that road, a jigsaw will do well enough, or if you have a scroll saw it will do just as well.

Some other things you will need are some glue, nails and sand paper, as well as something to make the handle from. This is unfinished, it's got to have a paint job, but you could just varnish the wood, it's up to you.

 If you use angled sides, like I have you might want to sand the bottom of it flat, it makes it easier to fix the base.

Another picture -

It looks a little thin, but it's quite sturdy.

I fixed it all together with small brass pins and a good quality wood glue, making sure the base is well fixed, you don't want the contents falling out all over the place.
The handle is just a bit of plain dowel that I've fixed in place using 2 pegs, one on either end.

Brass pins and pegs to hold on the handle -

I shaved a piece of dowel down for the peg.

Brass pins.

 And that's about it really, not the most complicated of projects, but the result is quite pleasing, and it's also functional, but you could make one just for decoration, the method is the same, obviously thicker wood will mean the trug is heavier, and when you have it loaded up with goodies it'll be heavier still, I used 6mm plywood, which I feel is plenty strong enough, so why not make yourself one out of some bits of scrap wood, might come in handy for blackberry picking or for freshly dug up spuds.

Handmade mini dibber ... ...

If like us you grow a lot of plants you'll know that sowing the seeds is a bit of a chore, especially making holes for each seed, when the need calls for it.

I normally use a pencil for making seed holes, mainly for writing out the labels, but I've also found the end of a pencil makes for a good seed drill, however there is a down side, that being compost on the end of the pencil, and subsequently behind my ear seeing as that's where I keep my pencils most of the time.

So this morning I made a purpose designed and built mini dibber for planting my seeds. I just used a scrap piece of wood, I seem to have lots of these lying about the shed, used my recently built mini lathe to turn it, which is still working, and the mini lathe works much better now I've welded up the tail stock. 

Here's the mini dibber -

It's just about right for a pocket.

It's turned from a bit of pine, the dark lines are burned in, this is done by just holding another piece of wood to it whilst it's spinning, I wasn't going to add any type of decoration, but figured why not :-)

Another picture - 

Ta Da !

I made the end flat for a reason, that being once your seed is planted you need to tamp the soil down ;-) so it's a duel purpose dibber / pot tamper, it's small enough to be useful even with small cell seed trays.

Here's a picture next to a ruler -

Just about 9cm or nearly 4 inches in old money.

And there you have it, it took about 25 minutes to turn,sand and wax and will serve me well in my veg growing exploits :-) it's also a nice size for a child to use, so if the kids want to help they can use this to make nice neat seed drills at about the right depth, thanks to the markers on the pointy end.

Thanks for reading.

Homemade plant pot maker ... ...

As an avid gardener I'm always on the look out for ways to make things easier for myself, and even better if it's cheap (or free) and I can recycle some stuff.

Not so long ago I was looking about at various websites when I came across a plant pot maker, now as the name suggests it's a tool for making plant pots, but out of newspaper, the ones I saw were made of wood, and I thought they were great, basically when it comes to seed sowing time you use this little gizmo to make paper pots, then you sow your seeds in the pots and when the plants are ready you just plant the whole thing, save time and money and you don't have to disturb the plants roots by removing them from pots, which isn't always easy to do.

I could have bought one, you can get them from various websites for a reasonable price (just google "plant pot maker") but I figured I could save a few quid if I made one myself, and it's easier as I have a lathe, I could have made one by hand, using a hammer and chisels, but I wanted a more polished tool, and besides I enjoy making things.

So off to the mole cave, which in this weather is more than a little cold (it's not really a cave, it's a shed, I bet you guessed that already) And after rooting around in my pile of wood I found an old section of fence post which I found last year and used part of for making a collett chuck.

I cut 2 sections off the post, 1 for the handle and 1 for the base, as the post was 6 inches square it required a little bit of turning to get it round, but the finished result is easy to use and has a nice feel, but it has been made to fit my hand so I guess it would feel okay to me.

Here it is -

I didn't notice the hole until I'd started turning it.

Not much to look at really, I didn't get too fussy with it, just added a little detail to the handle and gave the base a little bit of a curve, as the caption says I didn't notice the hole until I'd started turning the wood, but in all honesty I quite like the fact that it's not perfect, it does the job I made it for, which is what matters.

Another picture, this time with some pots - 

It works !!!

I made a couple of pots to see if it would actually work, I did spend some time whilst I was turning it to get it quite precise in terms of measurements on the parts that actually push the paper to make the base nice and secure.

You can use newspaper, which means you can have another use for the newspapers before you chuck them in the recycling bin, or you can use other types of paper, in the picture above I used a bit of red paper that we have for the kids to do crafty stuff with, it worked just as well, so if you use red paper you could give plants as presents in attractive biodegradable pots ;-)

All in all I am pleased with it, it will save money (it didn't cost anything to make) and it will save time, which I seem to have less and less of these days, and making the pots takes about a minute or so and is easy to do, as the next lot of pictures will show.

Step one, get some paper (newspaper is good)

Tear the paper into strips, roughly the size you want your pots, remember to leave about an inch over hanging, then start rolling it around the handle.

Step one picture - 

Rolling the paper.

Step two, once you have rolled the paper into a tube you need to fold the over hanging end in on it's self.

Step two pictures - 

Leave some paper over hanging.

Then fold the ends in.

Fold the paper in towards the middle.

Once that's done you then need to get the base and push the handle into it, this will make sure the end is secure and stop the plant and soil falling out of the bottom when you pick it up, push it in as hard as you can, I've found giving it a little twist helps as well.

Sealing the pot base.

And you should end up with a pot, the base should look like the picture below.

The pot base - 

You get the idea right ?

If not here's another picture with a couple of pots I made earlier - 

Pot bases.

Pot maker with finished pot - 

Easy as, and free plant pots, bargain.

It's simple to do, and doesn't take long to make a load of pots, you will need to keep them in some sort of tray, they will obviously get wet when watered and may not be quite so sturdy, they are paper after all, but they should stay together well enough to be transported to the planting site and planted. I figured I would make a lot more garden related items before spring, things like a new dibber.

Just a quick update, and I probably shouldn't point this out if I plan on selling these things, but you don't actually need a tool like this to make paper pots, or course it helps, but if you used a plastic tube, about the size you wanted you could wrap the paper round it in the same way and then just fold the ends in and maybe put something down the tube to help fix the base of the pot.

Of course having you very own pot making tool is preferable ;-)

Thanks for reading.