Wow, I am loving that screen. I'll start saving bottle to send to you.

Doesn't your DS have a collection of root beer bottles? Maybe he would contribute to his Sis.

Oh boy, now you are trying to get us into trouble Marilyn.
Hmmm, he hasn't made root beer for some time now.

Budweiser has made me very happy.
They are using COBALT blue to bottle their Bud Light Platinum.
Blue is SO wonderful in the garden.
I've collected 48 so far.

Now if I could just find something that comes in a California Poppy shade of orange bottle....

Okay, between Denice and Critter, we will all be on bottle hunts.

http://www.google.com/search?q...
http://www.google.com/search?q...

now I would just need to find someone to drink the beer(yuk), prefer my wine Maybe I go visit Target. They do glass recycling for Las Cruces, maybe they'll let me recycle their recycling

Dumpster diving is another way. But watch out for the critters in the trash.

That is a great idea. Recycling the recycling. And free is a very good thing.
Don't forget to take your camera.

I've seen that picture before Denice and always thought it was cool.

Critter, what do you plan on doing with your bottles?

I would like a bottle tree.
Or maybe:

would brighten up the winter....

That would look really nice!

Here's a new idea I ran across recently too. You'd need a lot of room though. http://pinterest.com/pin/60376...

valleysdaughter said:now I would just need to find someone to drink the beer(yuk), prefer my wine :

If only I was closer to help out with such an onerous task.....

Here are a few pix of my beds this year. This is the oldest one and you can see where I had to replant some of the areas where the voles destroyed it during the winter.


This is a little corner bed out in back. It's 2 years old.


This bed was made last fall, but most plants weren't put in until this spring. The neighbor dogs kept running through it so I had to fence it in.

Those are really nice Chris. We have problems wit cats here. Have to cover all beds with rock(our sandy soil makes a perfect cat box)

If only Kate...that would be so helpful

My goodness, Chris that is a lot of bottles and insulators used in that amazing garden design.
Nice recovery on the vole damaged bed. You can't tell there was ever a problem. They all look so healthy. I love seeing them in colonies.
Love the new bed. Are you going to make another new one this year?

Leave me out of helping to empty either the beer or wine bottles. Yuk to both.

Boy does Denice ever have a cat problem.
But the problem is solved now.

Cute idea critter, using the bottles as edging. I wonder if there is much of a breakage problem?

Chris, I Love looking at your beds. I had a hard time seeing any damage in the photos; you must have replanted pretty well. Yes, definitely, you have "colonies" (I took a class in microbiology and that's what the bacteria looked like in the petri dishes...) and they are amazing because the colors are intensified.
Hope the fence helps with the pesky dogs. Thanks for the update!

Chris very nice beds!! Love the pinterest link!! That is really amazing!
Critter great idea for bottles! It'll look good in blue!
Lynn you and I can be drinking our rootbeer or water! haha

Thank you.

Denice, do the cats belong to someone or are they feral cats? Either way, that does not sound pleasant. We have a few feral cats but luckily they stay out of my gardens, or at least just walk through them.. They come over to hunt. Glad you've solved the problem.

In the very first picture you can see where some colonies had been. I've replanted, but it will take a while for colonies to form again. Lynn, I did also put in two new raised beds this year. They've been planted very recently and don't look like much yet.

Bacteria? That does sound pretty accurate Bev! So far the fence has worked. The dogs don't want to dig in the garden or anything, they just ran through it all the time. So luckily a flimsy fence works.

Thanks Greg. Still lots of work to do, but it's getting there. I'm having a gorgeous day today to work outside. But I pop in to cool off every once in a while.

I wondered about breakage at first but then I decided that because they are upside down rather than being full of liquid it mightn't be a problem.

Whatever I do with my lovely cobalt blue, I will need some shade of citrus to balance it out. Green beer bottles would just look tacky (imho), so that's a no. If anyone finds a product sold in ORANGE or LEMON colored bottles, please let me know....

And I might just put them upside in the ground somewhere instead of as a border - I have a rock border I like just fine.

I have recently seen a cat deterrent that would not harm the plants - SOMEWHERE. I will post it when I find it. One thing I have heard is that they do not like rue. But I tested that theory in the 90s when I had 3 cats. I brought home a single rue plant and showed it to them. They were unphased. One actially bit it!

They are neighborhood cats mostly. I do have one myself who mostly uses her litterbox inside.