Home Removal Services Blog

My spouse is always telling me to Bloom where you are planted. This is good advice for me and as an amateur gardener; I wish I could pass this tip along to my plants. Alas, plant life will refuse to flourish if not placed in an area that is conducive to its temperament – regardless of subsequent cajoling and urging by the gardener. Acceptance of this basic ground rule is an indicator for promotion of the greenhorn gardener to the status of adequate. It has taken me many seasons to get here and even still, I seek to prune the rule. Recently though, I have discovered the world of container gardening and the marvel of adult diapers. Yup, adult diapers.

Not too long ago, my spouse spent a Sunday afternoon installing window boxes on the front of our house. I quickly filled these well-drained boxes with perfect soil and a beautiful assortment of blossoming flowers. It took me about 3 days to realize that I was engaged in conflict with the relentless afternoon sun. No mortal could posible keep up with the watering that these wndow boxes demanded. They were high and dry and even though the flowers were clearly designated for direct sunlight, I was never going to have more than dry thatch outside my windows unless I came up with a way to manage the humidity of the soil in these boxes.

[I:http://homeremovalservices.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2009/05/KateKew3.jpg]Cathartically, I took the window boxes down, emptied them out and started over. The thick open wire flower boxes came with a coco matting that I re-installed. I lined this matting with adult diapers, their business-sides facing up (the sides that do all the absorbing). Then I filled in with soil and plants, hung them back up under my windows and watered them.

Adult diapers are a modern miracle. They aren’t just overstuffed with shreds of paper towels; they are strategically filled with crystals of a special polymer called SAP which can absorb up to thirty times its own weight in fluid. I can report that these little crystals did their job perfectly. Rainwater was absorbed by the diapers and then gradually released back into the soil, keeping the soil at consistent, ideal moisture levels. Oh yeah, I should also mention, this polymer is non-toxic.

Of course, the genius of this effort should not be over- played. It certainly wouldnt raise an eyebrow at the garden club. Using diapers in the service of a garden will come as a natural for most gardeners: we’re all about manure, aren’t we?

Enjoy!