(gentle music) - [Presenter] Oklahoma Gardening is a production of the Oklahoma Cooperative Extension Service as part of the Land Grant Mission of the Division of Agricultural Sciences and Natural Resources at Oklahoma State University dedicated to improving the quality of life of the citizens of Oklahoma through research based information.

Underwriting assistance for our program is provided by the Oklahoma Department of Agriculture, Food and Forestry, helping to keep Oklahoma green and growing.

Today on the best of Oklahoma Gardening, let's take advantage of the winter weather to review some DIY garden projects.

We've got one project that's decorative, one that is functional and another that repurposes old materials.

Stay tuned as we showcase projects for all skill levels.

(bright music) - I know sometimes during those gardening season, it might rain too much or it might be too hot to get out, but that doesn't mean that you can't still get out and do something for the garden.

So we've got today a project that you can either do in a nice shady area in your garden shed or even in your garage or home.

So the first thing that we're gonna do is we are going to make a clay sphere.

You can either do a full sphere or a half sphere, but you're going to need some clay pots in order to do that.

Now we went with just a kind of a hobbycraft pot because they're a little bit thinner, which means they're lighter in weight, which is important when you're trying to put this actually into the garden.

So this is a four and a half inch, whereas this is a two and a half inch.

I will say the two and a half inches a little bit easier, but keep in mind, anytime you're planting a smaller pot, that means there's gonna be less root zone and also it's going to dry out faster.

So the two and a half really works well for more of a succulent planting, whereas the four and a half will allow you to do some different plants.

And keep in mind think about where you're gonna put this.

So again obviously if you're doing something with succulents, it's going to need to be in full sun as well.

So the first thing you're gonna need is you're going to need 41 pots.

And so that's a fair amount of pots.

If you go with a smaller, obviously it's cheaper, these common nice six pack, so you can get several of them that way.

And what we're gonna do is we're going to lay out these pots in a fashion, in a circle, and it sort of helps to do a little bit of a dry run first, but you gonna need 11 pots in that first circle.

So it obviously helps to work on a very flat surface 'cause these pots tend to wanna roll a little bit and you might need a few extra hands just to kind of help stabilize it as well.

And then we worked with the next row and you kind of place that second row in nestled in between that first row.

So it kind of filled in those valleys between those pods.

And we found that eight pots work the best on that.

And then you have a hole at the top, which you've got to fill to complete your sphere.

So we found that three pots sort of worked well.

Now keep in mind, you are gonna still have gaps, especially depending on what pots you're working with.

The holes will vary between those clay pots, but that's okay.

That's why we have plants to kind of fill in and cover some of the ugliness and also the glue.

So once you've done a dry run and you're pleased with how it looks, again it's gonna be very unstable until you glue it.

Go ahead and make sure you've counted how many you have on each of those rings so that you can replicate it, deconstruct it and then this time you're gonna glue it.

So we have found that some sort of outdoor strong bonding adhesive caulk works really well.

You're going to need more glue than you think.

So don't buy just a small tube, go ahead and get a whole caulk gun, especially if you're doing the larger pots.

And so you gonna wanna glue as you go, as you build the each ring.

So building the first ring of 11 glue those together, you can go ahead and glue the next row.

You don't have to wait for it to dry.

And then finally put in your top three.

Now keep in mind again as you're gluing this they're gonna shift a little bit so where they might have been connected with glue, they might not as you finish that.

So you wanna go back through with glue and kind of fill in some more of those cracks where they're connecting and touching to make sure that they're well bonded.

And then of course once you've got it glued, you gonna let it set for a good period of time, depending on which type of glue there's a recommended level or recommended time to allow it to set, but let it set and make sure that it's well dried before you do anything further with it at that point.

Now you might find that once you've gotten half of your sphere completed, that it was a bit of a struggle with that process.

So you might think let's call it.

That's good and that's okay.

So you can use just a half sphere.

In fact this larger clay pot that's what we're intending.

We're just gonna to place this out in the garden.

- Now if you want to do a full sphere, what you're gonna do is do this similar pattern, although you're gonna leave out these top three pots.

Let me show you why.

So here we've got a full sphere and you can see it is planted already, but I'm gonna go ahead and lift this up.

We didn't actually glue it to the bottom sphere so that you can see we've got our two rings but we didn't actually plant or glue three more rings to the inside of that.

That allows that sphere to really set really well on a flat surface.

So you can see, I had two half spheres.

I didn't put the three in the center there, and that allows us to use it as a nice place to set that way.

So this is a good thing.

You can make it a sphere and not glue it to the top part, and then you can still use this as a centerpiece on the table or you can put it out in your garden as a decorative piece as well.

So we're gonna go ahead and put this back, and I'm gonna show you now how to go about planting your clay pot.

So we've got this larger one here that we're gonna go ahead and plant.

You can see it's nice and dry.

Now you can see some of our clay pots are a little bit unlevel.

We've got holes, we're gonna fill those.

You can see on the smaller one, what we used was some sphagnum moss just to fill, just sort of give it some time as those sedums grow in.

Now, one thing to keep in mind, especially if you're doing the sphere, maybe use some trailing things down because you're not going to be able to plant these lower clay pots, because they're actually upside down.

So it's really hard to keep anything in there.

But by planting trailing plants, that will kinda cover that base a little bit more.

So on this particular one, we're planning on putting it in our shade garden.

We've got some shade tolerant plants versus the succulent one that you have here next to us.

We're gonna need some potting soil to fill in some of those holes.

We're gonna go ahead and put a little bit in each one of these to get us started.

We have a variety of different plants that we're using, and I will say these like smaller quart size will probably fit the best in here.

However, we worked with what we had and so we also found some sedges to add a little bit to cover some of those areas that might not be so pretty.

We've got different colors of foliage with our sedges and then we've also got a nice autumn fern here that I think we'll be able to shave down the roots on that.

Got a few more begonias we're gonna add in here and then also some holly ferns as well.

So a lot of foliage because this is again, gonna to be a shade feature that we put in our shade garden.

We're gonna start off sort of like flower ranging right now.

We have several of these holly ferns so we're gonna start off with that.

Again, these are sort of these like quart size.

We're gonna go ahead and shave off a little bit of this soil.

(upbeat music) And then we're just gonna sort of nestle these in somewhere around periodically throughout.

(upbeat music) If you do happen to come across any damaged leaves, go ahead and clean those out like you would any other garden or any other plants.

(upbeat music) So you can see what it looks like once you've finally got it finished.

It's definitely worth the patience and kind of the craftiness of being able to construct it and giving it time to dry, and then finally planting it.

Now again, this is filled with plants.

You wouldn't even necessarily have to plant each container 'cause it's kinda nice to see some of those clay pots exposed.

However, we did plant every one of 'em here.

So you can see how all of this foliage really covers some of those oopses that you might've had during your construction process.

When you're designing this, it's sort of like a flower arrangement.

You're gonna start with your greenery.

We started with this holly fern and just sort of placed it periodically throughout this semicircle here.

And then we went in with some of the sedges.

So we have this sort of golden sedge and then also the variegated sedge.

Again, kind of putting those sporadically throughout and making sure that you're not putting any two right next to each other.

So you got that color throughout.

Finally, we went in with this little punch of bright pink in there from this shade begonia.

Again, adding those pops of color, but it's definitely worth the process and what's nice about this is you'll be able to use it from season to season, whether it's annuals or perennials.

Now we just need to find that perfect place to put it in the garden.

(lively music) - Today, I wanted to take a minute to introduce you to a new concept garden that we're creating here at the Botanic Garden at OSU.

And this was in part by an in-kind donation offered to us by the Noble Research Institute.

So what we're doing here is creating two backyard gardens that are gonna be model yards for showing people how to grow food in their own backyard.

Now, one's gonna be a little more of a landscaped backyard with a hobby greenhouse.

And the other is gonna have a little bit more of a utilitarian look with a hobby hoop house, where you won't need any electricity or anything like that, versus the greenhouse.

Over this season, we're gonna shoot several segments from this garden as it continues to develop, and as the construction continues on.

Including irrigation, raised beds, and some of the different fencing styles that we're gonna incorporate.

But right now, we're in the process of developing the hobby hoop house and the greenhouse behind us.

And we first gotta establish a firm foundation.

And for each of those, we're gonna put down a different surface for us to walk on.

Today, Dr. Lou Anella is gonna join us and show us the process of installing pavers as we did in our hobby greenhouse.

(carefree music) - Hi, my name is Lou Anella.

I'm a professor of horticulture at Oklahoma State University and the Director of the Botanic Garden at OSU.

Today, we'd like to talk to you about building sidewalks and patios, or even driveways, with concrete pavers.

These are really great products to use.

They last long in the landscape.

And they add visual interest to the landscape.

They're a great do-it-yourself project, or you can hire a contractor to install them.

These concrete pavers are great to use in the landscape.

They last longer than brick because they're not as porous.

And they also have these spacers on the side that help us get the spacing between the pavers perfect.

And they look nice in the landscape.

They add visual interest.

And so we'd like to show you how to construct a paver project.

We have a demonstration area set up, so let's go over there and look at that to see how you construct one of these projects.

(lively music) We've set this demonstration area up here in the parking lot, so we can show you each individual layer of how we build a paver patio.

So there are four steps that we'll focus on and we'll be to show you each of those four steps by doing it here in the parking lot.

So let's get to it.

Let's show you how to build a paver patio.

The first step is the base material.

It's the most important.

Just like the foundation on your house, it's got to be sturdy, it's gotta be firm.

So we recommend four inches at least of base material.

And it can be a three-quarter minus crushed limestone.

Anything that you can compact really, really well.

And so we did run a compactor over this and compact it, and we're gonna make believe we've got four inches of crushed limestone there.

That's the first layer.

The second layer is called the bedding layer and that's made out of sand.

So getting exactly one inch of sand is really important.

And so I used a screed board and a screed rail to do that.

So my screed rail is exactly one inch thick.

And so when I put that down on my base material, and put this screed board over the screed rail, I would get exactly one inch layer of sand.

But on the other side, I had the edge restraint.

So I put a notch in my screed board so that when I put it on top of the edge restraint with that notch and I pull it, I get exactly a one-inch layer of sand.

So we've got the base layer, then the bedding layer.

On top of that, we will put the pavers themselves.

And it's really important to have excellent edge restraint.

And so that's what these plastic sheets are here.

These are for edge restraint, to keep the pavers in place.

For the sidewalk we looked at earlier, we used concrete as the edge restraint.

And then the last layer is a layer of sand over the top.

We'll use the same sand again, that we'll put over the top and sweep into the spaces between the pavers.

And that's what really gives the patio strength.

That sand acts like friction between those pavers and really holds everything together.

And use the tamper to tamp it in.

So it's important to have sand between the pavers and between the edge restraint and the pavers.

So to finish the project, we sweep the sand off the top, and we've got a really nice, small paver patio.

(upbeat music) - We're here in our backyard demonstration garden.

And today we wanna feature another raised bed.

And today we're looking at repurposing our product that you might have seen.

And now this is a product that we kind of have termed rubber lumber because we're reusing rubber from old tires.

Now there's a lot of questions about using tires for raised bed.

And for that, we're gonna talk with Steve Upson, who is with the Noble Research Institute, who kind of came up with this design.

So welcome, Steve, thank you for joining us today.

- Good to be here Casey.

- So, Steve, tell us a little bit about your rubber lumber raised bed design.

- We're looking originally for something that would replace wood.

And so, tires are ubiquitous, but we wanted to kind of look at some new and different ways to use tires in gardening.

And so to replace treated lumber, we thought, well, shoot, let's just try some tire thread, and make rubber lumber out of it.

- [Casey] Okay.

- And so we came up with this idea quite awhile ago and we perfected it, we think, and got some plans on how to assemble rubber lumber, making with the repurposed rubber from tires.

And so here's, this is just a cross section of it, a little cutaway.

- Before we get into the construction a little bit, so you were saying replacing treated lumber, there's a lot of chemicals in treated lumber.

There's a lot of people concerned about the chemicals in the rubber of tires too.

Can you speak to that a little bit.

- Well sure, no doubt there's some heavy metals.

I mean, we've done analysis on that.

The tire companies have that's readily available.

Heavy metals is the primary contaminant.

There are some other organics volatile on new tires especially.

But what we need to understand is that all those metals are bound up in the rubber matrix when the tire is cooked and when it's cured in the making process.

And so they don't leach out.

Now, over decades.

- [Casey] Right.

- [Steve] You're gonna have some on the outside where the sunlight.

- [Casey] The UV rays.

- The UV will break some of that down, but on the inside, it takes a long time for any of that to become actually part of the growing medium, if you will leach out into that.

So research has shown that crumb rubber, this is an issue possibly, but within tech tires, no, not, I wouldn't worry about that.

There is no direct evidence that that is an issue.

Now, I always tell people, if you're concerned about it, just don't use it.

- Okay.

So the crumb rubber that is broken up, there's a little more concern, but this is intact.

- It has more area.

- And definitely, a lower maintenance than treated lumber or anything, any other wood material.

So-- - Correct.

- All right.

So let's get into the construction a little bit.

- Sure.

- How do we get a tire like this into something that's flat like this?

- Okay.

So making rubber lumber, we're gonna start with automobile tire.

So what you see here, semi truck.

We just use it as a platform, but, so we'll try to select well-worn tires, similar size, usually passenger car tires, SUV tires, the wider, the better.

These tires are, this thread is eight to nine inches.

The reason you can see it's the depth, the depth of the bed.

This represents the depth of, the soil here.

- Okay.

Okay.

- Okay.

- All right.

- And so we use a saw.

- [Casey] Can you use any particular saw?

- [Steve] Actually a jigsaw with a hacksaw blade to cut up the tires.

- [Casey] Okay.

- [Steve] The instructions on that are in our manual.

- Okay.

All right.

So you've been working on this.

This is something that you like to do in the winter time.

Is that get that lumber ready for spring?

- And I like to try to, anyone's got a shop or likes to work with their hands and have some tools, this is a great winter project.

Get the beds ready and in place.

Get the soil in place before spring planning.

- Okay.

So you get, four or five, six feet out of each tire, and then you have to then screw that together.

- Yes.

So a piece of thread it averages six to seven feet in length.

- [Casey] Okay.

- And so the longer the bed, the more sections of rubber you need, you cut the sidewalls out, cut the tire in two, to make the long piece of thread.

You overlap them about three inches.

You secure them with some bolts, and then you attach these pockets, with self-tapping screws.

- Okay.

So these are extra pieces that you've attached on here.

- You can say that.

- What's the purpose of pockets?

- So the pockets serve two purposes.

They house the steak, which holds, the rubber lumber upright, the side of the bed upright.

And they also serve to secure the mulch film.

If you choose to use mulch film, which is a weed barrier, on your beds.

- [Casey] Okay.

- [Steve] Yeah, there is a cost, but if you look at the total cost compared to a wood bed, much less, and then the maintenance cost, year-to-year cost.

- [Steve] Are very very low.

- [Woman] Right.

- [Steve] As you can imagine.

- [Woman] And these pockets are important because obviously as you fill up this is would be the inside - yeah the inside of the bed here - of the raised bed.

As you fill it up with soil, that pressure the soil with this rebar stake, is going to help support those sidewalls.

- Now, obviously, if it was very high, this three quarter-- 3/8 inch rebar is not sufficient, but for eight to nine inches, works great.

- All right.

So let's talk a little bit.

So this the side kind of like the side of our bed here, what did we do on the ends here?

- Okay.

To form the end of the bed, you just take a piece of tread.

- [Woman] Okay.

- [Steve] You don't have to, to secure it to the ground.

Some people choose to, but you can wrap it around and then stick it on the inside.

Run the inside.

- So you would just do it - Right.

It would be, it would be part of it would, would be on the inside here, coming around.

And then of course meet, meet up with the other side.

- [Woman] Okay.

- [Steve] and the soil against the side holds it up right.

- Oh, okay.

- Now, if you're going to run your tiller over that, you might want to put a few stakes in it.

But even then it's, it's flexible.

You can run a tiller just right up over the top of it and not hurt your tiller.

- All right.

And so on the end of the sidewalls here, you've just wrapped it around a bigger rebar?

- Yeah.

- And we do this, we use a half inch rebar or a half inch piece of sucker rod.

And those of us in the oil field know what that is.

Okay.

It's cheaper, but you've got to cut it up with a cutting torch or a chop saw.

And then we'll use that.

We'll drive this in first so we can stretch it.

We'll hook one end to that.

And we'll hook come along to the other end of the bed, the other end of the rubber lumber, - Okay.

- when we're putting the sides up, right?

- Okay.

So that really stretches that and makes it nice.

- Um-hum.

We'll stretch it real tight.

That gets it nice and taut.

And then, so it's standing up, right.

And then we'd just, we'll go along and we'll insert our steaks.

It's a lot of fun.

The first time you do it, you'll have a few questions about the more you do it.

I mean, I'm hooked on it.

I mean, I'm a, I'm a rubber lumber junkie now.

And I love them because they obviously were taking the product out of the landfill.

We're repurposing it and we're really improving our quality of life.

And this bad, more than any of them, I think would have some commercial purpose on it's really, really poor soils.

- [Woman] Yeah.

- You can make a lot of them in short amount of time, relatively short amount of time when you get your process down.

- Okay.

What would you recommend a certain size?

Obviously it depends homeowner versus production, but is there an ideal size for something like this?

- You know, I, I started making them 20 or excuse me, 30 feet in length because my beds are 40 inches wide and that's a hundred square feet.

It's really nice, the math, and you have to go to-- - When you're doing any fertilizer planting calculations.

- Oh your amendments and things.

So, but that's a little heavy for most folks.

So 20 foot would be something that I think most people could, could handle.

I mean, you can make them just one tire length, but I don't know.

I, I prefer them a little longer.

Cause I, I mean, again, if it's, if you're actually serious about gardening, you're going to make a little larger bed than, you know, six foot long.

- [Woman] Let's talk a little bit about the depth.

So, you know, we mentioned that the width of the tread is the depth of the bed, but for most of our vegetable production, six to eight inches is a good depth.

I mean, would you agree with that?

- Sure.

It's all about management.

If you're, you've got a good soil and good soil mix, you know, a rich, lot of water holding capacity, and remember we're not putting the bottom of this.

I don't put, usually put some kind of a barrier.

I will go ahead and till the existing soil and mix in the growing medium from this bed with that.

So I don't have, I have kind of a, a gradual change.

- But it's a little looser towards the top.

- But yes, if you you've got drip irrigation in it and you manage it properly.

No problem.

None, none whatsoever.

It comes down to management.

- All right.

Thank you, Steve, so much for showing us this.

And obviously it's working well right here as we've got some different gourds growing on our plant here.

So for more information on how you can create your own rubber lumber raised bed, check out our website.

(banjo music plays) Next week on the best of Oklahoma gardening, we will provide you with a little garden inspiration as it may look a little dreary outside.

To find out more information about show topics, as well as recipes, videos, articles, fact sheets, and other resources, including a directory of local extension offices.

Be sure to visit our website at oklahomagardening.okstate.edu.

And we always have great information, answers to questions, photos, and gardening discussion on your favorite social media as well.

Join in on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram, you can find this entire show and other recent shows as well as individual segments on our Oklahoma Gardening YouTube channel.

Tune in to our OK Gardening Classics YouTube channel to watch segments from previous hosts.

Oklahoma gardening is produced by the Oklahoma Cooperative Extension Service as part of the division of Agricultural Sciences and Natural Resources at Oklahoma State University.

The Botanic Garden at OSU is home to our studio gardens, and we encourage you to come visit this beautiful Stillwater gem.

We would like to thank our generous underwriter, The Oklahoma Department of Agriculture, Food and Forestry.

Additional support is also provided by Pond Pro Shops, Greenleaf Nursery, and the Garden Debut Plants, the Oklahoma Horticultural Society and Tulsa Garden Club.

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