Hi all, I've got my own el-cheapo method for hanging small plastic pots, if one doesn't mind them hanging at a bit of an angle. I have these suspended in my small bathroom window, from a tension mount curtain rod. I secure a plastic zip-tie/cable-tie round the pot, just under the lip, snugging it up snugly, and cut off the end when I have it tightly secure. For my hooks, I cut apart the white-coated clothes hangers to lengths about 7-8 inches long or so. Then, I hold one end and wrap it round the top bar of my metal step-stool; turn it round and over, and wrap the other end round the top metal bar. This gives me perfect s-hooks for my set-up, threaded through my cable-tie wraps. I adjust the s-hooks to get the angle I want. A nice bonus to having the pots at a slight angle is how nicely the water runs through the potting medium. No damp feet. I have more than one curtain rod in this window; my pots are staggared, so that the water does not run from one pot into another, as others have mentioned. The window is an east window, and it's perfect for my smaller orchids. This set-up would work well for a beginner, who prefers to put their $$ into the actual plants rather than supplies that can be improvised. My whole window is filled, and I have no curtain to be spoiled at an in-shower window. The window is high enough that there isn't any way to look into the shower. The neighboring house is also a single-story house, so my orchids are my curtain. Easy-peasy. Whatever set-up you choose, enjoy! girlsaylor

1.)Claire sez: A room of their own! Ha! When my houseplants finish their inward trek, they'll be lucky if they get a seat near a window - winter is sort of like rush hour on the subway in my house. Plants standing shoulder to shoulder leaning towards the light. It's a beautiful room - a very peaceful place to sit in. Claire Well, Claire, you have a few more years of gardening up north to account for the Grand Central situation. My depth in northern (read: winterizing) gardening is less than two winters. But I am quite fond of enjoying my plants all year. The first time I lost my lovely May Night salvias due to the dry heat. And when it got really cold, we went south and nobody was here to look after them. This year, we are fortunate to have friends staying who usually live aboard their sailboat. That is something you cannot do up here during the winter, unless you want to be a popsicle. Down south I don't have to winterize MUCH, but we are planning to take an old cement block garage/workshop which lost its entire roof several hurricanes ago, put a polycarbonate roof on it, install an Endless Pool in one end and house my tropical-like plants in the other, along with a tiny dining table for all-weather enjoyment. HE thinks there will be a workshop in this space, but that will NOT happen. He already has a storage shed for his ugly piles of stuff. With the economic crunch, this plan will not happen immediately, needless to say. But I am already using the space in a crude fashion. I'm thinking of buying a roll-around basketball goal, use it as a center pole and putting a large nylon parachute over that, then tying sandbags around the parachute perimeter and throwing them across the top of the walls. This will not be perfect, but perhaps it will keep all my ferns and tender plants alive through the winter months down south. I won' have to bank bales of hay around them like hubby did several seasons back to keep 2 hens and a rooster alive up here. 2) cynthial_2006 sez: I recently brought in my plants and now have an infestation of white flys (I had bought "Good Soil" from a local nursery to pot my elephant ear in and the soil was contaiminated with them). I have put up the yellow sticky traps and have been spraying my plants with neem oil. Any sugestions that might help? Cynthia, Mr. Jones at Jones Farm here in Chelmsford told me to take all my plants which had spent the summer outdoors and spray (actually he said SOAK) them with this oil and let it dry before I brought the plants indoors. I did that pretty much as he described, and so far have found only one cutworm on my beloved geranium babies. I have no idea how to deal with white flies. I used traps in the kitchen to deal with the flour moths--disgusting the way they can grow inside sealed packages of grain products. One thing I use, which is safe around my parrots, and dogs, is a product called CAMICIDE. It is a pyrethrin insecticide. When you have parrots, you don't want ants, seed moths, roaches, etc. And you don't want residual poisoning. I'm not sure if Camicide is safe on plants or soil, I know it is not poisonous to animals after it dries. However, I don't put it where they can eat it. For a real gardening product to do the job, I'd ask this question as a topic all on its own. It will be a quick way to get your perfect answer.

AHHHHHHHHHH....memories! And what a journey it has been! I remember all the things mentioned here. Each time I thought I had another one...someone came up with it. I'm more "hippy" than hippie...LOL! Scarlett, I know the feeling! Those hipster jeans just don't fit right anymore! One thing I did learn to do back in the 60's and didn't see mentioned here were "Christmas Spiders". From the small glass Christmas balls and pipe cleaners, with sequin eyes. They looked like this...of course you've got to remember this one has been around for a good number of years now! LOL..ugly thing, isn't it? With new products and vintage jewerly, they now look more like this example. I made dozens of these every year..and sell most of them these days. We still use the Christmas ornaments like this. I'll never forget the year we decided to make this the family Christmas project! Neither will our 2 daughters! We all had such sore fingers. But, they treasure these ornaments now, and like myself use them every year. Let's not forget Santa and Mrs. Claus made from dish detergent bottles. With the dime store (then Ben Franklin) faces and hands, etc. They are still part of my Santa collection but I don't seem to have a picture of them anywhere in my on line albums. I still make a few of the old things...most often with a bit of a modern twist...using some of the easier to use products. The pasta angel is a good example of evolving pasta art. I do have problems finding the metal thumb tacks used for the candle in these. Someone mentioned the crochet covered clothes hangers. I'm just old fashioned I guess...I still do them. Along with little sachet bags to go with them. I love collecting the old crochet patterns and making stuff from them. These are the vintage pattern projects that I have recently finished. The shaded pansy thread colors are almost impossible to find these days. You can see some of my spiders in this basket...they are not Christmas Spiders. I call them my illusive, almost extinct pansy spiders! I wanted some really pretty silk pansy to put in this basket and couldn't find any...so I used the next best thing. LOL I think I should stop now! I don't think the "old" crafts will be completely lost...they will just evolve. Be Safe, Rach Here is a link that might be useful:

You could take off the candle holder and drip catcher and use the rope-like pieces to hold a simple curtain rod and curtain OR turn them sideways and use as curtain tiebacks. They would look nice holding beaded necklaces and maybe a vintage hat as well. (I didn't make this hanger, but it's a good idea for an old doorknob and backplate.) I'd probably paint them either black or white and antique them a bit whatever I decided.