Here’s a simple yet effective upcycling design. The ‘Jack’ self-watering planter was originally a liquor bottle, in this case a bottle of Jack Daniels.

After some retrofitting, the booze bottle has been transformed into a handsome upcycled self-watering vessel for growing herbs on your window sill -  saved from the landfill and now employed as a productive member of gardening society. Very nice.

Find ‘Jack’ at the patch store on cargoh.com for $40

related: previously on altCon – more gardening stuff

The Atlanta Botanical Garden has created a beautiful area of colorful landscape gardens and a green wall (below) constructed entirely of edible vegetables, fruits and herbs. The Edible Garden, which first opened in 2010, was created to demonstrate that fruits and vegetables are not only healthy, but make beautiful landscape plants.

The garden includes an outdoor kitchen where Atlanta’s top chefs present cooking classes and weekend cooking events. Any harvested food not used in educational programs is donated to local charities. (more…)

Chosen by Popular Science as 2010 Innovation of the Year, Groasis Waterboxx is an irrigation device that protects and waters trees during their critical first year of growth. Users fill the 4-gallon box just once, and the newly planted tree receives water for the entire year. The design creates and contains condensation, which keeps the water from evaporating. A wick drips about two ounces of water into the sapling’s roots daily.

$275 for 10 boxes; made of polypropylene, they’re reusable and last about 10 years. A biodegradable version is also available – made of Ecopure, it can be used once only and then provides nourishment to the tree as it decomposes.

In addition to growing trees in the desert, it can also be used to help: revive fire-ravaged lands in the U.S., grow acacias in the savanna of Kenya, cork oaks in arid Spain, as well as veggies like pumpkins and eggplants in dry ecosystems. more @ groasis.com.

Here’s an authentically rustic chicken coop for aspiring backyard farmers who like their eggs fresh and their chickens happy. The Modern Coop is made from nicely weathered, reclaimed cedar and features such amenities as its own exterior water supply, pellet feeder, expandable chicken run and roosting box with access door for egg harvesting. (more…)

It’s hard to express just how good it feels to harvest fresh greens for your dinner table from a garden growing just outside your door. It does something on a deeper level than simply provide fresh, homegrown, healthy food.

In today’s world, especially for people like me whose homes are surrounded by concrete, it can be too much of a chore to construct your own urban garden and reap the benefits. With many different types of self-made containers in use, I still swear by my Urbin grower system. (more…)

So you’re looking for some trinket to out-do your fellow cubicalists, but nothing seems cooler than your neighbor’s boastful tower of energy drink cans. Worry not, BLUEiQ has just what you’re looking for – a miniature ecosystem. It’s sort of like an aquarium, but nowhere near as expensive or hard to manage.

The BLUEiQ ecosystem comes with a hand blown glass container, owner’s guide, tweezers, tying thread, magnifying glass and thermometer. The ecosystem part includes: 5 dwarf shrimp, 2 snails, your choice of substrate and your choice aquatic plant. Once you’ve designed the environment to your liking, add filtered water, the substrate and the flora and fauna to the glass container and watch the ecosystem come alive. One of the beauties about this system is that it’s very low maintenance and low energy, requiring only a light source for the plant and occasional water replenishment. The BLUEiQ ecosystem can be found at amazon.com for $79.00.

Who needs one more thing? For the party entertainer looking to shed a little light on their next evening soiree — these free standing bubbles of light capture the sun’s energy by day (about 2.5 hours) and emit a nice warm glow for about 8 hours. Pink, Clear, Orange or Green. Waterproof. Designed to travel from path or poolside to bedroom with a light heave-ho. $35/each @ poketo.com

related: green gadgets

Physicist, David Chelf, left his academic career to go back to the passion of his youth, horticulture. He refused to accept what he saw as some of the ills of farming and used his background to innovate. His Wicked Wilds Strawberry farm is beyond organic and consumers agree the berries are beyond delicious. Absolutely no herbicides or pesticides are used, not even those deemed safe by organic standards. The farm is located in an area where the soil and climate would normally not be considered ideal for growing strawberries. To overcome the environmental challenges of the farm’s location berries are grown in the ground inside of a support-free greenhouse designed and manufactured by Chelf’s other company, Airstream Innovations (photo above). The combination wind tunnel / greenhouse is supported solely by the 3 mile per hour wind that courses through it, keeping it from touching the ground.

The wind, Chelf claims, also helps the photosynthesis of the plant by increasing the flow of oxygen and nutrients to the plant. I like to think of it as a little plant workout to keep them strong. The wind also inhibits any insect problems, which are also mitigated the natural way, via ladybugs.  (more…)

DEET is used in most standard insect repellents sold today. This chemical is known to have negative impacts on our water supply and wildlife. There is also evidence of DEET having adverse neurological impacts on humans. Although we can’t vouch for their effectiveness, here are some safe, environmentally friendly insect repellent alternatives that you might like to try. They’re all DEET-free, which makes them body-friendly, too:

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