Plant Boxes from charred wood

Making the space at Huset2450 nicer by adding lots of plants was a great opportunity to venture a bit into gardening - A field I have almost never dealt with before.

The plant project was a collaboration with Debbie Kathrine Sørensen - Her knowledge of plants and nature lifted the project to a level I would never have been able to bring it.

I wanted to try using the old Japanese / Viking method of preserving wood by burning it and soaking it in linseed oil.

We came up with a method, where we masked out parts of the wood with sand or plaster. This made it possible to make patterns in the burnt wood.

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Turns out, burning wood with a big weed burner was a popular activity for the kids.

It became possible to expand the Plant Boxes project quite a lot thanks to a generous donation from Sharing Cph (Københavns Kommune)

I experimented using caulking and pigs grease, like you do for wooden ships, to make watertight plant boxes. Worked just fine until the local birds stole the fat-filled cotton.

Added a layer of leca nuts in the bottom to act as a reservoir for water. Soil on top.

Photos: Debbie Kathrine Sørensen

Insects birds plants water

One of the experiments was, to make plant boxes with a big water reservoir in the middle. The water was not connected to the soil or used for watering. It was simply a reservoir in the middle of the plant box.

The idea was to give a humid environment to benefit insects and birdlife. And also provide a humid athmosphere next to the plants.

It worked really well - For plants, birds as well as insects - and is definitely something we want to explore further onwards.

I don't believe the "Insect Hotels" but up many places, that is basicly just dry sticks in a box, does that much good for the insect life. But water and rotting plant debris is what provides a good insect environment.