Our magnetic planters have finally been finished and installed (temporarily) along the alley that runs behind our headquarters. Consider yourself cordially invited to take a planter or two and move them to some other space in the city in need of a micro-garden.

Cristina’s finally back from Italy, it was awesome to catch up and have her talent, creativity, and energy back in the mix.

We started out the day knowing we had to get this planters project done. We had previously assembled the planters, put magnets in them, and collected some plants to transplant into the planters themselves.

We were also putting some fresh soil into the planters when we needed a tool, so I took a quick trip to Canadian Tire.

While at Canadian Tire, I purchased our tools and a light fixture for our office. Josh set to work installing our new light after we shut off the breaker.

Josh got the fixture up, but the bracket in the ceiling was too recessed and we couldn’t put the cover over the bulbs.

This wasn’t really a problem, but at some point, we’ll have to get a longer threaded rod to finish it.

Back outside, we all took on some part of the production line, getting plants into planters, putting the magnets on the fused plastic bags, and bracing some of the weaker planters with some thin stainless steel wire.

Michelle and Danielle worked on transplanting.

This was one of Josh’s planters.

It was really great to work out on the front porch, it was a perfect day to be outside.

The planters often had to be braced because as they were filled with soil, the tops would open up too much when they were watered. Bracing the planters with the wire allowed the planters to have sufficient soil and enable us to use just one magnet per planter in most cases.

At the same time, Cristina looked up some potential flights for an upcoming project we’re doing in New York.

These were some of the plants that Josh and I transplanted from the county.

In some cases we tried to split larger plants at their roots, but in other cases we just took shoots off the plants themselves, as we’ve had success with this in the past.

Josh moved on to helping wire some of the planters.

Cristina also worked on transplanting.

Again, working on the porch in late summer is awesome.

Danielle went around and put some drainage holes in the planters.

We then started moving the planters over to the fence at the back of the lot next to our HQ.

We figured this would be a good launching point for the project and in the event that they don’t all get moved, it’ll be a lot easier to keep track of them and move them ourselves over the next few weeks.

Michelle watered the planters as we continued to place them on the fence.

The drainage holes were working well.

We randomly assembled them on the fence.

Having them on the fence like this at the border of this transient public space seems like a great fit.

Taking a look at a distance.

The planters as they appear from the alley.

We’ll keep an eye on the planters, and gradually move them. Given the materials we’ve used, even when/if these plants die off as the weather cools down, the planters themselves can be reused again next year!

A detail of some of the flowers.

An example of a potential relocation for the planters.

And another example of the temporary placement for a magnetic planter. I’m sure we’ve just barely begun to investigate the many magnetic surfaces across the city.

And from the lot next to our HQ, the magnetic plants wait to be relocated. We’d also like to extend a huge thank you to everyone who helped with the research and development of this project! It feels really great to see this project finished (at least for now), with so much research behind us, it’s awesome to see them up altogether.