These are the summer projects (big and small) that have made my most unforgettable summer memories over the past decade. So let's put on our shorts, assess how far down our kneecap skin migrated over the winter and then get to work.
During the summer there's a work stoppage on any indoor work at my house. I vacuum because if I don't things stick to the bottom of my feet, but other than that basic chore, my house really becomes more of a flop house.
If the days are long and warm, I'm outside with my good friend Mother Nature. I'm pretty sure she's bi-polar because she can snap moods in an instant.
Table of Contents
5 Summer Projects to Try
I chose these projects because I know how many people have tried and loved them based on reader comments and emails over the years.
Raise a Monarch Butterfly
Time Required - 1-2 hours
Cost - $0-$5*
*Cost doesn’t include lost wages from spending 5 hours a day watching a caterpillar instead of working.
You are just one click away from learning about how to raise your own Monarch butterfly.
Raising a Monarch butterfly is completely fascinating. If you live in an area where you have seen Monarchs in the past, you can raise a butterfly and help them from becoming extinct -they are currently endangered.
It takes about one month from start to finish and it's astonishing. It's a Stephen King novel all wrapped up in a chrysalis.
Your Butterfly Adventure begins with this first step.
Drip Irrigation
Time Required - 1 Full Day (for a large garden)
Cost at time of installation - $324 for a 40' x 40' garden. (approximately 0.20 cents per square foot)
Maybe not so memorable if you aren't a gardener, but if you even have a small garden, drip irrigation will go down as pretty damn unforgettable.
If you have a small garden, drip irrigation will save water. If you have a large garden drip irrigation will save you water, time, money and a lot of therapeutic sessions with friends discussing how you kill everything you grow. It's summer project #2.
By August the rain usually slows down, things dry out and shrivel up. Sadly it's also the time we're least likely to water the garden because by August we're all secretly wishing things would just up and die so we don't have to take care of them anymore. This only applies to plants, not friends or relatives. The fed uppiness with gardening is a short lived and usually only last for a week or so prior to the big harvest.
Drip irrigation, again isn't all that difficult, doesn't cost that much and can save you time. The benefit of being able to water your garden while you're working in it is reason enough to install a drip system (no overhead sprinkler to dodge, no hose to stand there with pointing at the dirt.)
When I installed my drip system a few years ago I wrote an entire tutorial on how to install a drip system from beginning to end. Only one other thing has done more to improve my harvest than the drip system.
Would you like to save this stuff?
We'll email you this post, so you can refer to it later.
Espalier
Time Required - a few hours per tree.
Cost - Around $50 for the tree, $25 or less for the hardware.
Second year after planting apple espalier
Always wanted a fruit tree but figured you didn’t have the space? You do. Especially if it’s an espalier apple (or pear, or fig…) tree. They stay compact, look tidy, and yes—actually give you fruit.
I planted a pair of espalier apples a few years ago and they’ve done better than I expected. One tree has six varieties grafted onto a single rootstock, so it can pollinate itself—no second tree needed.
The only real trick? Wiring it to a fence or between posts to keep its shape. Here’s my full tutorial on how to plant and wire an espalier apple tree.
The espalier in it's 8th year in the ground.
The Hinged Hoop House
Time Required - 3+ hours
Cost - (around) $50 per hoop house
Who knew building a box with hinges on it would revolutionize my gardening. I know my hinged hoop house was met with a few suspicious eyes up at my community garden but one by one people started to soften to the idea of these monstrosities in the middle of the garden.
After living with the hinged hoop house for years I found a couple of areas that I could improve on so I updated it. I made it stronger and taller to accommodate my monstrous kale, red pepper plants and occasionally Brussels sprouts (ick).
Learn how to build the hinged hoop house of your dreams right here.
Pizza Oven
Time Required - 3-4 weekends
Cost - Anywhere from nothing to $200.
The cost depends on how much you can scrounge. You only need clay, straw, and firebricks to build a cob pizza oven.
My homemade, cob, woodburning pizza oven is a DIY that a lot of readers have done which surprised me because it's kind of a big project! It's led me to believe I'm not alone in my enthusiasm for cuddling pizza. I mean eating.
I built my pizza oven 2014 and in 2022 finally replaced it with a Gozney Dome pizza oven. (I forgot to cover my cob oven before winter and it crumbled.)
There are pros and cons to my cob oven and the Gozney Dome but I'd pick my cob oven over the Gozney Dome in most situations.
🍕 Learn how to make your own wood burning pizza oven
Good luck and have fun with your own summer projects. If you complete any of these send me a photo please. I like to see them.
→Don't follow me on Instagram Honestly, I'm pretty much over social media←
Jan in Waterdown
OMG! Did you just mention under the eaves lighting? It’s every freekin’ where! There’s a monstrous new development near me and folks with 2 story houses are lighting up their houses like a prison yard on steroids. One could land, if one was so inclined, an airplane at night with the bright blue-white light blasting off one house alone. It’s brutal and fugly.
Ok I’ll stop now. Thanks for the opportunity to let that out. It’s been building up for a while now 😁.
Karen
Ha! I have one of those around me too. In fact it's only been lit up fully once. I suppose it was the night they were testing it out. I saw it and genuinely wondered when it was going to blast off. ~ karen!
Randy P
I sit with baited breath awaiting your article on that fancy-schmancy Gozney dome. Definitely one heck of an oven. You deserve it.
Karen
Thanks Randy! I'm having the first pizza party of the season tomorrow afternoon! I'll do a review of the Gozney some time this summer. ~ karen!
Kathy Hartzell
Karen, I think I started following you when you built the wood-fired oven! Anyway question about the big hoop house:
I too suffer those drat moths, just destroyed my chard and I’ve given up growing it….I did the covers that were a pain to remove etc. etc.
So, with the huge hinged cover, what’s to stop the critters from texting their friends to “come quick, the hoop’s off while Karen tends our favorite lunch?”
Doesn’t it just take like one to enter an lay the eggs?
Karen
It does, but I've never had one do that when I open to weed. You just have to be careful to keep it closed. I *have* had it happen when I leave the hoop open then walk away and do other things. ~ karen!
Deb
Karen
Why are we just hearing about your pizza oven? How do you like your new one?
D
Karen
I love my new one! I miss the old one, but the new one works really well. ~ karen!
Holly
I must have a pizza oven and for years my husband has said that I don't need a goat... Not even for goat yoga. He thinks since I don't do regular yoga, now goat is necessary for pizza. I am not living in the country with no pizza delivery and goatless any longer. Ready to tackle this.
Karen
Do it! And you can name your goat Mozzarella. It'll be perfect. ~ karen!
Teresa
Karen,
Where can I find your instructions on how to build the pizza oven? I love the look and the idea of making fired pizza in my back yard!.
Karen
Hi Teresa! You can just click on the highlighted area of the title in that section where it says "Pizza Oven". I've also just added in a link at the bottom of that post. :) Otherwise ... just click here to go straight to the 1st tutorial in building the pizza oven. ~ karen!
Robyn
Jealous of the pizza oven! Wish I had time for a fun project!
On behalf of cats and chickens that cannot speak, Happy Mother’s Day!
Karen
Thanks, lol! ~ karen
Laura Lee
I had drip systems for my gardens, walnut orchard, and the trees along our loooooong driveway. I was new to the area and to "country living" - I had no idea what "pocket gofers" were, but I got a quick education. The little buggers LOVED eating the drip lines! Every day I had to go out and check each line to see if it worked, or if the little buggers "had their way" with the drip system. It was a constant nightmare! Finally I just got a hose and watered them all by hand...which seems like a lot of work, but waaaay less work than finding the leaks and replacing drip line. Another thing the little buggers did, is eat the roots at the base of my trees and killed them! I spent over 2 grand replacing fruit trees! I tried all sorts of thing, caster beans, mole thumpers, etc etc and they just laughed and flipped me off. Then last year, I went to a permaculture event and got some berry bushes. They said to leave the bush in the pot and just cut a large hole in the bottom for the roots to come out. The gofers only go about 6 or 7 inches below the surface and will crash into the side of the bucket and go around it. They cant eat the bucket because it is flat and they can't get their little choppers around it. So far, it's worked great! Also, I put my garden in plastic kiddy pools. The little buggers can't climb up the sides because it is too slippery so -0- have gotten in my garden to destroy the plants, and this is my 5th year using the pools. Just thought I'd share my tragic story with a happy ending. ;-)
Ann Brookens
(They are actually "gophers".)
Renee
My sister in Bend, Or. has what they call Goldens. They're smaller than my N.E. full sized groundhogs but more destructive. She had to have all the wiring under her house wrapped in copper. ARRGGGG!!!
cathy clark
My pizza oven. Can you tell we raise bees?
Karen
Hahaha!! :) That one looks nice and big! ~ karen
Jane
That pizza oven is a wonderful idea, but too ambitious for us these days. On the other hand, the hinged hoop house is manageable. My raised beds have been making do with 2x2 stakes along the sides and 2x2 screwed on top to hold the row covers up. Also netting all around the sides to keep out critters (starting with our cats). Essentially I caged in the plants until they're big enough to withstand critters, birds, and insects. My only problem is after heavy rain: the row covers sag between the supports and a bloody pain to get rid of the water without showering myself. Can't wait to see your v2.0.
Meghan Gray
We're actually thinking of taking a page from your book and building our own lawn furniture. How is your homemade Restoration Hardware stuff holding up?
Karen
Perfectly! ~ karen
Carrie Krumrie
For me, this has been your most, on time blog, that I have received.
Husband got his great/huge deck!!! And prior to him sodding the tiny scraps of yard!
We have a retaining wall, which is going to be perfect for your apple esp....
Then, drip system for herbs and garden; and hinged hoops!!!
And the pizza oven!!! This is better than the trifecta for my back yard!!!
Thank you so much!!
Christine Hilton
Ohhhh,your husband has a great/huge "deck".Not how l read it the first time.😮
Carrie Krumrie
Ackward!!
Ann Brookens
Well. Your comment started MY day off with a bang! LOL!
Karen
You'reeeeee welcome! ~ karen
Vanessa
Love the lighted, woven ball in your LED lighting picture. I’ve made a couple metal versions for my self and will be adding some lights to them myself now. The cast shadows are as beautiful as your sphere.
Karen
That ball fell apart on me last year. :( It did create really good shadows! ~ karen
RuthAnn
"my good friend Mother Nature. I’m pretty sure she’s bi-polar."
Good one!
Karen
:) ~ karen!
Heather
Always a pleasure to find The Art of Doing Stuff in my in-box, Karen. Your projects are inspirational. Thanks! I'm moving to the country soon, and plan to try my hand at all these projects. Will let you know how it goes.
Karen
Excellent! In the country you'd have room for a HUGE pizza oven. ;) ~ karen!
whitequeen96
Some of your projects take more oomph than I have these days, but I still love reading how to do them! Your directions are clear, interesting, and FUN! (And I can dream about doing them.)
On the other hand, many of your tips and ideas have helped me in lots of ways. They're creative, practical, and also FUN! Thanks for all you do!
Brin
Oh my gosh! I remember when you started the plans to build your pizza oven. Hard to believe it was that long ago. Yes, it turned out fantastic and still is. Admire you so much for all you do and share. Some of your ideas have made my life so much easier and I appreciate all your levels of expertise and humor. Have a great summer!
brenda
I can't wait till you grow enough wheat to keep yourself in bread and pizza all year long ... you need a cow (or at least a goat) for the cheese-making + my mind is blown by your ability to grow 6 kinds of dessert apples on such a pretty, fancy espalier apple tree. I need to take a closer look at those hoop houses.
Karen
It's really fantastic! Low tunnels work well too, they're just more of a pain to put on and off. ~ karen!
Nicole
Karen DOES need a goat (well, 2 actually) - just think how amazing it would be to make your pizza dough from scratch, put on your homemade goat mozzarella and fresh veggies then bake it in your pizza oven. That would be some serious bragging rights! lol
Sofia Parks
I, absolutely love your page. It’s informative, uncomplicated, easy to follow and all the instructions have been 100% successful, even when one has two left hands, like I do!
Thank you for your creative help.
Sofía
Karen
You're welcome Sofia! Keep on doing stuff. :) ~ karen!
Karen
You're welcome Sofia, and thanks for saying that. ~ karen!
TucsonPatty
That pizza oven always knocks my socks off. I would love to have one, and I know I will never make one. But I would love to have one. Such a dilemma. I have too much back fat and front fat to be having that in my yard. Oh the bread I could make and eat!
Karen
You can also buy small tabletop pizza ovens for outside. I think they're gas fired but they still look really nice and I'm guessing they work well. So ... that's an option. ;) Ilfornino and Roccbox are the best makes. ~ karen!
WoniyaWaken
I have one! I wanted one I could take with me. It was probably round about as expensive as building one. Not to say I still don't want to try my feet at mud oven clay blending at some point, but I did just enjoy a lovely pizza from my portable oven, and it was grand. YOU gave me the idea to even start saving for one. I make salmon, veggies and lots of healthy things in there besides pizza. But yeah..a nice pizza in there is the bibbity-bomb.