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| Granny Smith apples, banana, and apricots. Delicious. |
Background
I love dried fruit, and drying seems like a good way to preserve some of our future garden bounty. Plus, they look pretty easy to make, I can use up some scrap materials I have around, and I don't have to purchase anything except maybe some paint. Worth a try!
Design
Based on the
Home Depot Garden Club build and a window that was just laying around, I measured all our scraps of wood, and determined that we had just enough to make an attempt at this.
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| The first design always looks so bad. |
Implementation
Basically, I build a box around a window we had removed. Since I was using leftover wood, you'll see a bit of a mix in the photos. None of this wood was treated for outdoor use, so it became very important that I have an outdoor type of paint to protect everything from absorbing rainwater and expanding or molding.
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| Making sure I know where to attach the back to the frame. |
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| Getting the angles right for the sides. |
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| Attaching the sides to the frame |
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| Getting the window in place so it can be attached to the frame. |
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| Testing a screen frame. I didn't want to build all the frames and then find out I couldn't get them in and out! |
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| Cutting and assembling screen frames. |
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| Stapling the screen onto the frames. |
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| Completed screens. |
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| Painted inside and out. In position and ready for filling. |
I siliconed any gaps before I painted the outside with the same exterior wood paint I've used on everything else. I suppose I could have made the unit deeper, but it is already heavy now.
The screens for drying were also assembled from the same lathe wood used to make the shelf holders on the sides. I did have to purchase the screen material, since I didn't have anything that would work for that and the black paint. The black paint is multipurpose though, because it is also good for painting exterior metal work, so I'll be able to use it across multiple projects.
Once all the paint was dry, it was time to test it.
Result
A dip in dilute lemon juice to keep oxidation at bay, and the fruit are ready to go in.
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| Future banana chips. |
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| At the end of the first full day of sun. There is definitely warm air escaping the top holes. |
As a bonus, when we're not drying fruit, we can stopper most of the ventilation holes and this box can double as a bit of a seedling protection/warmer.
It is still without legs for the moment, but it is facing the ideal direction to catch the most sun all day. I'll be adding the legs once we relocate it to it's more permanent position in the garden, but a lot more heavy construction must happen first.
