Flea Market Ladder

I paid $15.00 for the old rickety ladder from the local indoor flea market.  I love it!  Today, I added  mums to all the pots and a few bird houses- and Voila!  A Flea Market Styled flower planter!  My sister, Connie gave me the wagon wheel to top it off!  I have a little Cherub hidden on the bottom rung.  Here is the before picture.

I can't wait until next year when I can put some Spring flowers that hang down the rungs!  I better stop wishing for next Spring now- it will surely be a long Winter!!

Flea Market Ladder : amazon

Make Your Own Pumpkin Keg

What better way to serve a pumpkin beer – and a host of other fall beers and beverages – than in your own homemade pumpkin keg.  No fancy brewing equipment or extreme sanitation methods required…I promise!

 came up with this great tutorial for creating your Halloween party masterpiece.

This idea is not limited to just pumpkins.  I can’t wait to try it next summer using a watermelon.  Fill with your favorite watermelon lager, summer beer or beverage.

Make Your Own Pumpkin Keg : Amazon

Make A Raised Garden Bed

You know something is easy to make when the directions say “just add water.” Making a raised garden bed from a kit is almost that easy, since you only add dirt, plants, and then water. Raised garden bed kits come in a variety of sizes, so you can choose a bed that will fit into your available space and hold as many plants as you want to grow.

Elevated, ergonomically-designed kits are available to eliminate the strain of bending over when you garden. They’re great if you have back or mobility issues. Some kits come with casters so you can roll them around on a deck or patio. Kits with self-contained watering systems automatically water your plants; drainage holes on the bottom allow excess water to drain away.

MATERIALS :

• Pre-built raised bed kit, 
• Weed Block
• Top soil
• Sturdy Stakes
• Plant Props (available in assorted lengths)
•  Tomato cages 
• Velcro plant ties
•  Wire plant ties with cutter
• Plants or seeds

gardening Vertical with a pallet

As we have seen in previous posts, recycled pallets are perfect to create interesting vertical gardens, ideal as decorative elements in gardens and outdoor terraces. In this example, Diyshowoff found, we can see a clever way to create a mobile vertical garden which allows us to easily move our garden depending on the needs of the moment. An interesting idea, flexible convinced us.

gardening Vertical with a pallet : amazon

Cold Hardy Avocado

Whether on the deck or inside by a window, the Cold Hardy Avocado Tree offers dual functionality: it's a resilient plant on the patio and a reliable producer of fruit in the kitchen.

Able to withstand frigid temperatures as low as 18 degrees, from Green Bay to Tampa Bay, the Cold Hardy Avocado lives up to its name. Producing an abundant yield of fruit for more than half the year, in colder climates, just bring it in during winter months and watch your tree continue to grow.

You can get the molds from : Amazon

• materiel :
• Cold
• Hardy
• Avocado

SOMETHING ABOUT HEDGEHOGS

Kenny is a hedgehog saved my daughter last fall while he was freezing to death in the Quad stone at her school. After an expensive trip to the vet, where Tania discovered that it was too late for Kenny to engage in a coma - I brought him home to her apartment. And nested in her enormous pile of dirty laundry, but after two weeks on the occasion of his land with his urine all over her chairs, shoes and laundry, dumped Tanya her brand new maternal instincts and Kenny dumped me.

Not socially Kenny so I left him alone with a pile of straw, and a bowl of water and fresh food cat. (These guys are primarily carnivores.) That evening that wiped out cat food and built an elaborate nest in the corner of the greenhouse effect. He ate all the cat food, nibbled a few plants the option to leave at the level of the floor, and in the opposite corner left a pile of poop. And repeat this every night until mid-December, when Kenny disappeared through a hole in the floor of the greenhouse gases. I'm a little annoyed and continued to leave the cat food. Have remained untouched until a week ago when they were rock bottom floor of the greenhouse. Been chewed mustard seedlings, and all the smaller pots went over and back, in the far corner, and it was a pile of poop Kenny telltale.

Kenny is our third hedgehog, which seems to me as just about right for our 500 square meter garden. We found Mama and baby in the park last summer. (How they got to the walled garden I do not know.) And can climb the steps and climbed two flights to make winter quarters near the chicken coop where Java and confidentiality. Show that hedgehogs are a friend of the gardener night. They take time off from work for the winter when we really do not need it, dig in compost piles - warm in hibernation sometimes break in the middle to go out and eat. But from spring to autumn they eat slugs, insects and worms. Only one will hedgehog to keep the garden free from the earth at night slip / crawling pests. We got our ducks for slug consumption, but by the time mother enormous slugs come out to play about 10-PM-long duck their heads tucked under their wings and slept on the pond. And yes, hedgehogs to hang out in and around the hedges and look a bit like pigs when they were young.

SOMETHING ABOUT HEDGEHOGS : amazon

Planting a pineapple head

First, Firmly twist the crown off. It will come off fairly easily. Then take the crown and pull off the lower leaves until you have about an inch or more of the core. You don't need them and they will get in the way of rooting the pineapple. Fill a jar with water and plop your crown into the jar. Place your pineapple jar in an area that gets decent light. then Within two weeks, some nice roots should develop. Then you can plant the pineapple whenever you're ready.
If you want fruit, you'll have to keep it in a sunny location. Otherwise, the pineapple will develop long slender leaves but will not fruit.

materiel :

• Planting
• pineapple
• head

Bike Wheel Trellis – Hard Luffa

Here’s the pictures of Michelle’s second Bike Wheel Trellis.  The Luffa’s are loving it.  There was concern that the rims would get too hot in the sun and burn the plant, but they really don’t get hot at all.  Hooray for creativity!
materiel :

• Bike Wheel Trellis
• Hard Luffa

Herb garden inspiration and ideas

This year started all my herbs from seed and they are almost ready for planting and make their way outside. {Usually completely forget and end up buying plants - so I'm really excited that I did remember me} because I want to keep it on the deck of our proximity to the kitchen, and I am always ready to find unique ways to display for the summer - other than normal something terracotta planters or normal plastic.
This Saturday is packed after weeks of inspiration for all kinds of single herbs gardens ideas to help you get off the beaten track planter.

Herb garden inspiration and ideas : Amazon

Flower pot and ashtray design

Far be it from me to encourage you to smoke, because everyone knows that it is lmauvais health. But the fact is, smoking is a pleasure for a number of us (well not me, but I think the others). But we must admit that there are more design an ashtray to decorate a table. Hence the great idea of the design team to provide an ashtray Vitamin - Flowerpot design.Tab B presents itself as a removable flower pot under the base which houses an ashtray. It goes unnoticed and when you are not using it. And it's true that it's still nicer to have a beautiful plant to look an ashtray filled with cigarette butts, right?

Flower pot and ashtray design : Amazon

How To Make a Whiskey Barrel Planter

MATERIALS :

• 1 whiskey barrel (drained)
• 1 bag of all purpose rock
• 2 bags of potting soil
• 1 bag of mulch
• Plants

Self-Watering Seed Starter Pots

A few weeks ago the girls and I did a project that I've been enjoying every day since.  We repurposed 2 liter bottles and turned them into self-watering planters for starting our tomatoes and cucumbers indoors.  They've been sitting on the window sill near my desk and I've been watching them grow every day.  It's been the perfect antidote for the bummer weather we've been having here in Seattle.
I've tried starting seeds indoors several different ways over the years.  So far this is my favorite method because the soil is always exactly the right moisture level and it's very easy to see with the naked eye when it's time to add water to the planter.  There's no guesswork involved and the plants seem to love it.

Displaying air plants

1 : Spotted: Gorgeous air plants at The Gardener in Berkeley, hung simply by their roots. I love the simplicity.
2 : That said, there are some really lovely vessels for displaying these unique, low-maintenance Bromeliads these days.
3 : We just ordered some ceramic planters from Farrah Sit (first seen at the Renegade fair in Brooklyn) to hold ours.
4 : We also toyed with using these wall planters from West Elm.
5 : But the prize for most original display probably goes to gorgeous PetitBeast, where air plants masquerade as jellyfish.
Displaying air plants : AMAZON

Plants upside down in enclosed areas - a very new idea

These hanging pots from Boskke have literally turned gardening upside down.  I like the idea of growing herbs in the kitchen where they can be easily accessed for cooking!
The planters are made from ceramic pottery or recycled plastic and can be used indoors or outdoors.

Each pot contains a locking disk that holds the soil and plant roots in place.  They also have a unique reservoir system that conserves water (by up to 80%) and a personal timer that gradually hydrates the plants’ roots.  How about this one for a nice centerpiece?

Secret Garden Bed and Green Round 2013

Let’s just say that Karen Lampard of Café Paperie, Barbara Gray of Cottage White Interiors, Krista Niskanen and I left NO STONE unturned in our well-publicized, collaborative design effort staging Barbara’s magnificent ocean-front home, courtyard and pool area for the 14th annual ‘Secret Garden Tour of La Jolla’.
Our Dream Team worked for 3 solid months getting all of this perfectionner, sharing a common goal and a beautiful camaraderie along our creative journey and the end result was one of those rare
projects where the sum total was even greater than its parts.
Four designers working side by side, doing what we love in a seamless collaboration ~ and the beauty of it all?
We even amazed ourselves at what came forth.
That might just be the ‘secret’ to the Secret Garden Tour.
Enjoy.

How to make a flower tower planter

Tools you'll need: 
Leather palm or cut-resistant work gloves
Utility knife
Garden spade
Aviation snips or tin snips
Scissors