Fairy Garden with Bunnies

I have seen so many amazingly beautiful and intricate Fairy Gardens around the internet and love looking at them.  But honestly none has spoken to me quite like the one I saw at Debbie-Dabble (click on her name to go and see).  You know how sometimes you see something and it's not that you want to duplicate, but it sparks an idea and you run with it based on what you saw?  What I saw in her fairy garden was a great amount of fun to be had for Brooklyn and I.

This is what I ended up with, total cost about five dollars by repurposing some things I already had.  To start with, this pot never did get any perky posies this year, so rather than leave it looking like a ghost town I snagged it for this project.

I went to the local Goodwill and found a box of with Mr. and Mrs. Bunny, the fence and a small pot of posies.  That's when I decided my theme would be bunnies.

This shows off the little ceramic potted posies - too cute!  I also found a set of two bunnies, this little girl is one of them.

My original plan was to buy a few succulents to plant in this garden since they are so low maintenance.  But when Keith and I visited our favorite nursery we discovered the succulents were $5.99 each!  Instead I picked up two petunias at the mark down price of only .99 cents.  It's still hot in Texas, so they should last for a little bit.  And I'll just replace them in the spring.

And here's the little boy!  Then I found the little wooden house that has a nice hinged roof.  I think that Brooklyn will enjoy putting things in there.

The boy is sitting on a bed of shells and you might have noticed some behind the little girl above.  The thrift store had a brand new bag of shells for quite cheap.

I also wanted a little pond, so I sacrificed the half cup measure that I got in a set at Dollar Tree one year at Thanksgiving (since I knew there would be so many of us cooking in the kitchen at the same time I bought an extra set!).  Keith cut off the handle, then filed it smooth so that Brooklyn wouldn't hurt herself on the sharp plastic edge.  I thought it would be cute to put shells at the bottom of the pond, but once I added water the silly things floated!  Ah well, I suspect we'll still have fun with it.  And I don't plan on leaving water in it - I'll just add water when we're ready to play.

This was really a lot of fun to put together and now I can't wait for Brooklyn to come over and play with me!  :)

Deep Thoughts:  "Grandmas are just antique little girls!"


Linking to:  Friday Flair Link Party, Cottage Garden Party, Home Sweet Home, Simple and Sweet Fridays, Thrifty Things Friday

Milk Glass and Orchids

I love milk glass because I think it’s pretty.

And I love how certain things can evoke strong memories.

I see it and instantly I’m 8 years old again sitting at the table in my grandmother’s kitchen, food all around us.

I do have a few pieces of my grandmother’s milk glass, but I have it put away to only bring out on special occasions.  Like so far never. Which is bad because we all know that we should splurge on ourselves and our own family and USE THE GOOD STUFF!

 

 

Since I enjoy milk glass so much I got the idea to buy a few of the small pieces and put them in my windowsill with plants. I could never bring myself to use my grandmother’s pieces for this, but seeing them in the windowsill does remind me of her.

 

I have to confess too that Keith has bought orchids for me on a few occasions, so I have a particular fondness for them.

 

Isn’t this AWESOME?  We were out in Canton, TX at the ginormous flea market when I found this piece for only TWO DOLLARS!!!  It’s very small, probably would only hold about a cup and a half or so, but just perfect for the teeny tiny orchid.

I couldn’t bring myself to put any sort of drainage hole in the piece in case I decide to use it for something else later, so we’ll see how well the flower does!

 

* Linking to Nifty Thrifty Tuesday,  Tip Me Tuesday, Twice Owned Tuesday, Anything Related, White Wednesday

Crop Circles from the Drought

OK, so these aren’t like the REAL crop circles.  But when I went outside to fill the bird feeder and saw my front yard I couldn’t help but laugh.

 

So what really happened was that I chose the cheapest sprinkler that the store had and apparently the factory didn’t do a  lot of testing before they deemed worthy to sell.

There’s a nice green circle in the center where the sprinkler sat, which I’m assuming meant that the silly thing leaked water.  Surrounding the green circle is a nice ring of dead grass where no water at all landed.  Then it’s all wrapped up by a beautiful green circle around that where the water actually fell.

Then if you look closely at the top of the photo you’ll see the rest of the dead yard.  ~ sigh ~   Not a good year for grass around here.  And now I’m hoping that any aliens that fly by overhead will not misinterpret the crop circles as an invitation to land!!!

 

Consider the many special delights a lawn affords: soft mattress for a creeping baby;
worm hatchery for a robin; croquet or badminton court; baseball diamond; restful
green perspectives leading the eye to a background of flower beds, shrubs, or hedge;
green shadows - "This lawn, a carpet all alive/With shadows flung from leaves' - as
changing and as spellbinding as the waves of the sea, whether flecked with sunlight
under trees of light foliage, like elm and locust, or deep, dark, solid shade,
moving slowly as the tide, under maple and oak.  This carpet!
-   Katharine S. White, Onward and Upward in the Garden, 1979

Homemade Weed Killer

I know that some people won’t get nearly as excited about today’s post as what I did, but then there will be those of you that get it and for YOU I post this!

Weeds growing through the cracks in our sidewalk have never been a look I’ve particularly wanted to pursue, but try as we might they always persist.  We used to buy so much Round Up that I swore we should own part of the company!

So when I saw the recipe for Natural Weed Killer at Full of Great Ideas blog I couldn’t wait to try it.  I knew that Keith wouldn’t be as excited because to be honest almost every homemade anything I’ve tried has been a bust.

But this stuff WORKS!  And dare I say it might even work BETTER than the uber chemical stuff!

 

Here it is posing pretty as can be in the backyard next to a weed (um…just to be clear, the weed is in the bottom right hand corner).  And while we are looking at my sad backyard, let me remind you of the 28 days in a row of over 100 degree heat we’ve had. 

 

I did change up the recipe somewhat so that I could use what I had on hand. If you’d like to see the original recipe click on the link above.

WHAT YOU NEED:

* 24 ounce spray bottle (I bought mine at the Big Box Store for only .99)

* Distilled Vinegar

* Sea Salt (mine was the cheap version that comes in the container that looks like regular iodized salt)

* Dishwashing Liquid (I used Dawn Hand Renewal with Olay because that’s what I had)

WHAT YOU DO:

Fill your spray bottle mostly full with vinegar.  To that add  1/3 cup of sea salt and a squeeze of dish soap.  Hold your finger over the end of the sprayer and give it a very good shake to dissolve the salt.

That’s it!  The original directions said it works best to spray during the heat of the sun, but I’ve done it at all times during the day and it always works very well.

 

Another great photo of my fabulous grass. But I wanted to show you just how well this stuff works so that you don’t go outside spraying it willy nilly all around!  See the whitest part right in the center?  That’s what was sprayed!  The weeds – or grass – that get sprayed will lose all their color and then curl up.  So be very, very careful on what you spray.

I’m thrilled this works so well because this version is tons cheaper than Round Up AND is so much better for the environment and my family.  A win/win I’d say!

Mosquito Repellant Planter

When I list the many things in my life that I consider blessings I rarely never list the fact that I attract mosquitos – and their bites – like moths to a flame.  I’ve always been a bit envious of those ladies that can stroll along in the evening during summer without a bite…and also without a drop of sweat (but that’s another story).

So when I came upon an Anti-Mosquito Planter online I was all ears – er, eyes.  And seriously, what did I have to lose?  If it worked I would be able to enjoy my morning coffee on the patio again and if it didn’t I still would be able to enjoy a pretty planter from my kitchen window.

I’m not one to completely take the word of people online, so I did spend some time with Google on this subject.  What I found though was about a 50/50 split as far as whether or not a planter like this would work to repel mosquitos.  And that was good enough for me.

 

The biggest plant, the one in the back, came in a pot that said Citronella Mosquito Plant, which convinced even my skeptical husband that this might just work.  In small print it said the plant was a Scented Geranium and that the fresh lemon fragrance will repel mosquitos.  There’s also a marigold in the planter as I found it mentioned several times online, in addition to being an all-around anti-bug plant.  And the little bitty plant at the front right is a variegated oregano plant, which some say also works against mosquitos.  There’s another of these on the other side of the marigold.

I’m really happy with how it looks, so even if it doesn’t do the job it’s intended for I’m still happy.  And the Scented Geranium smells magnificent when it gets wet. 

Growing Wheatgrass Seeds Indoors

This is another one of those instant gratification planting experiences. I purchased some wheatgrass seeds in the bulk food section of our local Sprouts grocery store after reading about it somewhere online.

I have always heard that your planters need holes in the bottom and a few rocks thrown inside before putting your soil in to help with drainage. So I did.

Fill the planter with dirt (I got some MiracleGrow soil at the hardware store that already had some sort of fertilizer mixed in), then sprinkle the seeds on top. When I say sprinkle, I mean completely cover. I wanted it very thick. Then put a thin layer of soil over the top of the seeds.

Keep the soil fairly moist by using a spray bottle filled with water. My planter is on the windowsill right by my kitchen sink, so when I did the dishes I'd just give the planter a couple of mists.

I planted these seeds on 5/31.


On 6/3 this is what it looked like when we got up in the morning. Not only was the grass visible, it was pushing the soil up in chunks.

Keep misting.

On 6/4 you can see that it's really taking off. I think it was at this point that I told Keith I wish all grass seed would grow this fast and maybe we should consider using wheatgrass to cover some of the spots in the yard.

Keep misting.

I love this picture because it shows the moisture on the grass. This picture was taken the next day - 6/5 - and you can see that it's filling out nicely.

This picture was taken late in the evening on 6/8 - a week and 1 day after I planted the seeds. Right after taking this picture I 'mowed the lawn' so to speak for the first time. All I do is hold the planter over the trash can and trim the tops of the grass with a pair of work scissors.

I would say at this point, a week after the last photo, that I've had to trim it two more times. It will probably last another few weeks, then it will be time to start the process over again. I know this because I did it in March as well and there comes a time where it just gets so root bound that it can't do anything else and starts to wilt.

It always brings a smile to my face to see these perky pots in the window sill. I'm looking forward to doing some when it turns cold to bring a little of the outdoors inside.

This would also be a fun project to do with kids since it does bring such quick results. We're seriously thinking about putting a timelapse camera on the next one we do - how cool would that be?

Cat Litter Cucumbers & Peppers and EASports Active

When my friend Dawn posted about her first cucumber I thought it was way cool. We have yet to actually harvest any tomatoes, but we're still having fun with it.

Then the lightbulb moment came - we still have a bunch of cat litter buckets, how about expanding the crop a bit?

Right now we have probably between 50 - 60 tomatoes total on the 4 plants (26 on the cherry tomato alone!), so we didn't need more tomatoes.

I bought a cucumber and a red bell pepper plant and we'll see how it goes. If nothing else we might be able to have a very nice salad.

And since tonight was Day 1 of the 30 Day Challenge on EASports Active, I think some nice salads would be a good thing. Speaking of which, the EASports Active is NOT a game like the WiiFit. This thing is way more serious exercise, especially for two old fogeys like us! We had a lot of fun with it though and my favorite feature is that two people can exercise at one time. Always more fun doing this sort of thing together.

Topsy Turvy Tomatoes

The Topsy Turvy Tomato is growing like crazy! I was getting a little concerned because it was getting so leggy, but without a lot of blooms or even leaves. But this last week it has laid all my fears to rest and started blooming with a vengeance.

I feel like such a proud mama here......this is my very first microscopic tomato on the Topsy Turvy! And...wait for it...we have 10 microscopic tomatoes on this plant! Who would've ever thought when I first hung this plant under the eaves of our house that it would actually work? As seen on tv - I give Topsy Turvy a hearty thumbs up.

This little beauty is actually the first tomato that appeared in my 'garden', which of course consists of the Topsy Turvy and three cat litter buckets. Looking very good!

Another cat litter tomato plant and this view shows five microscopic tomatoes. There are actually nine on this plant.

We've become somewhat of an Oliver and Lisa with these plants, though really that's not entirely true since it was sort of my baby. But surprisingly Keith has jumped in with both feet. Each day after work we go outside to 'check on the plants'.

For those that have had vegetable gardens or even just a few tomato plants - I wonder if the thrill is still there or if you just take it all in stride. It's really quite exciting to see the fruits of our labor - if you can call watering each night labor! :)

30 x 5 Challenge & Tomato Report

So like yeah, I'm still a joiner. And this one is such a great idea - 30 minutes of any kind of movement 5 days a week for 2 weeks. That's it! I'll confess that for the most part I do that anyway. But by joining this 30 x 5 Challenge I get the nifty button and I think it's cute. :)

This morning I actually sacrificed my 30 minutes of knitting time before work to instead move a bit. I turned on Fit TV (for a minute I could've sworn I heard my tv laughing at me!) and found a body sculpting show. The show actually lasts an hour, but because of the time it's shown I could either do the full hour or do 30 minutes and get a shower in before working. My workmates thank me, even though they don't really know it. This show was great and the first 30 minutes did arms/upper back and abs, exactly the areas I most want to shrink. I did great, actually smiled during the workout and thought "piece of cake". But I will say that I'm getting sore tonight.

And actually I cheated a bit and did more than 30 minutes (is it cheating when you're doing something good?). After dinner Keith went out to mow the front yard and I went to the back and started pulling some weeds and cleaning out some of the plant beds. Unfortunately by the time I finished it was too dark to take a picture of my dirt, so I'm sorry but that photo will have to wait.

About an hour of yard work, which I'm not sure how much good that actually does. But it surely was better for me than my usual hour of surfing, stamping or stitching! And that's the end of my Day 1. :)

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Since so many people actually seemed interested in my upside down tomato plant I decided to show you what it looks like after 1 week. The first couple of days the main stem started twisting up as the plant was determined not to be upside down. But now it seems to have resigned itself to its fate and is relaxing somewhat and starting to grow. We were actually going to get the next batch of plants planted this weekend, but it's going to be a wee bit nippy and I'd rather wait a bit til it warms up again.