DIY Bubble Fountain

 

I would be totally happy with this fountain.

It utilizes easy to find components and looks easy enough for me to put together.

The sound of a water fountain is so soothing and relaxing.  Gotta put one together this year!

Click here to go to the article.  Other examples are shown for inspiration.

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DIY Plant Sprays For Indoor & Outdoor Pests

 

As an organic gardener, I prefer to use homemade sprays so I know what it is made with.  

Click here for some DIY sprays.

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DIY Pond Ideas

For as long as I can remember, I've wanted a water feature.  The sound of running water is so peaceful in a garden!

This article has a bunch of pond ideas and links to their tutorials.  You have to check it out if you need inspiration for a new project for your yard!

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DIY Greenhouses

Greenhouses are awesome.  

Back in the late 1990's, JR, my late husband started building a greenhouse for me made out of recycled windows and sheets of thick glass.  Here is a photo . . .

He never got to finish it, but I got so much use out of it and I enjoyed it very much.  It was the perfect spot to start my seedlings, nurture my cuttings and get out of the heat to relax.  During our rare freeze nights, it was home to many tropical container plants.

It now sits in disrepair with years of falling limbs and deterioration from time and neglect.  

As I have contemplated getting my paradise back to its glory days, the "hothouse" as we called it, has been a project I think of often.  The Captain and I have had many discussions of which way to go with my sweet little hideaway.

There are many greenhouse ideas and tutorials which provide so much inspiration and guidance for anyone interested in building their own greenhouse.

The first photo comes from a gardening group and has inspired me to start looking for some fresh ideas to revamp my hothouse.  I found an excellent article on a blog, A Piece of Rainbow entitled "21 Amazing DIY Greenhouses with Great Tutorials."

Click here to go to the article.  I will be adding more links to this post in the future.

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DIY Concrete Garden Hands

Love this unusual concrete garden hands container!  

I'm always looking for unique containers I can make myself, especially those made with concrete :)

Click here for the tutorial.

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DIY Garden Decor - Inspiration and Tutorial

This is what I call some awesome yard art!

The painted teapot is just one of the projects in this awesome article that I found.

I just goes to show you that looking at what you once thought as "junk" can be given new life in your garden.  You will hopefully be as inspired as I was with this article!

Click here for the entire article and tutorial from The Navage Patch.

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Tiered Herb Garden

This tiered herb garden represents the best of container gardening as far as I'm concerned!  

Pack this beauty with herbs and annuals for a practical and beautiful show.

Click here for the tutorial from Decor and The Dog.

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How To Make Faux Rocks

Rocks and boulders make an awesome statement in the garden landscape, but real ones are really heavy and expensive.  So, why not make your own?

Click here to go to a tutorial from Instructables that takes you step by step with lots of photos.

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DIY Concrete Countertop For Your Outdoor Kitchen

Concrete is a durable and inexpensive solution to your outdoor kitchen countertops.

I've worked with concrete on many outdoor projects for decades and many of them are still intact and functional.  In addition, concrete was fun to work with and once I started, it was so addicting that I kept thinking of new projects to work on.  Try it!

Click here for an excellent article on creating a concrete countertop for your outdoor kitchen.

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Homemade Mosaic Planter

Love this planter idea that would work so well for a raised bed by adding enough rows to suit your taste.

If you love working with concrete and being creative, this project is perfect for you!  Also a great idea for stones for a path.

Click here to see how this one was made!

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Fabulous Stepping Stone Inspiration

Stepping stones are a quick way to add color and sometimes functionality to an area of your garden.

My favorites are the colorful mosaics like the ones in the photo.

Making your own stepping stones can be a fun experience the whole family can participate in.

Click here for an article that features 23 stepping stone projects!

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DIY Lace-Like Stepping Stones

Here's another creative DIY project to add some pizazz to your garden design.

Karen from Mindful Matters came up with a most unusual way to use lace doilies to paint these stunning stepping stones.  What really makes them special . . . they glow in the dark.  How cool is that?

Her painting technique will work for a number of projects.  Anywhere there is a surface to paint on!  How about a boring concrete carport floor or that back room floor that needs to be painted . . . garden containers, walls . . . you get the idea, you are limited by your imagination.

I will be incorporating Karen's painting technique for a future project for sure!

Click here for Karen's article on how to make these gorgeous stepping stones.

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DIY Fake Rocks and Boulders

There is no limit to what you can create with this type of project.

You may simply want to add some large fake boulders in your garden design, make the facade for the waterfall and pond you have been dreaming of or a raised bed that doubles as a place to sit.

Once you know the basics of creating a rock, the method is the same no matter what the size of the project.

I've worked with concrete for garden projects for more than 10 years and I must say that for me it has been a very satisfying and addicting endeavor.  One project leads to another!

Click here to go to the article, "How to Make Fake Rocks and Boulders" from eHow.  You will also find links to other methods of making rocks, boulders, etc.

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DIY Garden Fountain

Can you imagine building your own garden fountain in one weekend?  I have wanted another water feature for the longest time . . . 

The tutorial shows you, step by step, how to make a garden fountain out of anything.

Click here to go to the tutorial.

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DIY Gel Fire Pits

What an awesome idea!

I love concrete projects and this one is unique, different and something we would use every night for our concrete jungle.  The little fire pit would make an awesome gift for someone who spends a lot of time outdoors.

If you would like to make one for your garden, click here for the tutorial!

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DIY Concrete Containers

Making concrete planters has to be one of the most satisfying and useful crafts ever.  
I love the selection of molds in this video!
Once you make a couple, your imagination will go wild with all kinds of stuff to use to for molds to make not only containers, but pavers and decorative border pavers for your plant beds and excellent for raised beds!  After a couple of years, they become awesome memories of previous seasons.
With so much to do and so little time to devote to the garden, I sincerely hope that I can get my hand in the concrete to make some memories for my garden.
This video is an excellent guide from HGTV . . . check it out!

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Tin Can Man . . . trash to treasure project

Trash to treasure yard art is one of my favorite crafts.

This little guy is so cute and seems like a relatively easy project to put together.

Here are the materials used in the project:

• 1 medium vegetable, fruit or coffee can (head)
• 1 large can (torso)
• 2 medium cans (upper arms)
• 6 small vegetable or fruit cans (forearms & legs)
• 5 lids cut from cans (ears, nose, hands)
• 4 tomato paste cans (ankles, feet)
• 5 round bottle caps (eyes, buttons)
• 11 screws with bolt backings
• heavy gauge wire
• Epoxy glue or clear-drying caulk

Tools needed include drill, hole punch, hammer or mallet, metal cutters, “church key” can opener, duct tape, screwdriver.

Click here for instructions

Please note!

The original instructions are no longer available, however, I will leave the information up in case the page becomes available again.

Some other pages that include instructions for a tin can man:

http://www.thriftyfun.com/tf43267298.tip.html

http://worththewhisk.com/2009/09/24/how-to-make-a-tin-can-man/

http://www.hometalk.com/4126480/craft-tin-man-upcycle

http://serenityinthegarden.blogspot.com/2012/11/make-tin-can-man-in-your-garden.html

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DIY Stepping Stones and Paths

One of my favorite outdoor projects is playing in concrete and making my own stepping stones.  Your creativity mixed with some basic knowledge is all you need to come up with some awesome and unusual paths for your garden.

Click here for some inspiration, ideas and tutorials.

Click here for more inspiration!

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How to Build a Flower Tower

The possibilities are endless with these flower towers . . . different shapes, sizes, different plants, herb garden . . . love it!

What you will need:

• Flower pot of your choice (For this I will use a 13 inch pot)
• 4-foot galvanized wire fencing with 2-inch x 4-inch openings
• Landscaping Fabric or Movers Stretch Plastic
• Zip Ties
• Garden Spade
• Sharp Knife
• Potting Soil

Instructions

1. First you are going to want to take the wire fencing and shape it so it will make a circular shape. You need to make sure that it is not too wide; it needs to fit in the bottom of your pot. Use zip ties to hold the wire in place.
2. Put a little bit of planter soil in the bottom so it can help hold the wire frame in place.
3. This next part can be a little bit tricky and it just depends on what is easiest for you. You need to wrap the wire frame with the fabric or plastic. It does not matter if you wrap the outside because the flowers should grow enough that it will hide it. You can use the zip ties to hold this in place or tape.
4. Make sure that the wire frame is centered to the pot and where you want it to be. Then pour the potting soil into the top of the frame until it is full.
5. Fill in the pot around the wire frame but not all the way just yet. The reason for this is that some soil will fall from the tower when you are planting the flowers and this is just mainly to help keep things cleaner.
6. Get a sharp knife and start cutting the fabric that is surrounding the frame in the “box like slots.” I used a box cutter but I know people have used scissors and pocket knives. Just a personal preference.
7. Once you cut out a small space in the square gently insert the root ball of the flower in the soil. Be gentle that you don’t damage the roots but firm enough that the plant won’t fall out.
8. Add some flowers to the top of the tower!
9. Fill in the rest of the pot with soil and water the plant. When watering the plant you want to water it enough that you can compact the soil but not so much that you shock the plant.

This project comes from the blog Mom To Bed By 8 . . . 

to go to the original article which includes

 more photos, click here.

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Beautiful container plantings

Seems like I love container planting more and more as time goes by.  I love being creative and taking inspiration from other gardeners to come up with my own creations.  

Although there are many wonderful websites to inspire us, my latest favorite is Fine Gardening Magazine's website.  Of course, the website is my photo source!

Today's inspiration is a glimpse of Chanticleer Garden.

Looks like this gorgeous and unique container is more of a mini raised bed, put together with pieces of slate, cut in various sizes.  My idea is to make the pieces made of concrete . . . the forms would be super easy to make.  

Two of them placed diagonally would be awesome looking!  Wouldn't it?  I would love to see this exact design on a larger scale, placed diagonally, as the focal point of a front yard.  Awesome!  We are looking for ideas for raised beds as an alternative to way too much grass in the front yard and this design would be great.

Color variations are endless by using concrete tints or by painting them.  Anyway, love the design!  Who knows?  We may gather the energy to get this project done after the huge tree stump comes down!

Want to see more from Fine Gardening's article and many

 more ideas for container planting?  Click here

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