Leaf Casting Water Feature

This is the most awesome water feature I have seen yet!

The leaf castings are made of concrete . . . there is no tutorial to go with this photo, but it should not be too difficult to figure out how the water feature part of it could work.

Use the photo as inspiration, as well as some of the websites listed below.  These concrete leaves are used for stepping stones in the garden, bird bath, decorations and water features.  You can also do a search on Pinterest for leaf castings for additional inspiration.

Here are some articles and tutorials on making concrete leaves . . .

Concrete Leaves for Garden or Fountain

How to Make a Concrete Leaf Casting

Casting Nature

Concrete Casting How To

Make A Concrete Leaf

How to Make Concrete Garden Fountain with Rhubarb Leaves

read more

Watering The Garden

Did you know there is a proper way to water your garden?

Click here for an informative article about watering your garden from the Old World Farms blog.

read more

Redesigning Your Garden

Isn't that a beautiful garden?  

I found an article that spans several years starting with a yard full of dirt.  The transformation is amazing!

Click here to go to the article from the MiaFleur Blog that I promise will inspire you to redesign your garden, one step at a time.  Hope you enjoy the blog as much as I have!

read more

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.

read more

Trellised Containers for Inspiration

I am so inspired by these photos of large container plantings with trellises for support and I thought I would share it here even though I don't have a photo source.

The photo was shared in a Facebook Gardening Group, A Not So Secret Garden that is packed with awesome ideas and inspiration.

What I love about these containers other than being so functional is the beauty of all the colors.  Check out the peppers!  They sure do look happy . . . so does the tomato plant.

I can't wait to put some of the containers together for our carport jungle . . . great way to start the spring season!

read more

DIY Hypertufa Plant Containers

Spring's arrival brought ideas for all types of garden projects.  

Hypertufa containers is something I never experimented with, even though I loved my concrete DIY projects.  Since my emphasis is going to be container gardening this year, this is a project I am going to try.

Click here if you would also like to get inspired to make your own containers . . . The Empress of Dirt will guide the way for you!

Click here for another article from The World of Succulents on hypertufa containers.

read more

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.

read more

Awesome container gardening idea

Since container gardening is my preferred method of gardening, I'm always looking for new ideas.

Garden Lovers Club has an article on container planting that includes a video that includes a great method of assembling a large container planting.  

Click here to go to the article.

read more

Crotons - What You Need to Know

Crotons are colorful and showy in the landscape.  They can be grown in containers as in the photo from my garden, or grown as a shrub (great for hedges).  There are various varieties that can all bring a tropical, colorful look in the garden.

If you are interested in growing these beauties in your garden, click here for an excellent article on crotons.

read more

Make and Use Leaf Mold in Your Garden

Rake them leaves up, store in a large black garbage bag and let sit in a designated area of your yard.  It is that easy to make leaf mold.  My hibiscus and other acid-loving plants loved the addition of leaf mold in their containers or as mulch in a garden bed.

Check out this article on leaf mold for everything you need to know about using leaf mold in your garden.

read more

Stump Removal Trick

Neglect has turned our paradise into a forest.  It is in dire need of cutting all those trees down!

Stump removal has always been a problem for me.  Since I am very aware of the ecosystem that exists on our property and all the lovely animals and creatures who love to visit, I am very leary of using kerosene.  This trick using epsom salt from Plant Care Today is the solution to my problem!

Click here to go to the article.

read more

Soil For Raised Beds

Do you want to create raised beds in your garden, but not sure what type of soil is appropriate to use?

Click here to go to an informative article on soil for raised beds.

read more

Guide to Pruning

Pruning is a very important step in garden maintenance.

Click here to go to an article on what to prune and when.

read more

Growing Garlic Indoors

If you cook with garlic as much as we do, you may be interested in growing your own.   I've tried before with no success, but I learned of a few things I did wrong from this article about growing garlic indoors.

read more

Guide to Growing Annuals

When I was a little girl, my dad who was an avid gardener, started me off in gardening by giving me a bed of my own to grow and maintain annuals.  My favorites were zinnias and marigold.  I took care of that bed like the plants were my babies.  It started me on the road to gardening love.

Click here for an awesome guide to growing annuals.

read more

How to Make a Log Planter

How cute is this log planter?  I love it!!  We still have a huge log that fell on our outdoor shed that needs to be dealt with.  This is the perfect solution for what to do with it.

It would be awesome to use the log planters to form a raised bed.

Click here to find out how to make the log planter.

read more

How to Attract Birds to Your Garden

One of my favorite tasks back in my days of serious gardening was feeding the birds and sitting back to enjoy their antics.  In addition to the birdbath fountain with running water, I set up tables with real dishes for them . . . build it and they will come!

Watching birds is so interesting as they have definite social patterns that you will recognize after watching them for a while.  It is a very relaxing pastime in the garden!

If you want to attract birds to your garden, check this article out from Birds and Blooms.

read more

Bamboo Hydroponics - Inspiration

I was so inspired by the photo of bamboo hydroponics that I had to share it.  

The photo is for inspiration only, there are no tutorials.

Source

read more

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.

read more

How to Root Tomato Plants

One of the easiest ways to multiply the number of tomato plants in your garden is rooting them.   And your new plants are free!

Back in my days of growing lots of tomato plants, I would root them by using Rootone and planting directly into the soil or containers.

Click here for another method from A Piece of Rainbow.  

read more

Unusual Succulent Container Inspiration

What a cool and unusual succulent arrangement in a meat grinder for inspiration!

Look at yard sale and flea market items in a new way :)

Photo Source

read more

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.

read more

Seed Storage Box

It is always a good time to think about saving your seeds safely.  My seeds are used year after year with great results . . . I store mine in oversized index card containers, but I love this idea!

Click here to go to an article all about saving seeds.

read more

Keep Weeds Under Control

Weeding has to be my least favorite task in the garden.  My best method of keeping them under control is to pull weeds every day as I walk through the garden.

Click here to go to an article about weeds and keeping them under control from Mother Earth Living.

read more

Landscape Inspiration

Love this landscape makeover!  You would not believe the transformation from the "before" photo.

The DIY Channel has posted a very impressive gallery of landscape makeovers that will inspire you to start on your landscape project.

Click here to go to the gallery.

read more