Love the bright red blooms of the Red Dragon! 
Grow Your Own Green Onions
Grow your own green onions…much faster than celery. Next time you buy green onions, save the bulb and toss it in a jar of water…you’ll have a whole new bunch in 12 days!
To grow green onions:
- Place the white ends in water in a sunlit window
- After a few days green shoots will begin to appear
- Transfer onions to a glass or jar
- Use scissors to cut off onion greens as needed
- Replace water as needed.
You can keep doing this indefinitely…the onion will just regrow!
This method also works for leeks and shallots.
Green onions are healthy too, they are a good source of vitamins A and C, as well as potassium and folic acid. So not only are they delicious, they’re good for you!
Garden Trellis Made With Sticks
Garden Trellis made with sticks. This is a unique trellis for your climbing vines. Plus it’s a DIY project and can save you the money you would spend on a store-bought trellis.
I’m sure every gardener has seen a trellis at some point, but how many know how to make one? You can find sticks in the woods or even on the sidewalks of your neighborhood (especially after a windy day!). You can lash the sticks together with chicken wire, or to add a rustic touch, try using natural twine to lash the sticks together.
You can add flowering vines like honeysuckle or morning glories onto your trellis. Or try growing beans on your trellis. It is easy because they just love climbing!
Winterthur’s Enchanted Forest, Delaware
The Enchanted Woods of Delaware is an magical place, it is like being in a fairy-tale garden.
If you like fairy gardens, you’ll love this place. It looks exactly as if it was made by fairies. It includes a three-acre tree farm with several places to play, including a fairy-themed cottage, an acorn tea room, and a giant bird nest.
The Bird’s Nest
Enchanted Woods promotes imaginative play and creativity among children and their families.
Images: WinterThur.org
Beautiful Succulent Projects
Now that I am having success with many of my succulents (thanks to their summer growth spurt!), I am in search of ways to make them really stand out in my garden.
I looked through some vacation photos of mine from about a year ago. When we were wandering some of the beach shops, we came across one shop that had a cute little ball of moss with a couple flowery looking succulents attached to the top. It was hung by a bow from the shop sign. I had never seen anything like it, and it is probably the time I first started to see succulents in a different, pretty way.
Though that photo reminded me of our family vacation, it didn’t answer an obvious question: How in the heck do you make that so the plants stay alive?!
So after a little research, I found a couple amazing tutorials to show us how to do just that!
This adorable pine cone project would make for a fun way to hang plants from patio rails, porch lights and even fence posts! I just love how the use off all natural items looks so beautiful and fresh! I wonder if a little battery operated tea light could be added to the center to make for stunning backyard party decorations?
Visit this site for a VERY simple tutorial in creating this amazing ball of succulents. The concept could work for other items like wreaths, topiaries, etc.
I am very excited to try my hand at these projects – if I can get them made and growing now, they would make for some cheap, expensive-looking hand-made holiday gifts!
My New Love – Propagating Succulents
I have never been a huge cactus fan, mostly due to the crazy amounts of spikes and prickly fuzz.
However, I recently began to enjoy the beautiful blooms and flower-like shapes of the succulents at a home on my running path. The garden is full of poke-free, drought-tolerant, beautifully colored plants. They arranged in such a nice manner that the yard looks absolutely stunning. Expensive, even.
I had the opportunity to speak with the home owner, who was extremely kind and gave me a quick tutorial in succulent growth and propagation – even sent me home with a few leaves in my running shorts pockets to give it a try! I have since been hooked!
The greatest thing about succulents is the minimal amount of water they take. I currently water 2 times a week, depending on the heat. This is because most succulents grow more in the spring and summer months. In the winter, I have read that you should water just once a week, maybe even every other week as the plants go into a dormant phase during colder seasons.
I have had mostly great luck in propagating from leaves. I started with the few I was given, then got more from a couple plants I found outside a few restaurants and homes I run by. If I see the homeowner, I be sure to ask first… but if I don’t, I guess I figure they won’t mind me taking just one or two leaves, so long as I don’t damage the plant and it is large enough they won’t miss 1 leaf! Give me your opinions on this, as I don’t know the proper succulent-leaf-taking etiquette!
Photo Source: needlesandleaves.net
To refresh my memory, I found a very simple tutorial (see image link above) that has a method I have found to work very well with most plants. I find that some leaves like more water than others (or maybe I am giving them too much sun, so the soil just dries faster?), and some that prefer to have more sand in the mixture. Visit Needles + Leaves for the great tutorial.
One type of succulent that I have yet to be able to propagate is Aloe. I have actually read many tutorials, watched many videos and am embarrassed that many people say it is the easiest to work with! I can’t believe I have tried a dozen leaves and can’t seem to get one started – the EASIEST ONE?!
I have tried so many methods, from laying pieces on top of the soil as shown by Needles + Leaves, to burying the leaf upright in the soil, no water, moist soil, dipped in honey (that idea seemed weird, but I gave it a shot…), fresh off the mother plant, allowing the end to dry/scab over, and even buying a rooting powder. Not one method has worked for me!
Photo Source: www.wikihow.com
My next attempt will be to try this tutorial from WikiHow, partly shown above. PLEASE, if anyone has a tried and true method for Aloe, be sure to let me know by email or in the comments to share with everyone!
Just a quick shout-out to my friend, who has been kind enough to let me slice a dozen or more aloe leaves off the plants in his backyard for practicing each failed method! Thank you!
An Object Lesson for Kids on Honesty
An object lesson for kids on honesty. Great family home evening lesson that comes with dessert!
A lesson for kids on how a lie doesn’t cover up the truth. Click below to visit the lesson on honesty:
Backyard Fire Pit
The fire pit is a great way to spend time with friends and family, roast marshmallows, hot dogs, or just sit around it and enjoy the fire. This fire pit is a DIY project made from retaining wall blocks.
Image Source: RuggedThugLife.com
Brick Books for a Vintage Garden
I very much enjoy crafting new items for my home and garden.
When the holiday decorations are taken down and stored away and the winter weather is still keeping us indoors, I sit down with a hot cup of coffee or tea and begin creating new items for the new year. January and February is the best time for creating – I find that the spring time asks for too much cleaning, summer is full of travel and making plans with the kids and fall is the start of a long, enjoyable holiday season. I like to keep busy, so crafting is a great way to stay occupied when the chill outside is unbearable!
Image: junk-culture.com
This weekend, I started a new project that is not only fun for me, but I will be continuing to create more as gifts for relatives. My family has a couple generations of librarians, so by nature we have turned into bookworms! What better for a bookworm than a nice set of books for the garden?! These “books” are actually made of bricks! Yes, that is right…ugly old garden bricks transformed into these amazing (though not QUITE readable!) treasures.
Look at the beautifully crafted vintage look of these brick books! I am so impressed! For my very first brick novel, I started with my grandfather’s favorite “Treasure Island”. I know he will enjoy placing this out in his garden…or maybe using it as a bookend in his home office. While mine does not look quite as vintage as the lovely books shown above, I am hoping to wear it down with some fine sandpaper once I am done painting the title on.
This is a very fun project and will make an easily personalized gift for any garden or book lover!
Using Fireplace Ashes In The Garden
Using fireplace ashes in the garden is one way to recycle a natural resource and get some perks at the same time. Mixed into potting soil or spread on the surface of beds, ash supplies four important nutrients for plants: potassium, nitrogen, phosphorous and calcium. Ash benefits don’t end there though; it also adds grit and helps balance the pH level.
Potassium is important for overall plant health, especially during growth spurts. Nitrogen encourages lush foliage and deep roots. Phosphorous promotes fruit production and flower bud development. Calcium helps with cell strength and transmission of nutrients through the circulatory system. Ash also increases soil alkalinity to help balance acidic soil conditions.
Image Source: Gardener’s Path
There are many more uses for fireplace ashes than I ever knew.
- Compost bin – only a little amongst the organic matter.
- A light layer around plants can keep slugs away.
- A tablespoon of ash to 1000 gallons of water for a pond will keep algae down.
- As a fertilizer.
- Cleaning silver.