Your best junk gardening idea?? That was the question! Hear now from each of these expert DIY bloggers:
Barb Rosen of Our Fairfield Home & Garden, Melissa J Will of Empress of Dirt, Carol Speak of The Gardening Cook, Carlene Blair of Organized Clutter and Jacki Cammidge of null
About Barb Rosen
I’m Barb Rosen of Our Fairfield Home and Garden, a newly retired fifth grade teacher, passionate home gardener, Lab lover and home improvement junkie from Wilmington, Delaware. Gardening has always been a part of my life from tending the family veggie patch as a kid, nursing windowsill houseplants at college and as a young apartment dweller to, finally, having gardens and a home of my own.
Except for the large pines and a few foundation bushes, this garden just had its fifth birthday. When we bought the house, most of the yard was covered in ivy or pachysandra. To date, I have lugged about twenty yards of mulch, three pallets of river stone and dug too many holes to count. You don’t want to arm wrestle me. Pulling all that ivy has given me some “guns”!
Not a horticulturist by any means, I am largely self-taught through years of reading and lots of trial and error. Attending garden lectures, visiting botanical gardens and swapping tips and information with friends have provided a rich and varied education. My own garden and plant knowledge is still constantly developing. So, join me as I dig in the dirt and try out new projects to decorate inside and out!
Succulent Wreaths, made with a pair of panty hose, any size, filled with soil and twined around itself, and wired onto a wire wreath form. The succulents will root right through the nylon, so you don’t need to risk a run by cutting a hole. These are fun project that only takes a few minutes to build, although best results are from at least a few months in a horizontal position; see more here;
About Jacki
“My name is Jacki Cammidge, and I garden in Zone 5 in Grand Forks, British Columbia in a peaceful wooded canyon with lots of birds and wildlife – I’m free to be creative and innovative; you should see some of my other plant-able crafts…”
Jacki’s blog is null, featuring rustic crafts. Note: Jacki’s blog is where I first found instructions for my hypertufa projects.
Melissa J Will, of Ontario, Canada, blogger at Empress of Dirt says, “This is a garden art chandelier I made from some old junk. I used an old metal lamp shade, lamp crystals, flat bottom marbles, and copper wire. This is actually the first garden art project I ever made!
I learned early on that making garden art is a great way to repurpose otherwise unwanted items, fills the garden with interest while waiting for the plants to mature, and provides a great excuse for spending more time outdoors.” I like the texture of the heavy link chain that contrasts with the thin metal of the light shade. The flat gems add more texture and of course there is the ‘bling factor!’
About Melissa
“After working on my dream garden in a small city for 15 years (zone 5), two years ago we had to relocate to rural Ontario, Canada (zone 6). Our new home came with a big, grass lot so I had both the grief of leaving the old garden behind and the opportunity to start over completely from scratch,” Melissa tells us.
“I blog about gardening and garden art DIY at Empress of Dirt, sharing creative and frugal home and (mostly) garden ideas including trash to treasure recycled garden art projects.”
Carlene Blair from Minnesota says, “This is my 2013 Kitchen Fairy Garden made with vintage lids, jello molds, a cooking pot, measuring cups, a vintage baking powder tin, funnel with a cork, and an ice cube tray.” I particularly like the star shaped stepping stones,…see? And the ice tray makes an ingenious fairy sized ‘square foot’ garden.
About Carlene
”I am the mother of 3 grown children, grandmother of 2, and work 4 days each week selling furniture. I live in northern Minnesota, and chronicle my collecting, and decorating with vintage items in my home and gardens on my blog Organized Clutter.”
And on the practical gardening side for those of you who have compost bins, Carol Speake of The Gardening Cook who writes, tell us how to use old garden center trays as a compost sifter.
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