Garden Angels - Not What You Think

I was given this garden plaque years ago. I didn't like it - first, I don't care for angels (Fairies - yes! Angels - nah). Second, I'm a stickler for grammar, and I couldn't figure the saying out. What did it even mean? That we HAVE garden angels? Or there ARE garden angels? I WANT garden angels? It made no sense. I didn't get rid of it because my Mommy in Law gave it to me, and she did mean well by it (don't tell her I didn't like it)! So it was hung in a hidden corner and languished there for a long time. 

Well, the other day I was looking around the yard, and decided to finally fix a hole at the top of our privacy fence right by the veggie garden, where the top of a slat had been broken off. Took some trial and error, but I finally remembered that plaque, which was the perfect size to disguise said hole! It fit perfectly, but now came the dilemma - it was now front and center in the garden, and I STILL didn't like it! So I got out the polymer clay and acrylic paints, stamped out a "Latin" garden phrase, and this is what it looks like now...  

I love it ! It's colorful, and nobody else has one like it! It's now a fun and treasured addition to the garden that I will be happy for any garden visitors to see.

The "Germinator"

It's seed starting season again! Especially looking forward to this batch THIS year because we've had a horrendous (for us) winter this time - actually, the snowiest (and coldest) in my life! I have had flowers coming up in my yard in mid February in the past, and definitely by mid March - but so far, nothing this year. It's been rough...

End of whining - for now. ..

So back on topic! My very favorite seed starting equipment I use are these trays - 

Where did I get these things? Well, at my job YEARS ago ( the days of typewriters, fax machines and answering machines that used full sized cassette tapes ), we ordered a bunch of tapes for our answering machines and they came attached to cards with these plastic rectangles! Me being one of the original "repurposing" queens, I kept them. I don't recall whether I just thought I could use them someday or if I knew right away what I was going to do with them, but I grabbed 'em. You can see that I've had some of these a LONG time by the way they're yellowing. Wish I could find more, but the cassette tape era has come and is long gone...

I can use these clear plastic rectangular trays to germinate seeds by nesting two together with a moist paper towel or tissue sandwiched between (I normally use coffee filters cut to size) and placed on a low heat source like the top of the water heater.

 

And in 24 hours, I have some already! This is the ideal time to get them in some soil. These tiny first roots (called radicles) are very brittle, plus they are covered in "hairs" that will attach to the paper - then you have to cut them out to plant them! They are easily broken, so I would rather not have to do that. You just want to know which ones are viable so you're not wasting time and space planting "dead" seed.

After they sprout and are planted in a normal cell pack, these trays can be used both as a pan underneath the pack AND as a little "greenhouse" on the top!

(Notice the printing still on it - "Quality leaderless tape fits most answering machines") LOL!

Stick 'em under fluorescent lights and they have a great start on life!

Miniature Mayhem - Tiny Umbrellas

Hello - finally!

 Well, after much too long, losing my job, major surgery, and almost a whole year being unemployed, I'm back! Don't feel sorry for me - the job was getting horribly stressful, the surgery was for a benign problem, and couldn't have gone any better than it did! I was able to concentrate on my art business, and last art fair season was the best I have ever had (I consider myself an artist, and not ENTIRELY jobless)! I've been spoiled being able to do what I want to do WHEN I want to do it.

In the meantime, I somehow got caught up in Miniature gardening (aka fairy gardens), since I already create Faery Doors. I was always fascinated with miniatures anyway, and it just took off! 

           One of my ornaments....I made the arbor and gazing globe :)

After creating several container gardens, even some ornament and globe gardens, I also have started a small plot in my gardens under a variegated Redbud tree that will become an outdoor Fairy Garden come Spring! 

Until then, I have to stick with the indoor projects. I have discovered only a couple shops near me that carry fairy garden items, but I hate to buy much of that. First of all, the items are pretty expensive, plus I never like to have things that everyone else has, and you also have to stick with the scale they're made in, and some aren't quite the size I need. So I make my accessories myself whenever possible.

Today I'm working on a tiny bottle that I want to create a little "beach" garden in. I also wanted an umbrella for the scene, one that would be fairly waterproof, since I'm a gardener and all my little gardens will have live plants in them (or will be outside), so I can't have anything made with paper or cloth. Here's what I did:

First, I found  a small piece of heavy duty aluminum foil.  

Next, take a round object close to the size you want the umbrella to be. I wanted this one to be a little larger than the coin, so I just drew (using a ball point pen) the curve a little larger. I'm good at just "eyeballing" things, but if you want, just find something that you can follow exactly.

I used some shears with a scalloped design to cut it with.

Open it up and use the pen to divide the circle into eighths. I put it on some thick paper so the lines would be deeper. Just be careful you don't poke through the foil!

Using the pen, I put a little more form to it. This step isn't necessary, but I think it looked better.

Cut a round toothpick to the length you want (making sure there's enough to stick into the "ground").

Glue the toothpick to the underside, then stick into a piece of styrofoam or whatever will hold it till it dries. I couldn't find my styrofoam, so I'm using the end of a stalk of celery! Hey, don't judge me - you wanna learn how to do this or not!? I know you're laughing at me behind my back...

In the meantime, I also wanted a beach blanket that again wouldn't absorb moisture. I used a rubber jar opener, since it had a texture that sort of looked like cloth, cut a small piece, painted it with white acrylic, and drew the pattern with permanent markers.

Anyway, when the glue dried, I painted the umbrellas with acrylic paint....

And decided to paint the undersides too, so you can't tell it's foil.

One last step - I thought it might be best to seal the paint since it will be in a moist environment. I had some with sparkles in it (of course!).

Here's the jar. This was just a cheap souvenir I found at Goodwill, it had "Hollywood Beach" printed on it (I made sure it could be easily scratched off), and it had sparkly white sand and some largish seashells in it. I broke up most of the shells to get them out and saved the sand. Actually, it is cut underneath the cord on the left (that's how they got the shells in!). I tried to see if it would come apart, but no luck, so I had to do it the hard way! 

The inside is difficult to see, but I'm doing this the "patient" way. Instead of trying to clean the sand off each plant, I'm just going to wait until the plants start to grow and push the sand off themselves. I'll show another photo of it in a few weeks.

Swap Rant

'Tis the season for the plant swaps to begin across the country! I look forward to them every year. But if you are participating in a swap this year, please remember: swap means "trade", not "show up with nothing and take free plants"! 

Getting my babies ready

This is how it works: We dig up our plants, scrounge up containers, pot the plants up in soil (which we may have purchased just for this), grow them on and nurture them for a few weeks, then make up name and care tags for each one (possibly doing some research if we forget the cultivar name!) and transport them to the swap site. Although it's a lot of work, we feel it's worth it to meet like-minded plant lovers and possibly find a treasure or two to take back home with us. 

Another plant swap suggestion - try to leave the critters at home! (no, sweetie, you have to stay here...)

But unfortunately, some swap coordinators let people just show up and take plants! I'm not against giving away plants - I have probably given away a few hundred in my life - it is just the principle and a pet peeve of mine, which is, if you come to a SWAP , bring something to SWAP. But, if there are leftover plants at the end of the swap, THEN those can be the giveaways. There! Thanks for letting me vent - see you at the swap!

Have A Wonderful Easter, Everyone!