Christmas Mess-terpiece & Grinch

 

My projects don't always turn out the way I want and that's okay. This one turned out not to be what I wanted. (You'll see it down further)

I'm still trying to get rid of some of my craft stash I have on hand before buying anything new.

I had spoons that I'd bought years ago for a craft project and decided I'd make a holiday door wreath titled Silver Singers. These would be spoons with senior citizens singing Christmas Carols.  All materials would be whatever I had on hand.  

I USED : spoons, felt, red tulle, permanent markers, glitter, mini song books, pipe cleaners, hot glue, acrylic paint, precut wooden shapes, precut sticky letters.

 

The King's Ranch Thrift store was having a 50% off storewide sale. I bought this wreath and ribbon for $4.00. I removed the harvest decoration and proceeded to wrap it with the ribbon.

Silver Singers turned out to be just plain Silver, Gold, Joy.

I made musical symbols out of pipe cleaners and wooden shapes.

This didn't turn out well. It's too busy and pretty much looks thrown together. I showed it to a friend and while she didn't say it looked like crap, she did say it looked "interesting."😀 That's okay. So this did not go on my front door, it did go on the back door where no one can see it. After all, I did take a lot of time to prepare this mess-terpiece. 😆

TIP: Metal and hot glue don't play well together. I had to put tape on top of the glue.

59 seconds

GRINCH  This turned out much better.

That's it *****

ETC. 

Decorated rosemary.

Stone or Is It?

 

Now that I've had my flower bed redone to a minimalist look, it's time to add just the right amount of detail.

Seal the project for use outdoors

Very pleased. That's rosemary inside the pot. I plan to put bulbs in the faux stone pot for spring at a later date. For now the pot within a pot is satisfactory for me.

That's it***

Minimalist Flower Bed

 I was ready for a change. 

Trimming shrubbery has become a chore.  I needed something more manageable.  After looking around and on the NET I found what I wanted. I got the best inspiration from the yards of a relative and a neighbor.

Here are the inspirations from neighbor and relative.

Now to get the work done  

Shout out to GP for the great landscaping.

And finally, it's done.  Everything is the  the way I wanted it. Weeds abated. Three knock out roses🌹 and potted plants; mum🌻and rosemary.  These  are easy to keep and  can also be swapped out. The Shepherd's Hook will be used at a later date.

COMING SOON

How I changed this

to

                                                  this

That's it***

Will My Garden Grow?

DURING a visit to the local library, I noticed a display for

 free seeds sponsored by a collaborative group of gardeners.

There was even a handout to accompany the seeds.

You can't see them all

because they were in a cubby, but there were at least twelve to choose from.

Knowing the limited amount of space I have, AND, knowing I must do container plants, I chose; 

According to the handout, mixed greens will do better in cooler weather. Green Arrow peas can be planted now and so can dill. 

I have yet to plant these because...

👀

I went to the community Farmer's Market held every Friday (April 27, 2019) in my area and saw a booth with started plants. I bought an eggplant with  blossoms, rosemary and a tomato plant. Don't ask me what kind of tomato? People who garden always have tomatoes. I once had a potted rosemary which lived close to four years but I guess one of the winters was just too rough and so finally it bit the dust. I enjoy the smell of rosemary and its flavorful taste in foods. So many herbs are being used in medicinal and beauty products. Whether it works or not is questionable. Sometimes the mind can be tricked into thinking that it does and so it will be.

Once again I'm deviating from the subject. 

Here's a vertical and horizontal look after I put them in pots. The green pot 

is empty but I plan to repot the rosemary in it. The crate on the end has Swiss

chard which overwintered and has come back.

As of  6-1-2019  I have 2 eggplant(s)??

As for the seeds...  ????😶

Here are the gardens of friends. This first belongs to E.P. She goes small scale like I do.

She put down a layer of paper for weed control as I did in my front flower bed. She has flowers and vegetables. Peppers, tomatoes which grew from seeds of a store bought tomato. Cucumber and okra.The worms have had a feast on the collards so she's letting those die out.

My friend R.M. goes big. She is an avid gardener with a large back yard to plant and experiment with different varieties.  Captions below are in her words.

Daisies that have gone from white to yellow, due to soil content this year 

 

Both plants are Amaryllis. You gave me a box 5 or 6 Christmas's ago. I tend to propagate bulbs and plants to make other colors.

 

Blooming this week. Mandarin Honeysuckle.. Took 2 years to bloom. 

It is not invasive,  but I note wild Honeysuckle in the woods for the first time. It has crept closer, whereas I've never seen it before. Must be some pollination going on.

Can you really grow vegetables from that left over scrap?

You've seen the videos that tell you that you can grow bok choy, carrots, spring onions, celery etc. from the bottoms of your grocery store vegetables?

I've tried it with bok choy because that's a tasty, pricey little veggie.

IT DOESN'T WORK!!

I've tried it twice and all I got was a few leaves that never grew into a plant. I tasted a few of the small leaves and they were bitter and inedible. I EVEN put it in soil to grow. It mainly became weedy, flowered and still didn't grow into a plant. 

My bok choy transplant

To be fair, I've read that some of this transplanting will take place successfully if you buy organic vegetables and use them. Next time I want to try bok choy I'll start with seeds.

Thank you to E.P. and R. M. for your contributions.

next week It's a Senior Af FAIR

That's it ***

Pot

I’ve read quite a bit about how to dry hydrangeas. About 10 years ago I did this by tying the stems together and hanging them upside down in my basement. I kept those dried flowers for 4 years until I just plain got tired of looking at them. They really hold up well. I have actually seen people at outdoor markets selling dried hydrangeas for a very hefty price.
A couple weeks ago I was fortunate to have a bouquet of big leaf hydrangeas given to me. I wanted to preserve them as long as possible so this time I stood them upright inside a tomato cage I wasn’t using inside the garage. I think they turned out pretty good. BTW I don’t know what the smaller flowers are but they seem to have done well also.



I have to warn you they're very fragile once they're dry. Have some idea as to how you plan to arrange them before putting them in a vase or pot. Otherwise, you're likely to lose a lot of blossoms.





Basil
This is Genovese Basil growing in a pot. It makes great pesto. I found a recipe at All Recipes.com
I make sure I keep it watered with the days here in the upper 90's. It grows very fast. When cutting make sure you leave a cluster of four leaves so that it will continue to grow.
Here's the recipe . Although I plan to tweak it by using chopped peanuts instead of almonds. (Remember I'm thrifty)

INGREDIENTS For PESTO
*1/4 cup almonds (substitute chopped peanuts)
*3 cloves garlic
*1 1/2 cups fresh basil leaves
*1/2 cup olive oil
*1 pinch ground nutmeg
*salt and pepper to taste

DIRECTIONS
1. Preheat oven to 450 degrees F (230 degrees C). Place almonds on a cookie sheet, and bake for 10 minutes, or until lightly toasted. (Omit this step. The peanuts are already roasted)
2. In a food processor, combine toasted almonds, garlic, basil, olive oil, nutmeg, salt and pepper. Process until a coarse paste is formed.
Note: Pick basil the same day you plan to make pesto. I made the mistake of placing the picked leaves in the fridge. NOT a good idea. It wilted away and spoiled.

Put this concoction on toasted garlic bread or pasta and a sprinkle of Parmesan cheese and you've got a tasty
treat.

Roma Tomato
The Roma tomato is pear shaped and comes in red and yellow. I chose red . I have planted yellow in the past but to me they weren't as sweet as the red. There was too much tartness. The Roma is also known as the “plum tomato” . The white you see is where I tied it to the stake in the pot.






ROSEMARY
Just for good measure I wanted to show you my rosemary plant also in a pot. The picture shows it looking a little dry but I promise I watered it right after I took the picture. This baby was saved from last year. I brought it inside and nursed it the same as a houseplant. Summer has returned and it's still alive. Some people use this plant as a hedge. Can you imagine the aroma as the wind blows? Delicious.

I've grown a little of everything in a pot in the past. I plan to experiment even more in the future.
Lastly, to show that I'm into recycling, I put the watering jug underneath the air conditioning drain and use the water for my plants. It would only drip on the ground if I didn't.










THAT'S ALL***