I so wish I was small enough to enjoy this little retreat I found while visiting Water's Edge in Lawrence a couple months ago. They have the cutest collection of fairy and gypsy furniture and accessories that I have ever seen. The stories we could share while sitting by the water and tending to the plants...
Each mosaic is unique and has it's own story to tell.
Water's Edge in Lawrence, KS is one of my mother's favorite spots to spend an afternoon. She took the kids and I along on one of her recent visits and I was able to take a few pictures of the many beautiful gardens. I just love the ceramic toad stools. Enjoy!
Each mosaic is unique and has it's own story to tell.
This past July 4th weekend I made a trip with the kids up to Powell Garden's here in Missouri and was blown away by the creative use of cement planters as container gardens.
I have loved the look of cement planters for a long time now and I think they compliment a clean, modern aesthetic very well. I even have researched a bit on how to make my own. If I had the space and resources I would have several curing in the garage right now waiting for next year. But, until then I just live vicariously through the pictures I have taken.
Share your experiences with making your own cement containers in the comments. Was it easy? What would you have done differently in your project. I can't wait to hear your words of wisdom.
Enjoy this week's cement container garden mosaic!
Each mosaic is unique and has it's own story to tell.
In years past my husband and I have planted balcony container gardens because we never had the yard space. They were moderately successful and yielded enough fruit to make them worthwhile but we felt limited by what we could grow. When our oldest daughter started to get interested in gardening we added plants just for her to tend. Her first was a strawberry plant.
This year with the help of some friends we had a little more space to plant and create a garden. We decided to build a raised bed out of an existing cement slab and cinderblocks that we had on hand. We also had a few railroad timbers to use a boarder on the outside.
Oli and Madi helped me clear the slab and decide how we would lay out the cinderblocks. They were a great help. We also met some worm friends in the process.
Once all the blocks and railroad timbers were in we filled in the garden space with 6 inches of top soil mixed with one bag of peat and topped it all off with two bags of soil with added plant food. I also layed in cement pavers to act as stepping stones so we could get from one side to the other easier.
The kids helped me map out where we wanted to plant our plants by digging small holes and adjusting for placement as we went along.
We went with four different types of tomatoes and three types of sweet bell peppers.
"Yellow Pear" Tomato
"Big Pink" Tomato
"Fresh Salsa" Tomato
"Tomatoberry" Cherry Tomato
"Flavorburst Hybrid" Sweet Pepper
"Better Belle" Sweet Pepper
"Red Delicious" Sweet Pepper
I had read that planting marigolds around your garden can discourage animals from making your garden lunch so we also planted a dozen "Dwarf Orange" marigolds around the perimeter and lining the center pavers. So far that has proved to be true in keeping out the bunny rabbits but the squirrels don't seem to care and have added a few holes and taken a few green tomatoes already.
Once all the plants were in we worked a soaker hose in and around the plants so we could give as much water to the plants as possible and cut down on waste. At first we didn't need to worry too much about how we were going to tie up the plants and support them as they grew. It was several weeks before any of them looked like they needed support. I'll show you in the next garden update our solution to that problem.
Tomatoes and peppers are my favorite plants to grow because they are so easy and give great results. What are some of your favorite garden plants to grow?
Crafting and Creating
Jar Covers Pattern for Home Canning :: Bizzy Crochet
Rhubarb Recipes :: Martha Stewart
How to Make Vegetable Broth Using Your Crock Pot :: Crock Pot 365
"My green thumb came only as a result of the mistakes I made while learning to see things from the plant's point of view."
~H. Fred Dale
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