The Flag Window and Drying Flowers

The patriotic theme of red, white, and blue is a theme visitors to Tiger Gardens will see on a recurring basis if they ever visit my gardens. I've posted many times about some of my projects and color combinations that display the color theme but bear with me one more time as I share another red, white and blue project. 

One of my favorite projects is pictured above-a folksy American flag that started life as an old discarded glass window. Old glass windows can be used in so many ways in the garden and you can usually pick them up for nothing!

 I have several windows and tend to paint these flags assembly line style. You must be careful though because you have to paint the flag opposite of how it would look if you were looking at it straight ahead. This is because you paint on the back of the window. Painting backwards is easy to forget! Once painted you turn the window around and mount it in the garden. If you'd like an extra bit of protection spray the painted side with a clear polyurethane coating. These flags are folksy and not for everyone but they sure do shine in my garden mounted along our long privacy fence.

I just had to share this updated picture of another red, white, and blue project--my door project. I am gradually moving my houseplants inside of the house and/or greenhouse. This has freed up some space on this door shelf for flowers of a different kind-the kind that are picked and need to be dried. I love keeping dried flowers around my house and garden but don't really like a lot of them in the house. It's something about feng shui; dried flowers in a house is a no no and I take feng shui principles seriously though I don't always follow the rules. Feng shui does not say you can't have dried flowers outside though. This shelf out front is perfect to hold dried flowers. It is under a roof so the area does stay dry. I am even able to use it to hang flowers that need to be dried....

in the garden....

Happy Columbus Day everyone! If, like me, you have it off then enjoy and get in the garden to prepare for winter! It's cold outside today...

Words and Photos Property of In the Garden Blog Team, In the Garden

Garden Shelf Project Using a $5 Door

I am always looking for thrifty projects and new and innovative uses for easy to find materials I may have around my house. I found a great use for old doors by way of a FaceBook page called Flea Market Gardening (FMG). FMG has some really great pictures of projects regular folks like you and I can easily make. The pictures of projects posted on that page are amazing not so much for the pictures but for the ideas and ingenuity that they display for others to see and be inspired by. Such was the case when I was cruising through a few pictures and saw a garden shelf using a door for the backboard. I thought how cool! My result of the project idea is on display above. I can't tell you how much I like it for the extra storage and staging area for plants on my porch.

I found the door at a Habitat For Humanity ReStore. These ReStores are great for salvaged building materials and furniture and what nots. My husband and I found a ReStore in Peoria Illinois and managed to make it over there prior to their early closing one recent Saturday. It was lucky for me that this particular store was having a sale on all of their doors. Doors were just $5! I purchased two for my two new garden shelves (one for the front porch and one for the back at some point). It was a miracle we could fit the doors in our little car but they did fit and everything made it safely back to Tennessee. I also purchased some glass blocks for .25 each!!! Usually you find these for $2-3 per so they too were a bargain. I haven't figured out what I'll do with them yet but I am sure I will sooner or later. If you haven't already shopped in a Habitat ReStore you really should check them out as they have great buys that can be either used for projects or to fix up your house.

A recurring theme in my garden is that of red, white and blue so it was a no brainer for me as to how I would paint my new garden shelf. I have posted on my flag pallet before and will show my windows too at a later date, but just wanted to say the red, white, and blue worked out perfectly in this case for me. I painted all parts with leftover paint I had on hand from the flag pallet project. Painting parts ahead of time really gives a more professional appearance to your work and makes the job of painting much easier because there is no need to be really neat and use painters tape.

The supplies I used were: four deck pickets, six skirt boards for the two shelves (three for the top shelf and three for the bottom shelf), and the two shelves. I glued and screwed two legs to the door in the proper location, put on the sideboards and added the two front pickets, then proceeded to add the rest of the skirt boards by gluing and screwing them into the proper positions. When all of that was done I stood the door upright and added the two shelves. I must say though I had a problem with it all in that even though the two front legs were level with the bottom of the door the whole shelf leaned forward a bit. I had to compensate by adding two cleats under the front legs. On the next door shelf I make I will most likely set the front legs off from the edge of the bottom of the door by at least 1/2". This whole project took me just a few hours and the total cost was $5. While in the creative process I contemplated adding stars to the blue part of the door but decided not to and I am glad I didn't. Instead I added some S hooks, used cable ties on my garden hand tools and hung them up on the door shelf. This has worked SO well for me as I now have the tools handy right where I need them so they are more likely to be put back where they belong and I am more likely to find them.....

in the garden....

P.S. I posted a completed picture of my door shelf on my professional page on FaceBook. I like to use it as an outlet that compliments this blog. I post timely tips and interesting bits about plants and things going on right now. Some of those things you may or may not see on this blog. But, if you are a fan of this blog (and we hope you are!) you will also be able to get updated urls for all posts on this blog as well. So, if you are not yet a fan please go like my page so you too can be in on the fun in the garden.....thanks!

Words and Photos Property of In the Garden Blog Team, In the Garden

Gourd Tree and Hypertufa Display and Storage Shelf

From In the Garden

I was finally able to get into the garden-at long last. I've missed gardening this winter because I've been very busy inside the house and with college. But now that garden season is near things are stepping up outside. Here are two projects I recently completed in the garden.

The first one is a gourd 'tree'. The 'tree' is simply a 4 x 4 with some dowels threaded through (drill holes) the 4 x 4 to hold ornaments or gourds. Each year I pick a different theme for my gourds but last year I failed to get around to preparing the gourds from the year 2008. I FINALLY finished them. No theme this year except maybe a natural one. I stained the gourds with a golden oak Minwax stain. I love the natural look and the gourds are well protected from the outside elements. I thought the gourds looked so pretty I could not put them all on the gourd tree. Two are safely hanging in my house for me to enjoy there.

From In the Garden

The next project is a favorite and my mother will recognize how I built this storage shelf for my hypertufa and sedum collection. After making SO many pots for a craft fair back in December I had no place to store them since they didn't all sell. In addition to empty hypertufa pots I have a small collection of filled hypertufa for my own use. This is the southern side of my home and the sunniest area so it is also the best area for sedums. Just displaying them laying out on the driveway was not going to work so I had to come up with a large shelf that could hold heavy pots and withstand the weather elements. Enter cinder blocks and pressure treated 2x4s stained with an exterior stain. I stood the cinder blocks on end and threaded a 2x4 into the holes. I then added the pots and continued up as far as the top of the chain link fence. My sedums are on the top shelf and get full sun, the extra hypertufa pots and some leaf castings are on the other shelves and are in an easy to find and locate area that is convenient to me for storage. As a bonus the shelf provides a bit of interest and screen for the backyard. I love it! I got the idea from some bookshelves my mother had built when I was a preteen. She still uses the bookshelves to this day, though they are more refined than mine. What an easy way to build an outdoor shelf. Now if I could just find some more fence space....

in the garden....

How do you deal with outside storage of pots and garden displays?

Words and Photos Property of In the Garden Blog Team,

In the Garden