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Have you experienced the joys of spending a teenie weenie, itsy bitsy amount of time here and there on Pinterest?  (Did I just hear a chuckle?)  I’m a newbie Pinterest enthusiast/addict and I had no idea how enjoyable “pinning” can be!  Sure, Pinterest can be a time sucker, but a time sucker in a good way.  What is Pinterest you may ask?

Pinterest is a Virtual Pinboard.

Pinterest lets you organize and share all the beautiful things you find on the web. People use pinboards to plan their weddings, decorate their homes, and organize their favorite recipes.

Best of all, you can browse pinboards created by other people. Browsing pinboards is a fun way to discover new things and get inspiration from people who share your interests. To get started, request an invite.

Instead of being a time waster I view Pinterest as great place to learn and organize.  One of my favorite “pinning” buddies, Theresa Loe, honors her Pinterest addiction with a weekly Pinterest Wednesday post so I’ve decided join in the fun because Pinterest is a GREAT place for gardeners!  Theresa Loe is the co-Executive producer and canning expert on Growing A Greener World TV and she blogs about Living Homegrown®, local and fresh-from-the-garden.  You can follow Theresa’s  boards on Pinterest HERE and check her latest Pinterest Wednesday find HERE.

My Pinterest Wednesday find is one that can be made with next to no money and will add an extra special touch to my garden shed. I think it’s so cute…a pine cone rain chain.

Pine Cone Rain Chain

 This image was found on Pinterest here thanks to The Burbs and the Bees.  Original link can be found here.  

HAPPY PINTEREST WEDNESDAY!

Oh yeah, here’s my Pinterest page..

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The red-shafted flicker woodpecker in my garden.

Now that the temperatures are starting to drop and a lot of the work has come to a hault in my garden, I’ve turned my attention to attracting feathered critters into my landscape with the use of bird feeders.  Birdwatching may sound mundane and boring but once you start attracting birds into your cold weather garden it is far from dull and is often called a free ticket to the theater of nature.  Once you add fresh water and some bird seed you are guaranteed to always have a show. 

With the cooling temperatures birds need an extra addition of fat to help them survive so adding suet cakes is an important accompaniment to their fall and winter diet.  I am  so happy to have the ilusive red-shafted flicker woodpecker (shown above) frequently visit my garden since I’ve set out out the fatty suet cakes and bird seed.   If you’re not one to use animal products (most suet is beef kidney fat) you can easily make a big batch of vegetarian suet cakes and store them in the freezer for future use.  I found an easy recipe at www.suetbirdfeeder.net:

Wintertime Vegan “Suet”
The birds won’t miss the meat and your kitties will love to watch the action!

2 cups peanut butter
2 cups vegetable shortening
2 cups flour
6 cups cornmeal

Melt peanut butter and shortening in a large pot.
Stir in flour and cornmeal.
Turn dough onto a waxed paper lined 13×9″ pan.
Cut into rectangles for use in a suet feeder.
Suet can be stored in a freezer.

Here’s another easy project that I’m going to try soon.  All you need is a toilet paper roll, some peanut butter and bird seed!  Easy right? I’m sure the birds will love it.

Have you heard of peanut butter bird seed balls?  I made a bunch last year and they were gone in no time.  Hopefully I kept a lot of birds alive with all the fat I fed them! Click on the image for the Bird Seed Balls recipe…

 I hope these recipes and tips have inspired you to attract birds to your fall and winter garden.  What birds to you attract to your yard in the colder  months? I’d love to hear from you and even see photos.  You can share them with over on my Facebook page or via Twitter.  Tweet tweet!

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Not junky bad, but junky good!

I realize it is appalling for some people to use junk in the garden but not to me.  Most of my garden “art” is aged, rusty, and weird but in my eyes it’s interesting to look at and the BEST part- most of it was free!  I admit and confess I’m a junk junky .

Recently I had a chat with someone that was down in the dumps because her garden was blah and boring.  She procrastinated doing anything to update it because she thought it would take wads of cash to even get her garden space comfy and inviting. This made me sad. 

For those with little money my garden is living proof that you don’t need a bunch a cash to create a unique garden of your own.  Here are some “dumpster diver” tips that I gave to the lady I mentioned before:

 Use splashes of color throughout your garden.  Here’s a couple of battered rusty chairs that a couple of nice guys dropped off for me.  Since they’re non-functioning I thought they’d add some interest and color in my flower bed…

Use similar found items and group them together.  As you know, I heart rocks…

Create flower/vegetable beds and borders out of bottles from your recycle bin or do what I did…put the word out on Facebook and you’ll have bottles in no time!

Make your own garden art by thinking outside the dumpster…literally.  Here’s some metal pieces that got a new lease on life.  The round metal rings were off a wine barrel planter that fell apart and the metal candlesticks were found at a second hand store for a few bucks…

Before you throw something out ask yourself if you can plant in it.  Here’s a couple vertical planters, one made from a heater that was salvaged from a house demo and the other from a rice bag…

So, I hope this has given you some junkalicious inspiration to get in the garden and be creative with found objects and items headed to the dump.  Gardening with reused materials sometimes is a better and prettier way to go,  especially,  when you don’t have a lot of money in your pocket. 

What sort of fun ways do YOU garden?  I’d love to hear from you!!!!

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This post originally appeared on the #gardenchat blog.  You can follow #gardenchat on Twitter and on Facebook.

Reduce, reuse, recycle are words we hear everyday and sometimes several times a day. Specifically in the area of reuse, gardeners all around the world, from all walks of life and economic status have taken the incentive to use items that were headed to the landfill to create unique gardens.

Not only does reusing items help the environment but it allows us to get very creative in our garden spaces with little or no money. There are several ways to use junk and trash in our gardens .  For example instead of recycling, why not reuse cardboard egg cartons, toilet paper rolls and newspaper for seed starting? Mini blinds can be cut up for for plant labels, old windows can be turned into cold frames, veggie scraps and yard waste can be composted to create nutrient rich soil.

Another way to turn trash-into-treasure and reusing found objects is by creating funky planters. Here’s a peek of trash and junkyard finds that I’ve turned into planters.  My motto is if it has a vessel or receptacle you may as well grow in it!  The three materials I look for when proverbial dumpster diving are metal, wood and straw. 

Metal

Galvanized metal stock tanks and cattle troughs make excellent container and water gardens.  I love Pam’s article, on her blog Digging, No Bull!  Cattle troughs make great containers.  Keep your eye open for these cool containers at yard sales, second hand stores and flea markets.  I recently picked up two of these containers that a friend of mine was going to take to the dump.  Score!  Another fun way to use metal is by planting in cut-off pieces of metal pipe. 

Wood

Wood is another material that gets wasted and thrown into the landfill.  A vertical garden can be made out of a pallet, mini raised garden beds can be achieved from wooden wine boxes, a salvage door can be turned into a potting bench and an old toolbox can be transformed into a planter.  Here is a toolbox I rescued from the trash and planted with herbs…

Note:  Do not use railroad ties or other treated lumber in your garden because of chemicals thay may leach into the soil.

Straw

Straw you may ask?  Yup, I specifically look for those fabulous kitchy vintage Hawaiian straw tote bags .  Often found at second hand stores and estate sales these bags make great containers for planting not mention a playful conversation piece in the garden.  Yes, I’m a bag lady and proud of it!  Here’s my latest straw bag planter project that I created from bags purchased at a local second hand store for $2.

Do you use junk in your garden? 

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Vertical gardening, green walls and living wall art has certainly become the trend in garden design.  Companies like Wooly Pocket, Smith & Hawken, and Elt Living Wall Panels have come out with wall planting systems that allow you to create vertical gardens on indoor walls and the outside of buildings.  For those that have limited garden space or no planting beds at all you may want to consider vertical gardening.  A plain empty wall or fence can instantly be transformed into something beautiful with vertical “wall art”.  Are you new to vertical gardening?  I’m here to tell you that once you get familiar with it you’ll be hooked!  If you have access to free succulents and sedums, this project can be made for under $10. 

Oh mom, you may be missing a few hens and chicks from your garden

Materials:

• 16-inch wire basket

• Sphagnum moss 432 cu. in. bag

• Potting soil  suitable for hanging baskets

•  Succulent and/or sedum cutting or plants

• Water

• Latex gloves

Directions:

• Put on gloves and add sphagnum moss to a bucket, fill with water and let soak for at least 10 minutes. While the moss is hydrating lay out your materials in an assembly line fashion: potting soil, plants, watering can or hose.

Soak for 10 minutes

"Foraged" succulents and sedum cuttings

•  Hang  the wire basket so it will be easier to work with.  The basket will become heavy so make sure the nail or screw is firmly attached to a fence or wall.
• To start your first row, grab a handful of moss and squeeze out the water.  Firmly press moss into the bottom, sides and back of the basket. The moss “nest” should be at least two inches thick with no holes or the potting soil may fall out.  Add potting soil to the moss “nest” and gently plant your first row of succulents. Now, sprinkle with water.

Gently lay the succulent roots over the moss and onto the soil

Tuck a leaf behind the wire to help hold succulent in place

• Repeat the previous two steps until the top of the basket is completely surrounded in moss.  In the top of my basket I planted sedums that will get some height and flowers as they mature.  One of my favorites being Sedum Siebolbii.  Be sure to water well after planting. You’re done!

Water basket well after planted

One down, several more to go!

Do you like it?

If you have any questions please feel free to ask!  I’m not an expert but I’m more than happy to help in any way I can.  I’ve created this blog to share and learn from others so please feel free to post your garden pictures or questions on my facebook page or send them to me via Twitter…I’d love to hear from you!

Happy planting!

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Wouldn’t you agree that gardens are enhanced with the addition of birds?  When you set a birdbath, hummingbird feeder, birdhouses or seed you are guaranteed to get a variety of birds all throughout the year.  Where I live the winters are LONG.  Let’s just say the last of the snow has finally melted…that long.  During these cold and snowy winter months birds need an extra addition of fat to help them survive.  I was able to keep many birds happy with this easy peanut butter bird seed ball recipe from Kate Seaver, Kate’s Garden.

Ingredients:

•2 tbsp. (30 mL) corn oil
•2 cups (500 mL) rolled oats
•1 cup (250 mL) peanut butter
•1 cup (250 mL) sunflower seeds
•½ cup (125 mL) whole-wheat flour
•½ cup (125 mL) crushed eggshells
•1 cup (250 mL) vegetable shortening
•Cornmeal as needed

Instructions:

1. Combine all ingredients except cornmeal in a bowl. Add enough cornmeal to hold mixture together.

2. Form into balls or bricks, then freeze overnight.

3. Place on feeder to keep furry critters at bay, mount on a suet ball feeder, garden stake or bent coat hanger will work, too. If you’ve shape into brick then use a suet basket. Or invest in one of these fancy feeders and hang several balls at once.

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Well I do…and lots of them.  Thanks to my wino vino friends and a local cafe’ I accumulated an absurd amount of wine and champagne corks for DIY projects.

I have to mention I am far from a “crafty” person but I like to decorate on a budget and turn trash into something useful.  This project is not only next to free, it’s eco chic and it takes no time at all if you’re a little on the impatient side.  So let’s get jiggy with some corks and a glue gun!

Materials:

• Wine and champagne corks
• Hot glue gun or liquid cement
• Old picture frame
• x-acto knife

Instructions:

1.  Take the glass out of the frame and keep the back. You’ll be gluing the corks on the back so make sure it’s sturdy and not flimsy cardboard.

2.  Apply the glue to the cork and place it onto the back.

If you have little gaps here and there just take your x-acto knife and cut little piece of cork to fill in the spaces.

There are several patterns you can come up with, such as swirls, herringbone or use champagne corks for a different look.  In my piece I used a couple champagne corks to act as knobs to hang things on.  It’s that easy! I almost feeling silly for posting a tutorial on this project, but I wanted to show you how simple it is to turn your garbage into something pretty.

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Does your garden look like this?

Gardeners, do you ever have a happy dirt dream and then wake up in the morning, look out your window and see your garden covered in a thick layer of white mulch?  Do not be disheartened.  There’s plenty you can do to get ready for spring.  One thing I’m excited to share with you is sowing seed in the winter.  This project is economical and wonderful for those that don’t have a greenhouse.  So grab yourself a coffee with Irish Cream and let’s have a winter garden party! 

Wikipedia’s definition of winter sowing is a method of starting seeds outdoors in winter.  This is generally done with seeds that require a period of cold stratification.  The method takes advantage of natural temperatures, rather than artificially refrigerating seeds.  Winter sowing involves sowing seeds in a miniature greenhouse outside during winter, allowing them to germinate in spring.  Users of this method have had success in most hardiness zones. 

With that in mind, let’s make some mini greenhouses! 

Step 1:  Choose your seeds.  Wintersown.org has a list of seeds good for winter sowing and that will germinate well in your little greenhouses. 

Step 2:  Rob your recycle bin.  Milk jugs, soda bottles, lettuce containers are all exceptable for planting in, just make sure they are washed and clean.  Poke holes in the tops and bottom of the container.  (use a sharp razor blade, be careful, wear gloves).  Here’s what I started with…Notice the, ahem, bloody mary bottles and water jug are cut around just enough to make a “hinge”. 

Step 3:  Label your containers.  All you need in a piece of duct tape and a permanent marker. 

Step 4:  Fill your containers with 2-3″ of potting soil and sow your seed. 

Step 5:  Seal up lids and the cut around the water jugs/bottles with a little duct tape. Next, store the containers in a protected area that will be safe from pets and too much rain. 

Step 6:  Wait.  If all goes as planned, the seeds will start to germinate as winter comes to an end.  As the days start to warm up and the seedlings start to grow, check to see if they need water and widen slits on top of the container for more air flow.  You don’t want to bake your little seedlings.  In due time you’ll be able to set your plants in the garden when your soil is at the right temperature.  Here is a helpful planting guide thanks to gardeningbythemoon.com.  For more inspiration check out these Google images on sowing seed in the winter. 

If your are interested in sharing tips, trends, and asking questions about gardening, please join in #gardenchat on Twitter every Monday at 9pm EST.  Also, don’t miss the very special event called #supersowsunday Sunday, Feb 6, 2011 where we’ll be talking seeds while the game is on! 

Happy planting!  Thanks for joining me in my FIRST garden party!