Lucky Find

Last weekends yard sales yielded this lucky find, two unassembled wooden tool boxes (and a still unassembled sail boat) for a dollar! They are the perfect size to hold three small terra cotta pots. Say hello to my new kitchen herb boxes.I used a nail set to sink the nail heads, patched the holes and imperfections, and gave everything a good sanding before painting a bright turquoise. Not sure if I’ll leave them like this or distress/paint them more. All that’s left is to get the pots and decide which herbs to plant.

Quick Fix Craft: Plant Labels

There is nothing like a quick craft project to tide you over when you don’t have time to drag out all the supplies and start a new, epic project. I found these copper labels stashed away in some drawers, no idea where I got them (maybe Walmart?). I bet you could make your own, especially if you know someone with a die cutting machine :D You’re supposed to emboss the copper using the enclosed stick…yeah, that didn’t go so well. I used a dye ink pad and stamped them with stamps from the dollar bin at Walmart. Quick, easy, done! They are going to be super cute in my little herb pots!

Carnivorous Plant Update

Back in September I started a carnivorous plant kit, part of the seeds were planted right away and the rest had to be put into the refrigerator for six weeks.  Everything got planted on schedule and the jar sat on my kitchen counter, every once in a while I would peek into it and check the moisture level, but nothing grew.  I was thinking that eventually I would just get a few established Venus fly traps and call it good, but last week I noticed something, something small and green.It’s still really hard to see, but it’s there to the left of the black marble.  I’m not sure what it is, but it may actually be a carnivorous plant!  I have to say that this kit has been a little disappointing, I’m guessing that the seeds are old and I think that growing these sort of plants may be difficult anyway, so I guess I would not recommend this kit and now I’m hesitant to try any of their other products which is sad, they had a lot of unusual kits.  Has anyone else had good luck or even tried any of the plant kits from Dune Craft?

Carnivorous Plants

Carnivorous plants have always reminded me of Halloween and I have had a Venus fly trap before and it is really fascinating!  I found these kits at Hobby Lobby.

I just had to have it!  I bought an apothecary type jar for mine to grow in because I wanted something nicer than the plastic dome the kit came with.  There are seeds for Venus fly traps, pitcher plants, sundew plants, cobra plants, and trumpet plants.  Part of the seeds can be planted right away and part of the seed have to go through “Stratification” in the fridge.  I have planted the first batch of seeds and the rest are in the fridge for the next six weeks.  I guess I won’t have a flourishing carnivorous garden this year, buy next year it will be awesome!  The Dune Craft Company makes several different plant kits, if this one grows well I will be trying a few more, they have some really interesting ones.

Speaking of creepy plants, you may remember the Poison Tree Ornament that I made last year and finally this year they are available in my etsy store, get them now, only three available!!!

Book Review: Gardens from Garbage By Judith Handelsman

I borrowed this book from my local library, (it appears to be out of print, but there are used copies available on Amazon).  This book is targeted to children and it is simply written and has interesting pictures and fun facts about plants to entertain and educate.

My children, especially my son, are really interested in plants and seeds.   Most of the plants in this book are common, except for the wheat berries, I have nooooo idea where one would buy those, maybe a health food store?  I liked that how the plants sprout and grow was explained and is was made clear that most of the plants would not bear fruit indoors and what could and could not be eaten.

We have started our first project from the book, an avocado tree!The seeds have to be dried overnight and peeled.  Peeling was hard, I found that the pointy bit of my pot scrapper worked great for removing the outer skin with out damaging the inner seed. The seed is then skewered and the bottom is immersed in water.  Now for a few weeks in the dark and we’ll see what happens.  I was hoping to start three seed, but one of them was damaged and broke in half when it was time to be skewered.

I am excited to see if anything will grow and if it doesn’t I’ll just be forced to make more guacamole to get some more seeds, wouldn’t that be terrible!

Guess what we’ll be planting next =D.

I did enjoy this book and it was a quick read, I would buy it if I found it on a yard sale or in a thrift store, but I am not inclined to purchase it for $10.00 online.  So thumps up, but don’t buy, borrow.  I’ll let you guys know how the avocados turn out

Welcome to the Week of Freebies

Today is the first day of the Lincoln Handmade Team week of giveaways!!! Today is Christy of ChristyNelson.net, read her bio here and enter her giveaway here, good luck everyone.

I also wanted to share how well our bottle garden is doing. All the seeds sprouted within five days of planting, even the ones that said to allow 14 - 21 days for growth. I have thinned out the larger ones and taken the tops off so they could get a little more sunlight. My kids are still really interested in this project and we look at how much they have grown every morning. I must also mention that the petunia seedlings are tiny, I had no idea they started out so small.