Challenge Accepted - Pumpkin Tablescape

Hosted by Cynthia Shesobless and Grandma Sandy.
Here's my pumpkin tablescape for the #GreatPumpkinFallChallenge2019

Here's another placement inspired by the Great Pumpkin challenge.

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Dollar Tree Haul - July 2019

This month's Dollar Tree haul is very much centered around items that would be enjoyable to a young boy, specifically my great grandson in this case. The Dollar Tree is great for putting together a miniature garden that is kid friendly because they have plenty of toys that are indestructible (compared to my typical decor). 

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Three Store Haul - April, 2019

These flowers were purchased from Lowe's. These 6-packs were $0.99 each. I purchased 20 of them. This is a great deal for $20. It may not look like a lot of flowers for a yard, but boy is this an abundance when it comes to my container gardens! I haven't even got around to planting all of these.

The 99 Cents Only store has really stepped up their game in terms of quality in the last few years. I'm amazed at the fact that these colorful, metal decor pieces are only $0.99 each! And each of these bulb packets were the same price - they're going to be such beautiful flowers! Clockwise, I purchased Gladioli, Peacock Orchid, Dutch Iris and Muscari.

This shepherd's hook was only $1 - incredible!

This collection was purchased from the Dollar Tree, one of my favorite bargain stores. In the rear are some pots, a big box of mixed seeds and a metal trellis (one of four I purchased). There's also a glass jar, some butterfly decorations and three different lights, that are also pictured below.

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Fairy of the Flame

I found this fairy recently during a trip to a secondhand store, after my trip to Veggiepalooza. She was  $5 and I also purchased the green pebbles from the Dollar Tree. The container and succulent cuttings were all things I already had, so this garden was only $6. Wow! What a vibrant garden!

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Garden A Day Challenge - Day 12, Walk the Dog

This tiny garden was created with clipping from my garden. I purchased the tiny terra cotta pot for $1 at Dollar Tree. All of the miniature decorations were Christmas gifts from my son and daughter-in-law.

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Dollar Tree Container Gardens

Here are the container gardens I created out of the remaining Dollar Tree haul. It's currently occupying an area that is already dedicated to a name so they will be moved to their own location soon. I hope to continue to add to "Dollar Tree Village" (still not sure about that name) in the years to come.

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Fairy Garden Class - Dollar Tree Garden

 Greetings My Fairy Folks! I'm back with another Fairy Garden Class. I hope you are enjoying them. I recently spent $15 at The Dollar Tree (click here to read that post) on a handful of fairy garden items that included fairies, gnomes, houses, bird houses, little critters and more - nearly 30 pieces. 

This class will show you how I created one container garden using some of my haul and in my next post I'll share the rest of "Dollar Tree Village" (the name isn't official) to show how I utilized all of the pieces to create a small community.

For this container garden I used a pot I already had and gathered some succulent clippings. If you happen to know anyone that has some 

succulent plants in their yard, ask them if you can take some clippings. Clipping a succulent plant will not harm the plant and it will strengthen your friendship with the homeowner! Clippings are a very cheap way to create container gardens and succulents thrive easily. Finally, succulents are great for container gardens because they are small yet beautiful. 

Any clipping you take from a succulent plant will need to be laid out for at least 3-4 days. This allows the clipping point to callous over. If you plant a succulent without allowing it time to dry, you risk root rot. 

Succulents are very special. They do not require too much attention - they require watering maybe once a week (or even less in colder

 weather). The reason for this is that unlike most plants that have flat leaves, a succulent plant has fat, fleshy leaves that actually store water! Some succulents can even bloom beautiful flowers. I highly suggest that if you have not tried to incorporate succulents into your garden yet, do so soon. 

Since this plant needs little watering, having them in a yard with automatic sprinklers might not be a great idea. In that case, I'd suggest having them in an area that the sprinklers cannot reach, or in a container that can be moved.

The tallest succulent pictured will have its lower leaves pulled off so that there is a long, bare stem to put in the soil.

I prepared three containers but only used one for this particular project. First, a coffee filter that will allow drainage but prevent small gravel from escaping. Secondly, some large pebbles that also aid in drainage and prevent the soil from retaining too much water. Third step will be filling it with soil. You will want to fill the the inner ring and never to the rim.

I planned the layout of the plants to allow a few of the fairy houses to look tucked into the greenery.

The roof of these buildings almost blend right into the greenery.

Adding small pebbles over the soil allow for a flat surface and helps the soil retain moisture. I used some glass stones to create pathways to each building.

This archway was created by using a flexible stem from a succulent plant.

This container garden looks good from any angle. Here's the back.

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Dollar Tree Haul

On a recent trip to the Dollar Tree, my granddaughter saw a handful of fairy garden items and gave me a call. 

"Would you like me to pick them up for you?" she asked.

"Yes, but don't spend more than $20."

She was able to buy one of everything and stay under budget.

I took them all out of their package, rinsed them off and set them up for a photo shoot. Almost 30 pieces for $15. That's amazing!

I plan on using these items to create low-budget container gardens and am excited to see how many I can create with such a big haul.

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Children At Play Series - Pt 7: Speed Track

This little cul-de-sac in my garden has been transformed into a speed track for children to play in. I realize that Disney's Cars is pretty popular and found these two at The Dollar Tree which was the inspiration for this garden.

The area is large enough for small children to drive the cars around the succulent feature and has some colorful plants surrounding the area to liven it up. Pinecones line the perimeter of the track.

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Children at Play Series - Pt 1 and 2: Dinosaurs

This series will focus on inexpensive container gardens you can do at home with young children. Container gardens are a fun way to expand your child's creativity and is a good use of their free time. The two container gardens in this post will focus on wicker baskets and dinosaurs.

This wicker basket was purchased at a thrift store for a few dollars. I would suggest you try a few thrift shops before buying new; thrift stores typically have decent wicker baskets and it seems silly to buy new ones considering it will be getting dirty and weathered quickly.

As usual with succulents, I used clippings to fill this basket. Pop in a few toys and let your kids use their imagination to create a prehistoric story! These dinosaurs were $1 each.

With this second, smaller basket, I bought smaller dinosaurs (an 8 pack for $1). All dinosaurs were from Dollar Tree.

Dinosaurs +

Basket of clippings = 

Prehistoric storytime!

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Fairy Garden Class - Garden Under $10, Part 4

For my fourth and final "Garden Under $10" class series this month, I wanted to round it out with an honest to goodness, from the ground up account of cost. In many of my other classes, I typically will use a container I already have or decorations I've used in past gardens and I realize that not all of you have these type of things on hand. The total cost of this garden is actually $11, but if you're going to be picky about going one dollar over... I don't know what to tell you. The point of this class is to prove that you can create something beautiful and living with very little money.

My shopping list consists of:

Two bags potting soil - $2

container - $2

Two bags of decorative sand - $2

Decorative rocks - $1

(the above were all purchased at the .99 cent store)

Two plants from Home Depot - $4

TOTAL = $11

The total could have been lower if the .99 cent store had plants, which they sometimes do, but this wasn't the case.

Because of the large size of the container and the limited amount of soil I had, I first placed a small pot upside down with a saucer on top to fill in some empty space. The saucer allowed a level base to place the soil on and get this project started.

Here I've planted the two chives purchased from Home Depot. Chives are hearty plants, give a unique look to your garden and if you don't mind the smell of onion, it's a good option (I love using them in my Ocean scenes). I've placed an old T-shirt over the potting mix which allows water to reach the soil yet keeps the decorative sand from sinking (saving money because you don't have to keep replacing it).

I chose fine blue sand to represent water and a tan sand to represent, well, sand to create a shoreline scene. I placed the rocks in clumps around the plants and the large rock in the middle was from my yard. A few simple finger strokes make the illusion of motion in the "water."

The large pods I added were plucked from the ground near my place of business and add the illusion of sea creatures.

 Finally, I had some very small shells from a previous project that I spread throughout the scene to give it a pop of color. Colorful pebbles can be found almost anywhere if you take a good look. And you could even save yourself that $1 on small rocks if you took a morning to go for a hike and collect some out in the wild. Wild rocks are free and that will be one more thing to mention when someone comments on how nice your garden looks.

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Fairy Garden Class - Garden Under $10, Part 2

For this week's "Garden Under $10" segment, I had some help from my youngest granddaughter, Lily. Among other projects we've been working on (which I will reveal later this year), we decided to choose this existing container garden as the base for a new spruce up project.

As you can see, it's pretty disheveled but the Dusty Miller and Viola have survived quite nicely. Accents include a white picket fence and a saucer (it's under all the rubble, I promise). All of this and the terra cotta pot are not factored into the final cost of this spruce up.

With all the junk out of the way, I put a small layer of new soil. When sprucing up any container garden, it isn't necessary to replace all the soil but it is a good idea to put a fresh top layer. This will allow fresh nutrients to permeate down through the existing soil. I began to place some new flowers from Home Depot that I got as part of a six pack.

My shopping list includes: 

Six pack of flowers - $2.50

English Moss  - $4.95

Three Garden Gnomes - $1.00

Mushroom House - $1.00

The gnomes and mushroom house were from the Dollar Tree and the flowers and moss were from Home Depot. The ground cover (green pebbles) was gifted to me and can be found at any pet store because they're aquarium pebbles. If you know of any friends who are getting rid of an aquarium, tell them to re-home the pebbles to you!

Once all the flowers and moss were planted, the saucer was placed and then the house on top of that. The pebbles were spread out and then the gnomes were placed. Fairy gardens are a great, low-cost way to spend time with children. It allows them to be creative and get involved with hands-on projects while at the same time teaching them a little bit about the living world around us.

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Fairy Garden Class - Garden Under $10, Part 1

This month I'll be doing something a little different with the fairy garden class. Not only is the theme "Garden Under $10" (which is a loose definition because they're made with items I already have from previous fairy gardens that simply need a spruce up), but I'm also going to spread them out to four different posts so I can focus on one garden each week. My granddaughter thinks this is just a ploy to allow me to post more pictures of each fairy garden. I neither confirm or deny this.

This is what I started with; a container garden that I used as a Winter scene.  I redo most of my fairy gardens once or twice a year to try and stay in season and, if the scene calls for it, to replace dead plants or ones that have become "too big for their britches." Since it's not Winter anymore and the spider plants are getting too big to be managed, I am going to relocate them and remove the white "snow" pebbles to start.

I took out the mushroom house as well and put an overturned saucer that will offer a flat, raised platform.

I nestled in a cluster of white and lavender alyssum in place of the spider plant here to add some more color that the Winter scene was lacking.

Irish Moss is a much better option for ground coverage than "snow" pebbles for a lively Spring or Summer scene.

The Dollar Tree is a great store and if there isn't one in your area, try thrift stores. I found these three fairies for a total of $1 and the house was $1 (the gate was something I got at a yard sale years ago which I ended up using behind the house to prop up the plant behind it). The Irish moss was $4.95 and the alyssum was .80, bringing the total spruce up cost to $7.75.

I borrowed pebbles and small rocks from other fairy gardens around my yard to fill in the space the moss does not cover and I think it turned out very cute. It only takes a few dollars to liven up an out-of-season fairy garden.

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