THE DIRT: DIY Easy and Practical Potting Table

I have a quick and easy DIY for you today. I’ve been wanting to organize my backyard potting area for the longest time. Inspiration struck when I saw this super easy cinder block and wood plank table on Freunde Von Freunden. So pretty and simple. In fact, it was such an easy DIY that my son built it for me in a few hours.

THE DIRT: DIY Butterfly Bath and Feeder

I’ve been so inspired by all the bee and butterfly baths I’ve seen on Pinterest I decided to make one for my garden. These are so simple to put together and you may already have everything you need on hand.

THE DIRT: Herbes de Provence Bouquets

To me, one of the best parts of spring is spending time in my garden. This year my herbs are doing quite well, except my Basil. Our dog ate the first plant and my replacement Basil is struggling. But everything else is thriving so I did some research on Herbes de Provence and Herb Bouquet Garni.

First up though, a little tour of my herb garden.

WEEKEND INSPIRATION: Tomato Gardening

Happy Friday everyone. Can you believe it, we’re heading into March and with it comes all the goodness of spring. Here in Southern California, it’s definitely time to start thinking about the spring vegetable garden. I am determined to get a good crop of tomatoes this year and so I’m going to be doing some further research on some of these tomato varieties.

THE DIRT: Paper Whites in Jars

There’s nothing like ringing in the new year with fresh flowers on the table. Sort of like a fresh start.

THE DIRT: Preserving your bumper crop of basil

Did you plant basil this year? I love it. It’s so fun to just snip a bit off and instantly add flavor to your dish. But the basil grows so fast and there’s no way I can use it that quickly. I did a little research and wanted to try a way to preserve my fresh basil. There are loads of options. You can make basil oil, you can freeze small amounts of basil in oil or butter, you can blanch it or you can make basil salt. I was intrigued!

THE DIRT: Brown Paper Seedling Pots {tomato plants}

This year I planted tomato seeds instead of buying mature plants. I was so surprised how many seedlings I got. So many in fact, I needed to thin them out and I didn’t have the heart to throw away the smaller plants.

THE DIRT: THE GRO PROJECT

This post brought to you by Miracle-Gro. All opinions are 100% mine.


Last week I showed you my little Japanese Spring Garden Seedlings. I’ve been taking really good care of them and I’m so excited about the possibility of actually harvesting these yummy veggies. The seedlings are Kabocha, Japanese Eggplant and Japanese Cucumber. You can read more about these vegetables here.

The Dirt: spring japanese vegetable garden

I’m so excited to get my vegetable garden going. My mom brought over these little seedlings the other day. Her neighbor gave them to her and my mom passed them along to me.

The Dirt: a simple avocado seed gift

The other day, I had the best avocado I’ve ever had. It was so perfect – ripe, creamy with none of those weird bruised parts. I love avocados. You can use them in sandwiches, make guacamole, add them to salads or top off traditional Mexican dishes with them. And what would a California Roll be without the avocado?

The Dirt: good things at Curbside Chaos

This post brought to you by Bulbs. Dig, Drop, Done.. All opinions are 100% mine.

Can you imagine winning a $5,000 yard makeover. There are so many things I would do to our yard – starting with new privacy trees or hedges along our back yard wall. From there I would redo all my flower beds so I could have beautiful cut flowers year round. It would be amazing!

The Dirt: a nursery and new elm tree

I recently posted about our poor front yard white birch tree and it’s untimely end. So sad but I do have a huge supply of twigs and branches for projects. I also mentioned that I was on the hunt for a new tree for our front yard.

The Dirt: twigs, branches and a new tree

This is a Sponsored post written by me on behalf of Miracle-Gro for SocialSpark. All opinions are 100% mine.


In the past, I’ve made several projects using twigs and branches. Most of the twigs came from the White Birch tree that was in our front yard and provided shade for our dining room bay window. Sadly, our birch tree died. I kept hoping it would come back but it was not to be.

I had someone help take it out and asked him to save me all the branches and twigs. I knew what was coming. When my husband got home he gave me that look. You know the one… 

The Dirt: an inspired herb pot

I’ve been brainstorming holiday gift ideas lately and created this pretty blue herb pot that was inspired by a picture I saw recently.

The Dirt: forcing bulbs for holiday color

This is a Sponsored post written by me on behalf of Scotts Miracle-Gro for SocialSpark. All opinions are 100% mine.


Even though we barely waved goodbye to summer, you know what happens once we hit September… our lives get even busier and the holidays are here before we even know it. This year, I’m planning ahead. I want to give gifts of beautiful paper white narcissus and red amaryllis. I am also envisioning a beautiful blooming centerpiece.

We always think of bulbs as a spring flower but you can cheat nature by forcing the bulbs. All you have to do is have them hibernate a little earlier and then depending on when you wake them up you’ll have fall and winter blooms.

The Dirt: forget me nots and e-book review

Back in April I posted about a Mother’s Day centerpiece idea. I planted some Forget Me Not seeds in a basket. You can see the original post here. I’m happy to say the seeds sprouted, the plants grew and I have beautiful Forget Me Not flowers blooming.

They are the sweetest, simplest little flower but the color is so striking.

See that hole in the leaf on the bottom left?

Here’s the culprit… I love that the butterflies are enjoying the flowers but I think their babies are eating the leaves.

It’s okay. There are enough flowers for the butterflies, their babies and me. 

These make me smile.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

You know what else makes me smile? Suzy of Suzy’s Artsy Crafty Sitcom. Actually, she makes me laugh out loud. Hysterical stories alternate with artsy genius on the Sitcom. Suzy recently launched an e-book centered around one of her most popular projects – the faux stained glass peacock. The e-book contains the pattern for the Majestic Peacock and instructions for two completely different projects using the pattern. Plus, ideas for seven other projects.   

Suzy’s Majestic Peacock is an original design and it’s stunning. The e-book has step-by-step instructions that are easy to follow and photos highlighting the process.

For more information or to order one of Suzy’s e-books click here to visit Suzys Artsy Craftsy Sitcom.

Thanks for visiting.

Carolyn

The Dirt: time to protect our new fence

This is a Sponsored post written by me on behalf of Flood Wood Care for SocialSpark. All opinions are 100% mine.

Did I tell you that our backyard block wall fell down. Probably not. But it did. Several months ago, we noticed that our wall was leaning toward our neighbor’s yard. Was it just our imagination or was it leaning a little more each day? We decided we better replace the wall before it became dangerous and started the process to get a new fence.

We were all set to go and construction was set to start when I got a text from my neighbor. “Wall fell down”. We all met up in our pajamas at the crumbled wall just shaking our heads. No one was hurt and there wasn’t any major damage to either property.

So here’s our new fence. We went with a wood fence and like it so much better than the old leaning block wall. The only problem is that in our haste, we haven’t had time to finish and protect it with stain.

That’s why I was really excited to be introduced to the Flood® Wood Care brand. Flood® Wood Care was founded in 1841 by a family of painters and has earned the reputation as “The Wood Care Specialist” with products like exterior wood stains and wood cleaners. They are recognized in the wood care industry for reliable protection. Perfect – I need reliable for our new fence.

Look how pretty this outdoor deck is that was done in Flood® Wood Care products. Now that it’s summer, we really need to get moving on our fence. Not only are we spending more time outdoors but we want to protect the new fence before it gets too hot and of course before winter. Now is definitely the time.

The siding on these houses is so pretty. I like a company that’s been around for over 150 years. I’m certain that Flood® wood products will be the best choice for our new fence.

And here’s great news for you. Flood® Wood Care is currently having a sweepstakes - The Take it Easy Sweepstakes to be exact! If you win, Flood® Wood Care will provide all the supplies AND labor to prep and stain your deck PLUS $2,000 for the deck party of your dreams. It's always easy with Flood products, but it just doesn't get any easier than this! 

Learn more here at the Take it Easy Sweepstakes.

Thanks for visiting.

Carolyn

The Dirt: dollar store steamer to flower basket

Photo Source

 

Here’s a fun and budget friendly idea for a Mother’s Day gift {or any occasion gift}. 

I found this wire steamer basket at the dollar store. You could do so many things with this basket. Hang several for kitchen storage, use them for ribbons or scraps of fabric, or actually use it to steam vegetables.

I decided to use mine as a planter for a Mother’s Day gift.

I lined the basket with moss and gave it a good soaking. 

The steamer basket handles double as legs. Or, you could hang the basket using the handles. 

Once filled with potting soil, I planted Forget Me Not seeds. 

Photo Source

Forget Me Not flowers are so pretty and delicate. I love the gorgeous blue color and the cheery yellow center. Here’s how legend says the flower got it’s name.

According to Wildflower Information.org, legend says that the forget me not received its name when a medieval German knight picnicking with his true love along the banks of a river decided to gather some blue flowers at the water's edge. As a flash flood appeared and swept him away, he threw the bouquet to his lover and cried, "Forget me not!"

 

Photo Source

I can’t wait for my basket to start growing and I’m envisioning an abundance of pretty blue flowers like the ones above. Fingers crossed!

In the meantime, this dragonfly plant stick will stand guard over my seeds. 

P.S.
{One week later...}

 

Thanks for visiting.

Carolyn

I link at the wonderful parties listed here and

   

The Dirt: gardening for dessert

This post brought to you by Whitney Farms. All opinions are 100% mine.

If you follow my blog, you may have noticed a lot of posts about my garden lately. My new tomatoes {above}, herbs and strawberries are doing nicely and I’ve weeded and prepped my flower beds for spring. Now it’s time to take care of the plants until the harvest is ready in the summer.

One of my existing and neglected plants is a dwarf lemon tree. It’s been in a pot for years and I think in all that time it’s yielded one sad lemon. I recently moved the pot to a better location and was so surprised to see tons of lemon buds on the tree. Check it out - look at all those buds.

I would be thrilled if my tree actually produced lemons this year. I’m going to really take care of it {uh, watering it regularly might help} and give it proper plant food. Hooray for Whitney Farms®. They sent me two bags of their Plant Food and Tomato and Vegetable Food. It’s 100% natural organic plant food containing only ingredients from the Earth. I like that it’s natural with low to no dust and no manure odor.

I added the recommended amount of the plant food to my potted tree, mixed the food into the soil and watered it.

Photo Source

It’s nice to know that my produce will be naturally grown in organic soil. Especially since I want to make some of my favorite desserts - like these lemon bars.

Photo Source

Or, if I really get a great crop, some preserved lemons.

So hopefully, my little lemon buds will go from these

to...

Photos Source

these!

Thank you Whitney Farms(R).

I can't wait to make lemon bars with my home grown organic lemons.

If you want to try out Whitney Farms® click on the link for a $3.00 coupon.

Thanks for visiting.

Carolyn