Pinterest Weekend Project - flower stand

My Pinterest Tuesday is changing to 'Pinterest Weekend Project' because I really don't have time to do many... so when I have time it will take me all weekend! The husband had the baby today for a few hours inside and I made the most of my time alone outside. I got so much done! Only two things to carry on to the week!

My list:
*weed vegetable garden
* mow around outside of garden and to compost pile
*weed whack around flower garden (will be completed Monday)
*finish planting in pots
*wash newly purchased (used) baby swing, play gym, and high chair
*water potted plants
*weed flower garden (will be completed Monday)
*upcycle my newly purchased (used) flower stand
*add mulch to front flower garden

We did some garage saling today and I purchased a flower stand and super cute old footstool/storage thing. I decided to try something from Pinterest and upcycle my flower stand today! The idea I had was similar to this from Pinterest:

To do this (supposedly) you paint the canvas or wood, put stickers over the first coat, paint over the stickers, and when the second coat is dry, remove the stickers and waaahlaaa! You have a cute quote or word on the project.

This did not work for me. And I even took my time!

I love the way it turned out and technically my words are covered anyway so no one would even notice, except me.

This project literally cost me $1 today. I had paint and a brush from a previous project, a tank top rag, spray paint from a Cub Scout derby car and scrapbooking stickers.

My potted plant nook on the front porch looks completely different after today!

My tools.

Originally the letters were supposed to be a dark turquoise color. Next time (if there is a next time) I'll try a different type of stickers. These were foam scrapbooking stickers that I thought would be easier to take off. Turns out I was wrong....

Mid-way done!

I forgot to take a picture of how bad the shelf looked after I took the stickers off and half of the work was dark turquoise and half was brown... UGLY!

I decided to make lemonade. Because the stickers were raised foam there was a little bit of dried paint along the sides of all of the stickers. This made for a really cool textured word instead of a different color. So I painted over the dried paint word and left it. And love it more than the color word.

The flower pot added much added height to my potted plant nook.

Now I must patiently await the flowers, spinach, and fennel to spring forth!

Finished!

 

Pinterest Tuesday Idea

I love when my friends post gardening tips and ideas on Pinterest! This amazing blog had a post about sweet potatoes that I just had to pin and keep forever at my fingertips. It is a basic tutorial on how to grow your own sweet potatoes. Straight and to the point, which is what we all need!

Guess who is the only person in my family of 3 who likes sweet potatoes?? Yup, just me. This winter while planning the garden it didn't seem like a veggie I needed to plant. However, now that we're going to have baby in October or November that means I will not have as much time to get fresh garden produce ready for baby when it starts eating solids. This led to my decision to plant sweet potatoes. The plan is to grow, puree, and freeze the sweet potatoes in preparation of baby needing good homegrown veggies.

The local greenhouse where I will get my starters does not even start selling them until June 1st. So my little plot has been sitting empty for a few weeks, patiently waiting for something to grow. I will plant the sweet potatoes toward the south side of the garden, where they will get the most sun. They require very warm weather so I'm going to do my best to keep them toward the middle each year to maximize the sun for my picky little plans.

Pinterest Tuesday Idea

I love fresh carrots from the garden. When my siblings, cousins and I were younger we would help plant and harvest my grandma's garden. One of my favorite things to do was pick a carrot, 'clean' it on the grass, and eat! Last year I tried to plant carrots. I quickly realized our soil is too heavy (a common problem with my garden).  I planted a row of seeds, and only had one produce, then quickly die...

Over the winter I found a link through Pintrest about growing carrots in pots. This had never even occurred to me before! I have two huge clay pots that were left at he house by the previous owners that I have used for flowers. However, this year they are holding carrot seeds.

One thing I made sure to do was use an organic potting soil and seed starter in the pots. This soil is nice and light so the carrots will stay put but still have a lot of space to grow. I will have to make sure they get watered on a regular basis so the soil does not dry out. So far so good, just waiting for the sprouts!



The 2 large pots hold my carrots, the smaller pot holds spinach. Here, they will get full sun.

Pinterest Tuesday Idea

I've seen quite a few 'pins' dealing with homemade cleaners. I've been nervous to try these only because I don't want to destroy my counter tops, rags, etc.  By purchasing natural products I felt like I was doing enough... However, natural products are expensive. Worth it, but more expensive than their chemical filled opponents. 

During my past few weeks of the pregnancy I have been craving oranges, lemons, basically any fruit.  So when I saw a homemade orange vinegar cleaner on Pinterest I knew the time was right to take the plunge and try it. 

Now, most of my Pinterest boards are things that I 'want' to do. Only about 5% of the pins have been attempted.  This time I'm going to give you the idea and try it at the same time.  The pin I chose is from the blog ourfunwithfive.blogspot.com.  She gives straight forward directions and recipe on how to make the Orange Vinegar Cleaner.

Vinegar + Oranges

The vinegar is already starting to change color.

I left my jar in the window.

I will summarize what I did to follow the directions.

Put orange peels in a jar (used an old Ragu jar)
Pour vinegar in jar (leaving room to add more peels later this week)
Leave jar for 2 weeks
Strain orange peels and pour the orange infused vinegar in a spray bottle for easy use.
Mix 50/50 with water. (more or less depending on your preference)

Use in the kitchen, bathroom, or other basic household areas.
For wood paneling: use mixture of 1/2c olive oil, 1/2c vinegar and 2c warm water.
For wood furniture: use 1/8c of vinegar in spray bottle, 2c warm water. Shake gently to mix. Wipe away with clean dry towel.

Pinterest Tuesday Idea

For this particular Pinterest idea I am going to need to hit a couple garage sales, flea markets, or possibly junk yards. Even though we expanded the garden this year I love the idea of vertical gardening. I love to make the most out of the space I have and not waste an inch. Even if this means growing more than I need, just to give it away to family and friends. 

Last year I didn't plant peas. I thought the soil would be too heavy. I am going to try it this year, and just plant extra in the case that only some of them can grow in our garden. I am going to plant snow peas and shelling peas. I will try this vertical planter for my snow peas and let the shelling peas grow in their bushes.  Here's the idea!

http://www.suitedtotheseasons.com/2010/09/peas-and-raspberries.html 

This homemade trellis is as simple as it looks.

Materials:

2 bike rims

1 metal post

String and wire

Pinterest Addict (I could quit anytime, I just don't want to!)

Hello, my name is Shannon, I'm addicted to Pinterest.
Wow, it felt good to get that off my chest!

Months and months ago I joined Pinterest, completely unaware of the wrath of pinning and scrolling that was about to be unleashed. I know quite a few people who are uninterested in the whole thing, a few that use it for fun, and a few people like me who pin, and pin, and pin, and pin. It would take me years to make or do my pins, I'd gain 100 pounds if I cooked everything on my 'Bite Me' board, and it would cost me thousands of dollars buying the clothes and other useful(less) things I find amazing and intriguing enough to pin.  I've even gotten to the point where I've gone through and deleted a few of my pins because they aren't up to my current (pin)interests.

The greatest part of Pinterest though, is the amazing amount of gardening ideas I have been able to gather (aka hoard, aka pin). There are so many that I'm going to try to feature one per week, starting today!  There have been ideas that I would have never-in-a-million-years thought of. Also, some ideas that I thought would be great, but never had the instructions to go along with my idea. 

If you're on Pinterest, click here for My Garden board.

Tuesday Pinterest Idea:

Container Potatoes and Vertical Gardening Potatoes

I knew of the idea of using raised beds for potatoes. But these two ideas really made me believe in vertical potato growing and small space gardening.  Last year I planted potatoes and they grew well, but small

Idea 1: Layer soil and mulch with potato seeds in a barrel or large container. Treat like you normally would growing any potatoes and at the end of the summer dump out the container for fresh potatoes!



http://www.motherearthnews.com/



Idea 2: Using chicken wire, or similar product, make a square or circle using stakes. Add a layer of mulch/soil to the structure with the option of adding straw along the sides, which helps to keep everything in.  As you add more mulch/soil, start layering with potato seeds or sprouts. Keeping the straw along the whole structure will help keep in moisture as well as the mulch/soil and potatoes.  At the end of the summer, remove the wire and harvest your potatoes!



http://urbanfarmerseward.posterous.com/potato-towers-and-living-fence-posts



http://www.hillgardens.com/potatoes.htm

Please visit the links attached to the photos to get all the details on how to build a structure.

All three are great websites and have other great information.

I'll post my photos and how I put mine together within the month (or less).