Bottle Trees and Garden Art

I love my garden art about as much as I love my garden. My newest addition was made by my son, Zack. When I saw Ginger's Bottle tree (Law of the Land blogger) I knew I had to have one. Zack is an artist with a welder so he was drafted. He finished my bottle tree a few weeks ago. It occupies a place of honor in my little round bed out front. I was ticked when I found the pretty blue bottle in my dad's barn. I love the way Zack curved little wires around some of my bottles - they look like metal vines. By the way, if you live in middle Tennesse, Zack will make you a bottle tree for a reasonable price. leave me a comment if you are interested.

Some more of my favorite garden art objects are around my pond. I recycled the fish from a fish bowl base - The little frog and snail are pot stands that I used to rest him on. He was just the thing to hold my cactus pot. Who could not like the little pottery turtle and her nest of pebble eggs?

There's a blue bird (over sized to say the least) hiding in my kitchen window box. I'm surprised that the wren bird didn't build a nest in it. And my oldest and most favorite is the cherub sitting by my front steps. this piece of art has moved with me three times - I hope it is home for good now -I'm too old to move again and it is too!

How to deal with fallen leaves - don't!

I was so thrilled when I read this article from Fine Gardening E-Newsletter! I have been mulching leaves with my mower for years but this year my "yard man" son warned me that I am messing up the ph in my soil by mulching my tons of leaves. Then along comes this newsletter. No more raking and bagging for me!

Improve your soil by raking less
by Terry Ettinger

If you dread the annual fall leaf-raking marathon, I have good news for you: Raking and collecting leaves every autumn is a tradition without scientific basis. Research has proven that mowing leaves into your lawn can improve its vigor, and observation shows that unraked leaves in planting beds don’t smother shade-tolerant perennials.

Based upon research at several uni­versities, the organic matter and nutrients from leaves mown into lawn areas has been proven to improve turf quality. At Michigan State, researchers set a rotary mower to cut at a height of 3 inches and then mowed an 18-inch-deep layer of leaves into test plots. That’s the equivalent of 450 pounds of leaves per 1,000 square feet. The tests resulted in improved soil and healthy lawns with few remnant leaves visible the following spring.

You can achieve similar results if you set your mower to cut at the same height as in the Michigan State study, and mow at least once a week during peak leaf fall when your lawn reaches a height of 4 inches. Leaves shred most efficiently when slightly damp, so mow after a light dew. If you follow these simple guidelines, you will never rake another leaf and improve the quality of your soil.

Plant Propagation Links and Tricks

I promised my die hard plant swapping friends from the Middle Tennessee Plant Swap last weekend that I would post a follow up on our little propagation discussion. It was so darn cold last Saturday that I couldn't think straight and we all were too cold for any long lecture.

Here are a few links to suppliers of propagation equipment and some of my favorite forums. I'll start with the Plant Propagation on the Garden web forums. It's a good place to post your questions and read what others have posted that may be helpful. Of course our own Tennessee Gardening forum is a good one for folks who are reading this other than the plant swap people.

We talked a lot about Intermittent Mist Systems. Morton's Horticultural Products in Smithville, TN is my favorite local supplier and if you don't want to drive there you can order on line. This is where I purchased my Electronic Leaf to control my mist system. I find a yearly pilgrimage to Smithville and McMinnville well worth the trip. I love to go to Mary's Greenhouse in the spring. Mary actually has about 14 greenhouses full of wonderful plants at great prices.

When I build my next greenhouse I think I will purchase a kit from Farmtek. They have some real nice complete kits that are not too terribly expensive considering all that comes with them.

I don't want to forget Mike McGroarty's web site. His message board is one of the best (you have to enter his site to find it) and you can purchase the Easy plant Propagation book from him or you can find it on Amazon (I bought a used copy).

Here are a few more pictures from the plant swap but the very best ones are from Tngreenthumb and you can find them here.

Free Plants, Gardening information, Good Food and Fun!

If you live any where in Middle Tennessee or would like a great road trip this weekend, we would love to see you at the Middle Tennessee Plant Swap.

I'll be speaking on plant propagation (focusing on intermitten mist) after all the plant swap madness and lunch. It is so much fun! Bring what ever plants you would like to trade, your favorite snack food and be prepared to go home with lots of free plants, some new friends and some new knowledge about growing more plants. Don't worry too much about what you have to trade - there is usually more than enough to go around and lots of us bring things that we just would like to give away. I went home this spring with way more than I brought.

This fun event is held twice a year at Henry Horton State Park.

It is helpful to bring a table for the plants you want to trade. I found out last time that a little red wagon is invaluable! More info is on the MTPS web site and you can find posts about what folks are bringing and other information on the Garden Web forums too.

The plant swap will happen rain or shine. Hope to see you there.

Scrapbook Freebies

As you know, I'm all about saving money whether in the garden or my craft pursuits. with that in mind, I want to share some of my favorite web sites for free scrapbooking supplies.

I found this one today and downloaded some fishing art that will be perfect for scrapbook pages of my son and grandson's fishing pictures.My Digiscrapping Corner

I spent way too much time on this one! I downloaded a bunch of great stuff, The cute little felt hearts at the beginning of this blog came from this site. http://scrapping-delights.blogspot.com/

This last one has lots of links to free and cheap scrapbooking items. It's called Creative Busy Hands check it out.

I've found some fun vintage halloween art that I've made into digital files for scrapbooking and card projects - you can find them on my Artfire Studio and ETSY Shop too.

With all the rain we have had lately here in Tennessee, I've spent more time with my indoor hobbies. I have lots of projects started and some great ideas that are on the back burner. Now that our studio is restored (after the flood) I'm ready to get back to work.