Verse of the Day

Proverbs 9:10 "To be wise you must first have reverence for the LORD. If you know the Holy One, you have understanding." (GNT)

Planting Blueberries

http://www.facebook.com/home.php#!/notes/johnsons-garden-centers/it-takes-two-to-tango/10150135010716227


Watch this blog this weekend for my latest adventure in "yard farming"  LOL 

♫ "I Am Free" - Newsboys ♫

What a beautiful sight! Ode to a plowed garden......

An injury had me flat out on the couch,

with ice bags a chillin'

t'was trapped in the house.

My knee was so swollen,

it looked like a melon!

With surgery pending

I was crazy and yellin'

"No garden for me in 2010"

Who knew a year later

I'd weep at the sight,

at a patch of tilled garden

and golden sunlight!

There's nothing like DIRT!

Beautifully tilled by  my dear husband John.

Cowboy Boots Planter

Cowboy Boots Rock!

I was looking for toddler sized cowboy boots because I was inspired by my  favorite blog

 "Prairie Woman" by Ree Drummond.

However, I only found these cute bulging cow eyes rain boots........

Then Mike my soon-to-be Son-in-Law gave me two pairs of his old work boots.......FABULOUS!

So how did I turn them into the cute planters that are now on my front porch? 

I'll show you....

Step One:   Remove any lining, padding or insoles out of the insides of the boots.  Any fabric will just get moldy. Yuck!

Step Two:   Use a drill gun and drill holes in the bottom of the boots.  Don't forget to drill in the heels.



Well, Mike's boots didn't need holes drilled in them!  He had already done that for me.  :)

Step Three:  fill the foot portion with gravel.  This adds weight so they don't knock over and it adds drainage.  Don't try to fill the entire boot with soil.  It won't be heavy enough at the bottom and it won't drain well enough.  Use marbles, or pea gravel, but not chat off your driveway....just trust me.

Step Four:  Drill holes in the plastic lids.  I used butter tub lids and gladware lids.  Whatever is handy to use and it flexible and drillable.



Step Five: push a lid into the boot on top of the gravel.  This will hold the soil and not let is dissolve into the bottom of the boot.  Just experiment and cut it to fit snug. 

Step Six: Fill it with quality, lightweight potting soil with fertilizer in it.  I actually used my own mix that I make myself so I added a bit of  slow release granular fertilizer. 

Last Step:  Add a plant or seeds......I'm cheap!  So I used seeds.  I will post pictures to show you their progress as they grow!  In Mike's boots I planted dwarf basil because it will make a 10 inch tall round bushy plant.  In the cow eye rain boots I planted chives because I wanted it to look like hair or grass sprouting out of the top!

This kind of planter will look great in that little where a round pot is just too boring!  I'm going to place the rain boot on my patio table and the cowboy boots by the back door or on the front steps.  They just add a bit of whimsy and reuse an item that would otherwise be tossed into the trash!  Besides they are cute!

If you give this a try...send me a picture....I would love to see it.

Do you know what this is???

Does anyone recognize this pretty blue can?

It's an old milk pail.  It was my grandmother Helen's.  I love it. 

Can't use it for real food anymore, so I use it for a very noble use......

Organic trash!  

My grandma called it the "chicken bucket"

but since I don't have chickens (yet)

I keep it on my kitchen counter so it's handy to dump stuff in.

I put the stuff would put in my compost pile. 

Coffee grounds,egss shells, veggie clippings,  

anything I can put in the compost! 

no dairy or meat scraps allowed!

More early Spring happenings.....

WHAT IN THE WORLD?????????

"Thank you"  to my soon-to-be son in law Mike for these old boots.  I went second hand shopping
for toddler sized cowboy boots and rain boots to make into cute little planters for my front porch.  No such items to be found.....but Mike gave me these and they will do just fine.........

I did find these cute rain boots at the Goodwill.  They have big blue bulging cow eyes!  LOL  Won't they look cute with something growing out of the top? 

Let me know what you think...what will annual type plant will look cute in these? 

Watch for this project in future blogs this weekend.........