The great experiment:  I saw this idea on pintrest.   Add a super absorbent baby diaper to a hanging basket to retain moisture.   Well, if nothing else it will prevent all the water from running right through.
I am thinking that the diaper will wick away the moisture from the roots ...  we will see.  I'm only
planting one hanging basket this way as a test.

I am planting the basket with petunias.  Ai ! look at these seeds.  Why are petunia seeds so expensive?
Is it really difficult to harvest the seeds?  Maybe they could save some $$ if they didn't put the seeds
in this little plastic container with a flip top.

This is what the basket/pot looks like day one.  Petunias and lobelia ..

Would love a comment from any one who has tried the diaper in the basket.

If I start my own hanging basket/pot .  I usually seed right into the basket, rather than add transplants.
(that is, if I start early enough).  This photo from summer 2011.

I'm planning on going to the Garden Bloggers Fling in May.
Woop!  Woop!

Click on the Asheville Fling photo in the sidebar for info.

I'm so excited to meet some of my own tribe....

photo from mycornerofkaty.com   ...  I'm so jealous.  Would love this sign.

I'm going to make a sign like this for the entrance to the gardens.   If for no other reason but to remind myself.

photo: aquietierstorm/tumblr

Felt heart topiary with the blue bird of happiness.

A fun afternoon project.  I cut the hearts out of printer paper the way we did in elementary school - just fold the paper in half and cut - unfold and both sides are the same, adjust the shape by refolding then
cutting a little more.

Lay the cut out heart on felt and cut two.  Sew all the embellishments on one side of the heart, sew hearts together leaving a little opening to shove in the fiber fill.  Stitch shut.

Carefully snip a couple of stitches open at to bottom point and top middle to run a small wood dowel through.  Add a couple of felt balls (for interest) to keep the hearts seperated.

Fun centerpiece for Valentines day.

Decided to make some felt hearts for Valentines.    You can't tell in these photographs but I added red floss to the tops so I can hang them.  I also added yarn poms and felt balls to the floss for more interest.

Have fun making Valentines.

English Garden at the Chicago Botanic Garden

I love the PBS show P Allen Smith.  His garden show and his cooking show.
This is a little two minute video about an english walled garden.

I'm not a formal gardener, probably because I'm on a flat prairie and there are no walls and it's windy and it isn't conducive to formal anything. But I love to look at these type of gardens.
So, enjoy the video.

Seed Starting

OK, this is a seed starting video.  Not the way I start seeds, BUT -- I posted this video because
on the left side of the little greenhouse is the coolest wall hanging - slash - garden art.
It's a flower, I think made out of a galvanized trash can??    Whatever -- I want one.

Have fun starting your seeds, however you do it.