Summering up the Deck 2013

So last year I posted about summering up my deck...this year is no different.  I started many of the plants myself from seeds and used things I had and repainted or recycled or reused things. 

I love to make an outdoor room outside with comfortable seating and pretty things to look at and touch.  A place comforting and welcoming to make you want to stay a while.  An escape area…

Love me some beautiful begonias! I love angel wing begonias the most…and they are so easy to grow!

I spray painted this old wooden bench to perk it up a bit.  I had previously lacquered it with a clear finish, but that was peeling off.  So out came the power washer and the lacquer peeled right away. It looks a bit like old barn wood now, I didn’t completely cover the wood so it shows through.

The sounds of water running into the fish pond are very relaxing and the pond makes a great place for the pets to drink from all summer.

The weather is so unpredictable as spring weather is…these two pictures were taken within 15 minutes of each other!

I love these blue chairs from Target.  I just had never wanted to pay for $20 each (on sale) for them.  So, I was at an auction last week and purchased these for $2.50 each!!  They were dirty so I power washed them and they look brand new!

The metal glider is still in decent shape so I didn’t even have to repaint it this year…

This white bench (I paid $32 for it) from the same auction…it was one of the reasons I went to the auction.  I love the style and thought it would look great on my deck!  The cement garden balls look great there.

My house from the hammock…

The hammock is a great place to relax after a stressful day.

The hydrangea came back this year. I was very happy to see that!

This has been so far one of my favorite planters this year.  It is a giant flat pot that was given to me…actually I received two of them.

I set the pot on a stump in the yard close to the hammock.

I added some petunias, geraniums, creeping jenny, and tall foxtail grass.

And the great news is the curly willow survived the winter. 

I try to add pops of color to every container I plant.

My cats or dog are always photo bombing my shots!

The blue bench looks great too! 

I planted this old wooden tool box with dianthus and some ground cover…

The umbrella that I made last year was torn up in the hail storm last September; it had multiple holes and tears in it from the giant hail. So I repaired it and sewed some grossgrain ribbon around it to hold it together…funny, but I love the way it looks and I can get another years worth of shade. 

The umbrella adds a lot of shade…

It still looks pretty good.

I bought another $3 umbrella at the auction but don’t have a stand yet, so it’s not up yet.

I love seashells….

The garden frog keeps watch…

Another bargain from the same auction…a Weber grill in great shape for $12.50!  Looks like it was used very little…we have used it every weekend so since I bought it!

Everyone in the family seems to be enjoying getting outside more and hanging out on the deck!

I might be linking to these great parties!

Cement Garden Balls

I made one of these cement “gazing” balls (you can’t really gaze into a cement ball, but you can gaze at it!) last summer and wanted a few more to put with it…

I had been collecting glass light globes from auctions (my brother has an auction company) and the Habitat for Humanity Restore in Columbia.  After last summer’s project, I decided to find some that were made of a lighter weight glass.  The most I paid for one was $2.

One warmer January day I decided to mix up the concrete and fill up the globes. 

I put the globes on some bubble wrap in a box and an old wash basin.  After mixing and pouring the concrete I just let them sit for several days.  The first time I made a concrete garden ball I ended up with a zillion (or maybe more) little cuts on my hands.  When it came time to break the glass off, I taped the box lid up so it was a tall extension on the box.

Then I put the hammer through a hole in a tarp, put a glove on my hand and started hammering away!  I broke most of the glass without even looking at the balls.  And the mess stayed inside the box so it wasn’t hard to clean up after I was done.  I had NO cuts on my hands. Yay!!

Two of the globes had a longer “stems” so they are shaped like mushrooms.  I love the way they turned out.  The polka dot one is really cute and the one with the vertical depressions on it is really cool too!

Eventually my plan is to have some of these sitting out with moss growing on them.  If I remember right though, the concrete needs to cure for a bit so  I left them outside today in the rain…seems like I read something about the pH of the cement or something like that.

One of the balls is totally smooth and round…

I probably got too excited about it feeling like spring, I put up the hammock and even laid in it for a bit. 

Milo and the cats helped me with the photo shoot of course!

As always!

This is the one I made last year and the one below is one of the new ones…love the hobnail look!

I might be linking to some of these great parties!

 

Starting plants at home & Cute plant markers

Nasturtiums, cucumbers, and zinnias…oh my!!  I always plants some seeds to start my summer garden.   Making these fun plant markers

I always mark the seedlings so I know what to plant where…usually I can identify the plants but sometimes I can’t remember.

I used some wooden sticks I have had in the garage for years…I think my son and I last made coasters out of them when he was about eight years old!  Making these markers would be fun to do with the children at home and for great Mother’s Day gifts…plants a flower in a small cup or thrift store teacup and make a marker to go with it!

I painted almost to the end of them with some acrylic paint I had on hand, and marked the plant name on with a black Sharpie.

Milo is my gardening manager. Here he is checking to see if he can grab a stick when I am not watching…

I am trying to grow some cactus this year.  A few of them are up and so far they look like jade plants.

I love zinnias, but don’t love to pay $3 or $4 each for them at the nursery.  I got a mix of 1 to 3 feet sizes and all sorts of colors.

Poppies and moonflower vines are sprouting…

Cucumbers and pumpkins too!

The trays I used are from a party at work, they were plastic covers over sub sandwich trays.  I dug them out of a trash can…they were perfect for seed starter trays!  I might have been teased about being a dumpster digger!  

I can’t wait to dig in the dirt and plant them outside!

I will be linking up to some of these parties!