DIY Natural planters from Tree Stumps

Just back from NYC, one of my favorite places. Saw the Great Comet of 1812 on Broadway with Josh Groban . . .  SO GOOD! Also went to Sleep No More, a show I had seen about five years ago and still find very interesting (and exhausting). 

After several days of fine dining, shopping, and walking all over the city I am happy to be home. My home away from home happened to be the new and awesome 1 Hotel Central Park, which I would highly recommend. The hotel is eco-friendly and decorated in natural elements including 24,000 plants. The lobby was gorgeous and made me want to redecorate my house, or at least add more plants.

I especially liked the way they used old stumps and blocks of wood as planters, which is so do-able!

Block of wood hollowed out for planter.

Natural planter from wood stump

So many options, each planter unique!

I am so totally going to do this.  

Auction Bricks into garden shed floor

It's summertime in Wisconsin and I've been busy going to auctions, one of my favorite activities. SW and I had discussed buying pavers to cover the dirt floor in the garden shed (which is rapidly developing into a "she-shed".) It was a great idea, but it wasn't until I bought an auction lot of old bricks that I was able to come up with a plan.

The bricks had been collected by someone (thank you someone!) from various places. They were different colors and ages, some quite old. My favorites were the yellow bricks, but there was a limited number of those. Eventually I decided to use the yellow bricks to form a "sun" motif.

Here is a photo of the bricks after we loaded them into our pickup truck and hauled them home. Although the bricks only cost us $15.00 we were a little concerned that the heavy load would break a spring in the truck! It was really riding low to the ground. But we got lucky . . . and home, no harm done. These bricks were piled up in back of a barnyard, so we first loaded them up for transport then unloaded them into our garage. That's two times moved, and then a third time to the garden from the garage. An average brick weighs six pounds. So when I say we moved a ton of bricks, I'm really not exaggerating!

A ton of bricks!

Moving that ton of bricks on a very hot day!

SW and I are not professional bricklayers but we learned some things by going to Pinterest where you can get good ideas and then link to step-by-step instructions for DIY.  We were quite pleased with the finished product and will enjoy sitting in the garden even more than we did before.

Take Care! --The Elevated Bag Lady

Upcycled Farm Cart

Summertime, and the living is easy . . .

It's been a glorious summer in Southern Wisconsin and all that hard work planting the garden is paying off.

My beautiful veggies, more than I can eat! So why not fix up a little cart to give away the excess?

SW and I put our brains and talent together to turn a garage sale find into our very own farm cart. 

Combining an old lawn cart, salvaged wood, and corrugated metal (for roof), along with a little paint and some stencils, we had fun making this cart uniquely ours. A rotating turnstile of trays on the left and a box off to the right for storing bags or other items, and we're all set!

Before

Ok, back to the garden! Stay cool! See you later--Elevated Bag Lady

How does your Garden Grow?

Well, my garden grows when I am not here!  Been away for 10 days and came back to this bounty.  SO EXCITING!  Now to share before I go out of town again. I wonder if the local community center takes fresh produce?

Enjoyed a beet and carrot juice this morning, frothy and cool.  Now to look on one of my favorite apps, Yummly, for stir fry veggie recipies.  YUM! 

Garden Fun

 

It's not just 5 o'clock somewhere...it's 5 o'clock in the Elevated Bag Lady's garden!  This is my first real summer at my Wisconsin farm, and gardening has been on my bucket list for years.  I honestly feel like I'm cheating.  In Wisconsin you just stick stuff in the ground and it GROWS!  It's really pretty amazing. 

There was a pre-established garden on the farm, but we decided to relocate it to be in front of this old horse lean-to.  It seemed like a fun place to have a potting table and a spot to get in out of the sun.  I picked up these Margaritaville chairs at a local nursery and they give the perfect "pop" to the area.  That's an apple ladder hanging from the ceiling, like a pot rack for watering cans and apple baskets. 

Happy Gardening!