Planted ladder

Here is how I made a planted ladder to add height to my flower bed along the back wall of my house.  Since my house is very tall, and boxy, I needed to be able to create height, pops of color, and visual interest.  I love the brick but it can be boring.

I had an old wooden 6' ladder that we didn't use anymore.  It didn't work for me to stand up the normal way in my flower bed, so I decided to lean it against the back of the house.  The front of the ladder is about 2' 1/2 to 3' out from the wall.

I had found some old drawers in my neighbors trash.  They were remodeling so I grabbed the old maple drawers they had thrown out.  They don't have the same handles, nor do they match in size, but they fit my ladder pretty well.

I wanted to have space between the flowers to set Junk so I decided to only add two drawers to my ladder.  I took them back off the ladder and spray painted them both inside and outside. I drilled a couple of small drainage holes in the bottom, and once dry, put them back on the ladder.

The first color I had chosen wasn't bright enough, so I painted the fronts again.

Once I had the color I wanted, I filled the drawers with miracle grow potting soil and planted them with pink and purple petunias.  I like pink or peach with purple, and I wanted the drawer color to compliment the flowers but not get overlooked either.

Once planted I started looking thru my junk and found a couple of decorative bricks, a chippy old angel, an old spring with an old croquet ball sitting on top, and added a birdhouse to the top.  I added an old mill stone and watering around the bottom, and as my perennials and annuals fill in, I hope it looks even better.

I had previously made the angel out of an old chair back (windsor style chair) and some scrap wood.  I spray painted it white, and added the lavender sign I had in my junk stash to give it more character. 

Here is my finished garden ladder.



New window box for the garden shed using an old copper boiler

Here is how I made my new garden shed window box using an old copper boiler.


I drilled several small holes into the bottom of the boiler for drainage.

I didn't want the soft copper to tear so I used a piece of scrap wood to attach the boiler to the shed wall, and help distribute the weight.

Since the copper boiler is deep, I added several 2 liter plastic pop bottles to the bottom for filler.

I added miracle grow potting soil on top of the plastic bottles and planted my flowers. Now I'm just waiting for them to fill out and get lush.

Garden Sparkler

Garden sparkler

Over the winter my grand-daughter Kaylee and I made a garden sparkler to dance in the breeze.  We have installed it in the flower bed near the cornzebo.  We enjoy watching it dance.

If you are interested in making one for your garden, here is how we did it.

I used 17 guage wire, random beads, needle nose pliers, side cutter pliers, and a zip tie.  I wanted mine to be random lengths, so I didn't measure my wire lengths.

I had a lot of beads left over from jewelry making projects, and crafts.  I dumped them all onto paper plate so I could see the different colors, shapes etc.

I made a loop in one end of the wire to keep the beads from coming off, then randomly in size and color threaded the beads onto the wire.  I used crimp beads at random areas to create seperation (stops and starts in the beads) you could also create a loop in the wire and then continue threading.

We threaded about 17 wires and then secured them with a zip tie.  I used an old piece of pipe I already had, beat it into the groud far enough that it was sturdy, and then inserted the ends of the wire into the pipe.  I then bent them a bit, and spread them out.  They won't stay exactly that way becuase they move in the breeze, but they are very fun to watch dance.

I have added a more recent  picture.  I found out the picture above won't enlarge, so use the one below if you want to see more detail.  I spray painted my pipe a pretty purple to add more whimsy and color.

I hope my directions are enough to inspire you to try one for your own garden.  Good luck and have fun!

Scrap wood garden angel

Hi,  I haven't blogged in awhile but I wanted to share the garden angel I made recently. (hubby did help a bit too) People have asked how I made it, so I wanted to post it here where it was accessible.  I found one on Pinterest I really liked and gave it my own spin. 

Here is the finished angel althought I haven't found the perfect halo yet, and may dry brush the angel white... I haven't decided yet.

I already had the shutter.  It is approximately 4' tall and 15" wide. I used old scrap boards I had on hand.  The bottom wing board is an old piece of trim that has a design.  I thought it might look a little like feathers.  The flowers are metal, in a rusty bucket, but you can make yours to hold a wreath, small bucket of flowers, a heart, etc.  Hubby helped me drill holes up into the shutter sides to insert rebar so it wouldn't sit directly on the ground, but you can skip that step if you like.

I laid my shutter on my work bench and laid boards underneath it where the wings would be.  I decided about how long I wanted the top wing board, and cut if off, rounding the ends a little with the jigsaw.  I then made each of the other two boards a little shorter than the one above it.  I used rockers off an old broken rocking chair for the arms, but you can use a board and just shape them a bit.  Once the wings were cut I turned them over, and screwed a piece of thin wood lath across all three to hold them together.

When it came time to make the head I used a small bucket and traced a circle leaving room below it on the board to make shoulders to attach the head to the top of the shutter. 

I then put a screw down thru the top of the shoulder into the shutter body. 

One tip:  When drawing your head and shoulders make them proportionate to the shutter body so they are too narrow or wide, and look like they match the body size.

I'd love to hear from you if you make one, and found these directions helpful.  Now have fun and be creative.

Myra

I've decided to add a couple more pics.  One will show how I attached the head/shoulders to the shutter body and the other shows how I reinforced the wings by securing them together.

I hope the additional pics help.