Planting a Mini Garden

I love gardens of any kind but my favorites are cutting gardens of flowers and vegetable gardens. I’ve always had a cutting garden in the borders around my home but I’ve never actually had a vegetable garden. Our home is in the country and people around us who have gardens have really big gardens that involve a lot of work and a tractor. Those gardens are dependent on good soil and water. The gardens in my area remind me of Jane and Leo’s garden at Cottage at the Crossroads. You must click the link to see it. They have a wonderful garden! While I don’t need a big garden I wanted to try a mini garden and I finally got it done this year!

Although I got a late start, my mini garden has been growing for 2 months now and I am loving it! I didn’t get anything in the ground until June 11and we have already harvested a few squash and zucchini and will be picking the green beans this week and pulling a fresh tomato or two.

Our little summer cottage is surrounded by mature trees so we have a lot of shade. The sunniest spot is this little space next to the driveway. I purchased a pressure treated 2 x 10 board that is 10 feet long and another one that is 8 feet long. I cut one length of the shorter board down to 3 feet and the another down to 3 1/2 feet to maximize the space that I have. I used screws to attach the short boards to the long one to create the frame then butted it up next to the driveway.

I bought a couple of bags of garden soil and I emptied all of the planting containers that no longer had plants but still had soil. I also shoveled out the composted ashes from our fire pit and added them to the new garden. I plan to add more growing medium next year.

I planted two rows of okra at the back and two rows of green beans in the front.

 

The picture above was taken one month after planting.

I also used this little patio planter that is on wheels although I don’t move it around.

In the patio planter I planted one yellow squash plant, one zucchini plant and a tomato plant. I also planted a cucumber plant but it died immediately!

The picture above was taken almost two months after planting. Here you can see that the lower end of my mini garden is growing faster than the other end because it gets water from the lawn sprinkler.

Just before I snapped these pictures I added the soaker hose on a timer to water while I am traveling.

If you look closely you can see a squash right in the center of the photo above.

We should have at least two more months of growing time so I’m anxious to see how my mini garden plays out.

I hope that you are enjoying this last hot month of summer!

I’m linking to Grace at Home, to Thoughts of Home on Thursday and to Metamorphosis Monday. Click the links for lots of inspiration.

Painted Tea Kettle

I love anything Mackenzie Childs! Every time I go to New York I stop by the store to browse and enjoy all of the beautiful merchandise. I recently decided to try my hand at painting a tea kettle in the Mackenzie Childs style. Both of my young adult children made the same comment when they saw the tea kettle. They said “Oh, you painted your teapot like your store in New York.”  They don’t know the name of the store but they know that it is one of my regular “stops”.

Painting on the curved surface was a little challenging but it turned out OK.

I purchased a stainless kettle from Walmart for about $20.

I removed the knob from the top and covered the handle and base with painter’s tape. I stuffed the bag inside the open top to keep paint out.

Next I applied a base coat of white spray paint.

Then I went back and added black squares and did some dragging through the white squares with acrylic paint.

Far from perfect but good enough for me!

I also made a rare splurge purchase! I bought the Mackenzie Childs weekend duffle bag. It was half price on the website but still a big splurge for me!

As if that wasn’t enough, I went back online and purchased the tote bag. It was also half price!

We recently took a short trip and I took the bags with me. At one point my husband was carrying the duffle for me through the airport. I did notice several ladies admiring my hub’s cute bag!

If you would like to see another Mackenzie Childs style project that I did you can click here to see a table and chairs that I painted several years ago.

I hope you are enjoying the rest of your summer!

I’m linking to Wow Us Wednesday, to Thoughts of Home on Thursday, to Grace at Home and to Metamorphosis Monday. Click the link for lots of inspiration!

Blue and White Alfresco Dining

After I freshened up the furniture on the screened porch I was anxious to make a blue and white tablescape.

We eat supper out here most nights although we have had to eat inside several times lately because the heat has been unbearble even with the fans going.

My first thought was to use my blue willow but you can see from the photo below that the blue willow clashes with the blue and white cushions. Ugh!

I moved on to plan B.

I used square blue plates on top of round white dinner plates. Both of those were purchased at Homegoods several years ago.

The woven willow chargers were purchased online from Nell Hills some time ago and the bubble glasses were purchased from One Kings Lane. The flatware is another weakness of mine, vintage silver plate.

The vintage double hapiness ginger jar was purchased in a second hand store for $10.(FYI I am told by my resident Chinese major that while the double happines character is a Chinese character, it is never used in the Chinese language except for decorative purposes. You would never use that character in a sentence. You can file that under “fun facts to know and share” that cost me a lot of money to learn!)

The little pagodas were purchased separately even though they are just alike. I splurged on the first one for $59 at a beautiful design studio then I lucked up when I ran across the second one on a clearance rack at TJMaxx for $5!!! Yes, you read that right. They are identical except that the $5 is missing one of the tiny foo dogs on the front. You would never know unless you examine it very closely. Apparently I did not get that in one of the photos.

I love it when a plan comes together!

If you missed the post on the porch update you can see it by clicking here.

I will be linking to Thoughts of Home on Thursday, toTablescape Thursday, and to Grace at Home. Click the links for lots of inspiration!

Updating the Screened Porch at the Summer Cottage

I recently updated the fabrics on our screened porch at the summer cottage. They were beginning to get a little worn looking after 7 summers.

When we were planning to build our little summer cottage one of the things at the top of our “must have” list was a screened porch. Because our lot is pie shaped our house is only 30 feet wide and 40 feet deep. We insisted on a screened porch all across the back on the lake side. Actually we have double screened porches. I had originally drawn the porch to be 15 feet wide by 30 feet long but the builder talked me into 12 feet wide. His reasoning was that 15 is an odd size for lumber and it would cost less and be less labor if I went with 12 feet wide. 12 feet wide is sufficient but 15 would have been even better!

We spend a lot of time out here and eat most of our meals here too. We love the view of the water.

If you have followed and read this blog then you may already know that I don’t change things very often. When I find something that I like I buy it and I usually keep it for a long time. If you compare the new fabric to the old fabric you will notice that they are almost identical. I searched and searched for a fabric that I love but kept coming back to the old stuff. The new fabric is not identical but it is very close.

The photo above shows the old fabric. When I found that fabric it was the end of a bolt and there wasn’t enough so I had to use a solid color for the backs and bottoms of the cushions. This time I was able to get enough fabric for everything. While the old ones were not torn or worn out the color was a little faded and dingy looking with a little mildew on it. These cushions stay outside 6 months of the year and are stored inside 6 months of the year. It is outdoor fabric. For the new cushions I did take time to put in invisible zippers so that they can be washed if needed. The old cushions did not have zippers. I found the fabric online at fabric.com.  They had a great selection and I was able to order samples for $1.75 each before making my selection.  I was very pleased with my purchase although shipping took longer than I expected, more than 2 weeks.The name of the fabric that I chose is called Snow Leopard by P Kaufmann. (If you missed my dining room update using PKaufmann fabric for wallcovering you can see it here.)

The new fabric had to coordinate with the blue paint on the house without clashing and I think this one does that pretty well.

In the photo above you can also see the old curtains that I used. There were very inexpensive sheers from Ikea, maybe $5.99 per pair! I don’t see those on the Ikea website any more. Those were hung with rings on tiny nails. For the upgrade I went with the cotton Lenda curtains from Ikea. They were $19.99 per pair when I purchased them. Now they are a little more.

So far the curtains have held up very well. They are not outdoor fabric and I did not add waterproofing or any weather protection.

I used the Betydlig brackets and the Hugad rods from Ikea.

All of my Ikea purchases were made last summer so I don’t now if they are still available. If they are not, I’m sure that Ikea has an affordable alternative.

I also made new cushion covers for the dining chairs. I didn’t realize how much the cushions show up due to the tabletop being glass.

I plan to do another post with a fresh tablescape and another more instructional post on putting the porch together step by step.

I hope that you are enjoying this hot summer as much as I am!

I will be doing a follow up post on creating an outdoor room step by step. I hope you will come back to read it too.

I’m linking to Metamorphposis Monday, to Inspire Me Tuesday,  to Wow Us Wednesday, to Thoughts of Home on Thursday, and to Grace at Home. Click the link for lots of inspiration!