When life gives you lemons, landscape!

Last year, one of the winter storms here took out part of the old cherry tree in the front yard. It was one of those early season snows that came before all the leaves had fallen off. A number of branches broke and by the time we pruned back the unhealthy parts, the tree looked pretty bad so we took down the last sad little branch and were left with a stump.

 

This was the cherry tree, last year.

I decided to throw some pots on the stumps because why not. This was a remarkably easy DIY planter. All you do is find some planters (I recommend terra cotta or another porous/semi-porous material because you'll want really good drainage up here. I attached 4 glazed terra cotta pots because they were pretty and at Tuesday Morning, the most expensive pot was 10 dollars. Make sure they have a drainage hole in the bottom or you'll have to drill one yourself.)

Then, all you need is some bigish screws and washers. Make sure the washer is larger than the drainage hole, this is what will help keep your pot in place if you have particularly slanty angles like I did. You can drill a starter hole in the stump first (if you want to make it a little easier on your drill) then situate your pot, put the washer on the screw and put the whole shebang through the drainage hole on the pot. Tighten so the pots are secure but not so tight that the pots crack. Then you're ready to go!

 

Ta-da! Now you have an interesting, eye catching fixture in your garden and you didn't have to go stumpin'!

I'm sure this isn't for everyone but I absolutely love the way this looks and how easy it is to transform the planters. Above I have it filled with daffodils that had started to spring up all over my garden. Since then, I took the daffodils out (saved the bulbs of course!) and put some annuals in the pots.

This is what it looks like now

Adventures of Garden Girl

Didn't I tell you I suck at blogging? I used to be better at it. That was before life hit me with a litany of to dos that I don't usually want to do. Like laundry or having a job where wearing my sheep jammies are looked down upon. Not that I don't like my job or having a job, I just like working at home because everyone there says my jams are awesome.

What I have been up to however is gardening. I've always liked it but more as a passerby. A few tomatoes in the backyard, some planters on the poach. This year however, I went balls to the wall. Go big or go home. Since I'm already at home I'm not sure where I'd go. Maybe inside to take a nap.

Anyway, I started a lot of seedlings and build a ton of raised bed gardens (full disclosure, I supervised the building because I probably would have just started them on fire if left to my own devices) and have been planting like crazy since the danger of frost has passed.

I've also gotten involved in the transition gardening movement. I'm not worried that the world will end or anything like that (I'd be drinking a lot more if this were the end of days, not planting corn) but I do like the idea of eating things I've grown. Like a mother hamster. And I like the idea of harvesting and processing my own herbs and what not. Or just growing them. I'm not really sure how far I'll go with all this. It's possible I'll just be a helpful resource to others because I do know a great deal about herbs and what they can do so yay.

I'll be documenting all the things in my garden so here's a preview of the flower part:

If a throw pillow offends the elderly...

I've reached a sort of existential question I believe.

So I crocheted, I knit (well, I have needles and the ability to make a really long, awkwardly shaped thing), I sew and I'm wicked good with a hot glue gun. However, I think perhaps I need to learn how to cross stitch... my ability to tie knots, hot glue or give up has not done much to make me an expert stitcher.

Why I think perhaps I don't need to take up yet another hobby is because the only reason I want to is to make vulgar cross stitched items... like throw pillows and framed wall art like this, this, this, and even this.

That's not to say those aren't awesome, they are but do I need to take the time to learn this skill? Or could I offer up one of my many services (like hot glue and hooking) for someone to make me a vulgar cross stitch item.

Holla at your girl!

Starting off a new blog is always awkward for me. It feels like a bad blind date where you're always nervous that you'll blurt out something embarrassing or offensive simply because you're thinking about how awkward it is.

So I've decided to just blurt out all my weird stuff (lie--I'm sure there will be more than I come up with here) because I seem to think that will help.

I enjoy crafting... not like decoupaging or scrap booking. The only time I've bought scrapbook materials is when I had to dress up shooters:

That's a mini bottle of Tequila as a pregnant lady

You can see why I might not be asked to document the cherished memories of anything. Unless of course you want to remember the time tequila and pregnancy collided, then call a girl! I can hook you up!

I don't decoupage because of something horrible someone did to my bathroom wall with lotto tickets. Word to the wise, don't decoupage lotto tickets to your bathroom wall because you will never get it off.

I also enjoy Pre-1945 propaganda pictures. I can't understand why anyone wouldn't, they're awesome... you learn that everyone has chlamydia and all the ways you're living life wrong!

I enjoy yelling at the radio too. Because I know they can hear me and I'm making some pretty important points. I'm pretty sure this is the first step on the way to letters to the editor and leaving hour long messages on the Coast to Coast answering machine. (I assume they have an answering machine somewhere in a creepy desert trailer but I don't know for sure...I'm still on the yelling at the radio step).

My hair hasn't been natural since 7th grade which was in the mid-90's...I had a perm and then my natural hair color was never seen again. Like Bigfoot, there are some blurry, unreliable photographs of my natural hair color's resistance. However, most experts believe those are a hoax. Right now, my hair is dark black but it's been blond, red, kind of purpley, orange, fire engine red and probably some colors in between.

I love wigs and glitter... if I wasn't already a woman, I'd probably be a drag queen. I am however fairly envious of career drag queens because they're getting paid to look and act like women. I almost always look like a woman! For free! At the very least, I look like a young boy with some serious hormone issues. Jealously aside, I do love drag queens.

So I don't know, that's like 6 or 7 things about me that probably have lead you to believe that I'm a fairly odd, possible alcoholic, propaganda loving weird chick and some of that is probably true. The point is, I've made my first move on my awkward first internet date known as my first post for this blog. Go me!