by Eric Smith - Birds & Blooms
Nearly everyone loves dragonflies and butterflies as they flitter on gossamer wings. This cute garden craft lets you express your love in style. They add color and a touch of whimsy to the garden, but could be adapted for adding to plant pots inside during the winter too. You'll be surprised at how easy they are to make. I found this garden craft on the Birds & Blooms site.You can find complete instructions there.
Altering the size and shape of the wings transforms your creation into a butterfly - so there is plenty of room to experiment to create a unique design. This is another project that I'm adding to my list for this summer and I hope you will too. Until Next Time . . . HAPPY GARDENING!
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Blue Fox Farm via Wikipedia Creative Commons Lisc.
These amazing garden hands are made with nothing more than surgical gloves and some hypertufa or Portland cement. The original DIY craft comes to us from Blue Fox Farm. Jacki filled ordinary surgical gloves with hypertufa, formed them to the shape she desired by curling them inside a plant pot and left them to harden.
Jacki admits that the fingers break easily. This inspired Debra Anchors from Upcycled Garden Style to try hers with plain cement. Debra explains that you should fill the gloves with water and then empty them to moisten the insides before filling them with cement. She also recommends pricking a small hole in the end of the fingers when you fill them with cement to allow you to burp them and prevent air bubbles in your garden hands. You can read about both of their projects by following the links. Basic Hypertufa Recipe Mix equal parts cement, peat moss and perlite with water to make a soupy mixture the consistency of cake batter. This creates a lightweight material that gives the illusion of cement. For more information about molding planters from hypertufa, visit my article How to Make Hypertufa Planters. I haven't made these garden hands, yet, but they are going on my list of garden projects for this summer. Until Next Time . . . HAPPY GARDENING! 
By Shalana Frisby via Birds & Blooms
This adorable DIY craft comes from Birds & Blooms and makes the perfect addition to flower and fairy gardens. This craft is inexpensive, easy-to-make and can be painted in any color. I tend to fancy red and white mushrooms for the fairy garden, but you can choose any color that tickles your fancy.
I'm thinking that this is the perfect winter craft to keep the gardening bug in all of us happy until the snow melts. You can find the complete instructions for making these DIY plant pot mushrooms at Birds & Blooms. Until Next time . . . HAPPY GARDENING! 
by B.D.'s world via Flickr
I typically grow purple, green and yellow bush beans in my garden every year. While the yellow wax bean has its own distinct flavor, I've never seen much difference in the flavor of purple and green beans. I grow the purple beans because they are pretty and I'm like a little kid who still gets a kick out of watching them change from purple to green when I cook them.
Last summer, I planted two little rows of purple beans along the edge of my raised bed. Each row was approximately 3 feet long. I harvested these beans all summer and had plenty for my husband and I to eat fresh. I even had a few to freeze. Before I go on, let me tell you that I have never been a fan of frozen green beans because freezing toughens them and I don't care for the texture. But that was before I tried frozen purple beans. The other night when I cooked dinner I noticed the package of frozen beans and decided it was a good time to try them. I threw a handful of frozen purple beans in a stir fry and they were amazing. They were tender and flavorful and if I hadn't known better, I might have been fooled into thinking they were fresh beans. Unfortunately, I don't know what kind of purple beans I grew, as I bought them in the bulk seeds of a local store and I believe they were simply labeled as purple bush beans. But, I can tell you that I intend to grow more purple beans this summer and freeze them for winter use. If you are looking for an exceptional bean for freezing, I highly recommend trying purple beans.  Dreaming of daisies and roses. Some of you may remember that just two weeks ago I was worried about my perennials due to the lack of snow cover. While it may have been a legitimate concern then, today's blizzard seems to be taking care of the problem. But that's okay, as the storm has given me time to think bout gardening and devote some time to Maine Garden Ideas. As I work to add new content it occurs to me that you are the best person to ask what the site needs more of. So, I'm putting it out to you today. Please take a moment to choose the topics you'd be interested in learning more about, or add your own topic under 'other'. Please take a moment and pass this on to other gardening friends to help me decide what sections to work on! Thanks.
Hedgehog Nature Craft via Roots of Simplicity
I found this cutie on Roots of Simplicty. Believe it or not the body is made from an acorn with the cap removed. It is then slathered with wood glue and allowed to set until the glue is tacky. The quills are made from the seeds of marigolds and the tiny feet are lentils. According to the description, the eyes are made from black sesame seeds, but they look like apple seeds to me. For complete instructions, visit Roots of Simplicity.
This is a delightful, if slightly messy, craft for kids that gives you an opportunity to discuss the role of seeds in nature, as well as opening a dialog about the lovable hedgehog. This activity even leaves room for exploring the differences between hedgehogs and porcupines and their habitats. But, most of all, it is just plain fun to make nature crafts with your kids. Until Next Time . . . HAPPY GARDENING! 
Fern Boutonnieres by Sammy's Flowers
These adorable fern boutonnieres by Sammy's Flowers are perfect for those who wish to celebrate nature. While it's difficult to tell in this picture, the fiddleheads are typically made from clay and added to a cluster of real flowers. These were made for a wedding, but would work for any special celebration. When made from silk flowers, they would make delightful bouquets for tiny shadow boxes!
Go ahead and have some fun creating your own garden for display in your home during the cold winter months. Until next time . . . HAPPY GARDENING!  If you live in Maine, you already know that the arrival of the 'January Thaw' is reason to rejoice. This brief spell of warm weather gives us hope that winter will end and summer will return in the not-too-distant future. If you are like me, you may secretly (although you wouldn't dare say it out loud) wonder if the January thaw is 'real'. I've heard others say that there is a thaw in every month and that a little warm weather in January isn't that unusual at all. They would be wrong.
According to the Farmer's Almanac, the January Thaw is a very real occurrence. Weather records really do confirm a rise in temperature during the last week of January before we plunge back into the deep freeze in February. You may be surprised to learn that to meet the definition of a January Thaw, the temps don't need to go above freezing (although they often do), but they do rise an average of 10 degrees higher than the previous week. Traditionally, January 23 is the coldest day of the year. The January Thaw is what meteorologists call a singularity, or may affectionately refer to it as a blip. It is an anomaly, like Indian Summer when we get unseasonably warm weather in late October, that occurs more than 50% of the time. Here in Maine, we like to think the January Thaw occurs like clockwork 100% of the time - in fact, many of us count on it as a sign that all is well and spring is on the way. According to the National Weather Service, my area can look forward to above freezing (approaching 40 degrees!) weather on Sunday and Monday. While it's not officially the last week of January, we'll take a January Thaw anytime we can get it. It will seem like a heatwave after our past week of subzero weather. 
Crocheted Fiddleheads By Jessica Ortiz of Enchanting Stamps
I found these adorable crocheted fiddleheads on Pinterest and followed the inks to Jessica Ortiz. While she doesn't have directions for these on her blog, This Enchanting Life, she does have some delightful little veggie and mushroom patterns on Raverly. Most are free or for a minimal fee. If you are the artsy type, you'll love her blog.
I'm not sure how Jessica made these fiddleheads, but I would think crocheting on a piece of wreath wire or pipe cleaner would do the trick. The wire inside the stem would allow you to bend the fiddlehead into shape. I'm thinking these would make a wonderful addition to a dimensional wall hanging or framed in a shadow box. What better way to keep gardening alive during the winter that to incorporate it into your crafts? Until next time . . . HAPPY GARDENING! |
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