Latest posts
7 Drawer Planter Ideas That Turn Old Drawers Into Garden Features
I found a broken chest of drawers beside a skip three years ago. Kept four drawers. The rest went for firewood. One drawer became a herb garden beside the back door. One became a wall-mounted succulent display. Two are stacked at angles in the corner of the patio with trailing Lobelia cascading down between them.…
7 Spring Decorating Ideas That Cost Almost Nothing
I bought a $6 bunch of tulips on a Monday in March and put them in a glass on the kitchen windowsill. By Tuesday morning I had opened all the blinds in the house, swapped the dark throw on the sofa for a cream one, and moved three houseplants from the bedroom to the living…
12 Black Trellis Planter Ideas for Patios and Small Gardens
The first black trellis planter I put on a patio was for privacy. It was supposed to block a sightline from a neighboring window. Within two weeks jasmine had started climbing the lattice and within three months the whole structure was covered. It stopped being a privacy screen. It became the best thing on the…
7 Small Backyard Pond Ideas That Bring Water to Any Garden
I added a container pond to a patio three summers ago. Half barrel, one miniature water lily, a small solar pump. Cost about $70 including the plants. The first evening I sat beside it I realized I had been listening to traffic noise for two years and only noticed it had gone when the water…
7 Cement Patio Ideas for Small Backyards That Actually Work
The most common outdoor surface in the US is also the most overlooked. A plain grey cement patio sits in millions of backyards doing exactly what it was poured to do — provide a flat surface — and nothing more. I have seen the same slab transformed twice. First with a coat of warm terracotta…
How To Turn Old Junk Into Garden Decor
I kept a broken enamel colander for two years because I could not throw it away. Too cracked to use. Too interesting to skip. It became a planter for trailing nasturtiums on my back fence the summer I finally got around to drilling three drainage holes in the base. That colander has been photographed more…
12 Dog-Friendly Backyard Ideas For Active Pets
Most backyards are designed entirely for human use and then adapted for dogs as an afterthought. A dog bed in a corner. A corner of lawn designated as the bathroom area. Plants that may or may not be toxic to dogs. Fencing that a determined dog can find gaps in within a week. A backyard…
12 Mini Garden Ideas for Any Windowsill or Balcony
My most visited plant arrangement is a glass terrarium on my desk that cost $23 to build. Three succulents, a layer of white sand, two smooth river stones, a piece of driftwood. People who have never shown any interest in plants stop and look at it for thirty seconds without being asked. That is what…
Rental-Friendly Backyard Ideas: 7 That Leave No Permanent Changes
I have lived in six rental properties. Five of them had backyards I did nothing with for the first year. Bare concrete or neglected lawn. I told myself I would sort it out properly once I owned somewhere. The one time I did something with a rental backyard — an outdoor rug, some container plants,…
8 Pallet Garden Ideas That Cost Almost Nothing
My first pallet herb garden cost $4. That was the compost. The pallet came from behind the hardware store. The pots were from a charity shop. I put the whole thing together on a Saturday morning and it was growing basil, thyme, and rosemary by the following weekend. That is the honest case for pallet…
