Newly Domestic: gardening

Thursday, April 16, 2015

Old Tackle + New Bucket + Spring Flowers = Porch Display

Spring is here, and my husband was itching to put his green thumbs to work, so I was sifting through Pinterest when I saw a picture of two buckets of flowers on a pully system. I really do hope copying is a form of flattery, because I had a vintage tackle I bought a few years ago that I was dying to use for "just the right project", and I was convinced this was it.

Pully Spring Flower Display

To make this front porch bucket beauty, you'll need:

1. Two galvanized buckets (about $10/piece from The Home Depot)

2. About six feet of rope depending on how high you are hanging it

3. Some filler rock and potting soil

4. A vintage fishing tackle or pulley (I found this tackle for about $30 at an antique mall)

5. Flowers (I would use flowers, filler, and a grass or moss)

6. Large eyebolt

The assembly is easy!

Just drill holes in the buckets, layer with rocks, and fill with dirt and flowers. Hang the vintage tackle or pulley with a u-bolt, fish the rope through, then have a big, muscle bound husband hold the buckets in place while you tie fancy knots.

You'll be surprised to find that the buckets stay in place because of the rope friction and the weight of the buckets, but if they don't hang to your liking, play with the weight using more or less rock.

Thursday, May 23, 2013

Someone Once Paid $500K For A Tulip (it was probably my husband in a past life)

Did you know the tulip was the first piece of horticulture ever purchased solely for its beauty?

During the Dutch Golden Age (in the 1630's), the desire to own these beautiful flowers was in such high demand that a "tulip-mania" was formed. And, just like the housing bubble, the tulip bubble deflated, but at its peak, a unique species of tulip (which was later determined to actually be mutated) sold for 10 times the annual skilled labor yearly wage--or about $500,000 US today!!!

Wow! Now that's really loving your garden. If you're like me, and your thumb is stained with some off-color of grey or black, then you do not understand this notion. In fact, if a plant does not serve some other function--household air quality, herbs for cooking, vegetables for eating, shade from the sun, or privacy--I just assume not plant it.

Then there are folk like my husband, who would choose (only in this circumstance) beauty over utility.

Thank goodness for him, because look what he's brought to my backyard (though no inexpensive endeavor ...then again, nothing with him ever is).

So, which are you? Do you plant for beauty, or utility?

In the meantime, enjoy these pictures from our yard, and rent the amazing documentary "Botany of Desire" (available on Netflix).