Front Garden: 2015 Edition

My townhouse has a small front garden area.  When I moved in, it had a bush and 4 hostas in front, and a clematis climbing up a little trellis in a rocked in the back area with my air conditioning unit.  Since I moved in, I've had potted plants out front on my steps, trimmed the bush (well, my dad trimmed it for me, actually), and added a little bit of rock on the side closest to the steps.

Rock and mulch look good for a while, but they just seem to sink into the ground over time.  Which means it has to be replaced periodically.  This spring, it was obvious that I needed a bunch of rock and to add some mulch.  And since I was at it, I figured I would add some annual plants, too.  Luckily for me, Menards was having a big sale that included annuals, the white rock I wanted, and a bunch of other things.  

I cleaned out leaves from the back corner, then weeded, and then added some mulch in the front and white garden marble in the back.  Originally I bought 3 bags of rock and 1 of mulch, but I had to go back and get another 2 of rock. They are awfully heavy, but don't seem to cover very much ground.  Since the rock was only on sale through yesterday, though, I had to do it the same day. Nothing like a sale to motivate a purchase and some action on a needed project!

I also added 2 rubber paver stones, one on each side, and put a small urn-shaped pot on top of each one.  (I bought the urns on clearance last year at the end of the season.)  I planted "spikes," yellow rose moss, and purple petunias in them.  Hopefully they will fill in nicely and add color to the front of the house throughout the summer.

The final touches were:

• a hanging pot of purple and yellow pansies on a shepherd's crook hanger (both purchased at a significant savings from the Menard's sale)
• my weird little, plastic hedgehog outdoor figurine
• a solar-powered decorative light globe
• the larger rocks previously located by the air conditioner 

Everything looks so much better: neater, cleaner, and more home-y.  This is my first spring/summer house project, and I think it turned out nicely.  Here are some before and after images:

Cheap, Cute, and Movable Porch Lighting

I bought some fun solar-powered lights as a gift for a family member's front garden, and while shopping for them I got a little jealous.  See, I have a back porch/deck that is above my townhouse's garage.  I like to sit on it during the day, but I think it might be nice to sit out there in the evenings as well (probably with some kind of mosquito-repelling candle or device and a beverage of some kind).  The problem is that the "official" light on my porch is a bit glaring and I really wanted something nicer to sit under that wouldn't work quite so hard against my mosquito candle/device.  So the problem was: how can I have cute lighting on my porch that would be more subtle than my light fixture that is out there?  And could it also be cheap, please?

To be honest, the first idea I had involved string lights, AKA "Christmas lights" for those of you who are biased against using them during non-winter seasons.  However, it seems that unless you are in college or a Gretchen Wilson fan, it isn't *actually* cool or subtle to leave up Christmas lights all year long.  Geez!  People sure can be judgemental, huh?        

Next I thought: Hey!  I have containers on my porch that are growing tomatoes and snapdragons and geraniums.  I could just jam some cute solar lights in those!  Well, yeah.  I could have.  However, to move the lights I would then have to move the flowers as well.  Didn't wanna do that.  I realized that portability was also a factor.  

The third iteration of thought was that I could fill different flower pots with plain dirt and "plant" my lights.  This seemed like a winning idea, but would then involve me having to deal with the pot o' dirt in the off-season for porch sitting.  Since the off-season is most of the year in Minnesota, that seemed like a lot of trouble.  Add ease of storage to the list of requirements.    

Then I saw a fun idea on Pinterest that showed turning a terracotta flower pot upside down and putting the stake for a solar light in the hole, making the pot essentially a freely movable stand for the light.   This was perfect.  Genius even!  Except....

I went to Menard's and none of the solar lights would fit in the puny little holes in the pots.  Unless I bought huge and expensive pots.  Grrr!  No!  On the spot I decided I would triumph over this project.  Terracotta pots be damned!  

The solution was surprisingly easy...and located on the end-cap of the terracotta pot aisle: plastic pots.  I selected super-cheap pots (like $0.89 each) that matched the turquoise of my chair cushion and other porch accessories, and I bought cheap but well-enough-made solar lights ($2.49 each on sale).  Then I came home and cut a hole in the bottom of each pot--very carefully using a box cutter--to fit the stakes on the lights.  

The light/stand combo worked with only one problem: the plastic pots were much lighter than terracotta, so the lights-in-pots were fairly top heavy.  That was solved by duct-taping a few rocks from my front garden to the inside edge of the pots.  Three rocks per light and the finished product has been stable through wind and rain.  

And--Voila!--I now have three light-weight, easily-movable, easy-to-store, sustainable, and fun lights for my back porch.  All for under $10.  Yay!  Now all I need is a free night at home to go out and enjoy them....