How Does Your Garden Grow?

This is the first year I've really gotten serious about doing a garden journal. I've been taking pictures of my garden in progress to put together into a photo book at the end of the season. I've also been labeling some of the photos with what kinds of seeds I used so I can keep track of which things are doing well.  The first one I did of my plants in May looks like this:

If you save your layers in photoshop and keep standing in about the same place, you can drop a new pictures in every so often and just make minor adjustments to make sure the arrows are still pointing at the right plants. I love watching the progress of how things are growing.

Here are some progress pics of my front planter (One pic for each month. Also, if you'll remember, it used to look like this!)

Garden Bling

If pink flamingos, garden gnomes and flashy garden art aren't for you, cute plant markers are a great way to add a subtle hint of style and fun to your garden.  I've been working on a few different styles of garden markers lately for Fat Dog Farms and have had fun both making them and sprinkling them throughout the garden.

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Stamped Silverware Markers

Make these from used, thrifted, or inexpensive silverware. You'll need to pick up a metal stamping set (I got mine on Amazon for about $20). I've got a mini tutorial for how to make these that lives here.

Glass Gem Markers

These are made with large glass gems from the Dollar Tree. Printed designs are mod podged to the backs of half the gems (the backs of the other half are painted white). The gems are then glued together and to the top of the sticks. I twisted some raffia with a drop spindle to help twist it to a more rope-like texture and wrapped  it where the stick and gem pairs meet. The tutorial I piggybacked on to make these is here.

Stamped Clay Markers

I saw some cute stamped clay markers over on the Reese Dixon blog that I loved and was planning on making until I saw someone combine clay and what looked like vintage knife handles on Facebook somewhere so I went this direction instead. I love these! I think they are super fun and colorful.

Chalkboard Markers

Little wooden plaques painted with chalkboard paint and framed with twigs make fun little markers. Probably not super practical for using in the middle of the garden where it might be subject to downpour and sprinklers but sheltered porch plants or plants growing inside would be great homes for these fun little markers. I ended up selling all of these so I didn't have any left for me, but I'm planning on making more for the fall sale.

Our front yard: A Journey

2009
This is what our front yard looked like when we first moved in three years ago:

This was the inside of the courtyard, up against the house where we keep the main part of the garden:

not really much if you ask me. A few funky bushes (including some who did not fare the winter so well and turned into round balls of sticks)