Memorial Day weekend means that summer is finally here! We’re gathering up all the best backyard project ideas on our Pinterest boards to give you the inspiration you need to make your gardens simply amazing this year. Check out some of our favorite Backyard Projects below, and then head over to Pinterest to add these and more to your own project boards. Happy Summer!
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Do you compost? Or, have you wanted to try composting?
A couple of weeks ago, I went on a ‘edible garden tour’. One garden had something quite interesting that caught my eye and it wasn’t the huge tomatoes growing nearby. What drew my attention was the row of garbage containers along the fence filled with compost.
These trash cans had been transformed into compost bins. They had been offered to the homeowner for free by the city Phoenix, where he lives. The homeowner primarily used manure from his chickens, leaves and coffee grounds to make his compost. It took him 2 1/2 months from first adding the material to finished compost for his garden.
Trash can composting is a great way to start composting in your garden, without having to build a compost bin. In fact, many cities offer trash cans to use as compost bins, for free (or at very little cost) to homeowners. These trash cans have been converted into compost bins by the drilling of holes in the sides to get oxygen into the compost, which helps break down the organic matter.
What you like the idea of having your waste (fruit & vegetable peels, grass clippings, coffee grounds, paper and leaves) turned into compost, but don’t want to do it yourself? Some cities will give you a special container (in addition to your recyclable and garbage bins), where you can add compostable materials that they collect and turn into compost that is later used in city landscapes or sold to homeowners.
In addition to the composting options above, many cities are beginning to offer classes to their residents on how to compost.
So, where can you find out what your city offers to help you get started recycling? The best place to start is to visit your city’s website and click on the link for ‘Waste Management’, where you will be guided to what options they offer to help you get started with composting. If your city doesn’t offer classes or compost bins – let them know that you are interested. Many cities are beginning to offer options for composting and yours may the next one!
If your city doesn’t offer trash can compost bins, you can make one yourself. Learn how here.
Birds & Blooms has a great article to get you started making your own compost – “Composting Made Easy”.
How about you? Do you compost? What type of compost bin do you use?
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Mother’s Day is just a few days away, but it’s not too late to get busy and make her something she’ll love! Or do one of these projects together with the mothers in your life, since nothing is more valuable to a mom than spending time with her family. Here are some of our favorite DIY projects from our Pinterest boards. Click the links or images to visit Pinterest and get more info about the item, or to pin them to your own boards.
Backyard Projects
Need more ideas? Click here to visit the Birds & Blooms Pinterest page for many more!
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Do you like to grow ornamental plants in large pots? I do. Especially brightly-colored pots that add color to the landscape.
What I don’t like about large pots is the amount of potting mix that I have to add to fill it up. In large pots, my plants aren’t likely to use the soil at the bottom of my pot. In addition, potting soil/mix is expensive and makes pots even heavier than they already are.
So, is there a solution to this problem? What do the experts do?
They add items to the bottom of containers to fill up unused space.
Foam packing peanuts work great for filling up the bottom of pots, but plastic containers work just as well.
To fill up unused space at the bottom of your large container, simply add plastic recyclable containers or foam packing peanuts.
How much should you fill your container? That depends on what you plant and how deep the roots will grow.
Flowering annuals – 12 inches of soil.
Perennials – 12 – 18 inches of soil.
Shrubs – 2 ft. of soil.
Trees – 3 ft. of soil.
Clean your containers thoroughly before adding them to your pot and then put in your potting mix. (I don’t advise doing this for growing edible plants since there can be chemicals/dyes in the containers that may be harmful if eaten).
I recently shared this helpful tip when I was asked to put on a potting demonstration.
I also shared some other helpful tips for creating beautiful container plantings and how to care for them.
I’ll share the rest of my tips with you next Tuesday!
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Spring is on its way and the birds are getting busy building nests in my garden.
Have you ever had the opportunity to see a bird’s nest up close? It never ceases to amaze me how they create nests from different materials.
Every year, I like to help the birds that visit my garden by setting out nesting material to help them build their nests with.
One of the easiest ways that I like to do this is to put it into a suet cage, which is an easy way to provide nesting material within easy reach of birds.
A suet cage us normally used to place suet in to feed birds. But, they also make great containers for nesting material. Suet cages are very inexpensive and are available in many places where bird seed is sold.
Fill the suet cage with different nesting materials and hang from a tree.
It is easy to find nesting material to set out and you probably most have many of these items already.
- bits of yarn, twine or string
-small twigs or pine needles
- grass clippings
- pet or human hair
- cotton batting
Make sure the nesting material is in small pieces that birds can easily pull from the suet cage and carry in their beaks. Avoid using any material that has been treated with chemicals.
Put the suet cage up in a tree, shrub or hang from a pole where you can observe birds taking bits of nesting material for their nests.
What type of nesting material have you seen nests made out of?
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Meet Rob Ripma, our newest featured blogger. The Birds & Blooms staff was able to meet Rob at The Biggest Week in American Birding. Rob, along with his brother Eric, write the Nutty Birder blog where they share photos from their birding adventures both near and far. Check it out: Nutty Birder.
