I have a rant, a mini one, but a rant is a rant after all. I am so tired of things falling apart all the time. I remember back in the day (oh my gosh I sound like my grandma) when things were made to last. Products were made with love. Companies wanted their customers to continue buying their products so their reputations were on the line, that’s why things were made with higher quality. Now the big corporations don’t care.They keep putting out product after product and we keep buying it, thus polluting our planet with a lot of unnecessary waste.
After a summer here in Phoenix, anything would look terrible. but this is a little too extreme. I have pots falling apart, umbrellas tearing, Gazebos rusting away, and I don’t know…just look around, things are falling apart.
There are little tricks to cause this, like plastic threads that unravel after so many washing’s in our machines. People have resorted to buying vintage things now for a reason. I still have pants and dresses that my daughter wears that were bought in the 90’s. She raided my closet one time and found clothes that were of a quality she was not familiar with.
Okay, time to wrap this rant up, this post is suppose to be about garden updates this month. This month I looked around my garden and decided I was going to try and repair the things I already have, instead of going out and replacing those items with more wasteful, falling apart products. I am trying at least. This is not an easy task. It would be so much easier to just go out and buy everything brand new again, but I decided to challenge myself a bit.
I started with my gazebo. We have a huge tree in our front yard that needed trimming so with the branches we got from trimming, we weaved them around the gazebo to create a shade canopy of sorts. This was a two day project. I had my son pile branches under the gazebo and early one morning I spent hours outside trying to weave branches through the gazebo. I had a pile of branches to strip leaves off of that I finally got a handle on. Looking at the three photos below you will see the slow process of that pile going down to reveal a chair underneath it all.
When the branches harden it will lock in place and make the gazebo sturdy.
This is my theory, we will see. I will let you all know if and when my nailed it moments happen. No shame here, even failures lead to something and that is the knowledge that something doesn’t work, so move on.
I had a lot of terra cotta pots falling apart.
So I bought some E600 glue which is water proof and wrapped ropes around the pots to help hold them together better. I used a little extra glue to coat them with.
So far everything is holding together and no longer melting away.
There are lots of ugly plastic containers around our yard, so I made them pretty by wrapping colorful twine around them. I needed some pots for transplants and decided to make what I have pretty instead of going out and buying another pot. I do find nice ones second hand though. Some of my plants I had to transplant and split them apart because they outgrew their pots. It was way to crowded for them. The first couple of days after a transplant the plants always look a little rough but eventually they perk back up. Where once you had one plant now you have two.
There is so much yarn in my house because of all the yarn crafts I do, figured why not cover pots with them. Just adding some color to my garden.
We also have bags of faux moss that I bought at the bargain bins where everything is priced by the pound. For a little over $1 I found several bags that day.
There is still some moss left over. I covered a lot of pots with all those bags I bought.
Other things I finished were the aloe garden. I added some clippings to the empty sections and bought a couple flowers to add to it. Now I just hope I can keep them alive, at least for awhile.
Then there are these scarecrows I made. We have been having perfect weather for outdoor activities, great for outdoor crafting. Now if only we could get some of our pollution problems under control.
My poor little scarecrow was looking so beat up. Most would just toss the little guy but he still has a some life left in him.
I used the old and added new. Here they are all finished and hanging out in our garden.
Oh, and look what showed up one morning after my husband went on a shopping trip with our son…baby chicks. They were much smaller then this when he brought them home but I didn’t want to stress them by taking photos then. They get pasty butt when little and I believe stress contributes to that. Look up pasty butt online, but wait until after you have eaten.
We planted some tomatoes and we are testing potatoes at the moment. We are also on the hunt for good seeds. Start collecting heirloom seeds and seeds from people who garden locally in your area. We received some fruits and veggies from our neighbors across the street so we are saving those seeds now. That was so sweet of them, we had fresh melon for breakfast that morning. We all share food and seeds with each other on this street.
A goal of mine in the garden this year is to create a little herb garden, with a mini stone house and water fixture of some sort. I have some herb seeds from our seed library here in the city that local gardeners share and donate with one another. I will see if anything comes of that. For now we have mint, basil, oregano and onions growing.
These are the flowers that popped up this month.
And this is the flower I purchased for the month. Don’t you just love flowers in the garden?.
There were enough flowers in my garden to do another little mini vase to sit on our kitchen table that night.
Remember all it takes is one little pot to grow things in. I hope some of these ideas help you in your own gardens and also your wallets, nothing wrong with saving a little money by doing things ourselves. Anyway, Gardening is good for the soul. It keeps us all happy and with the things you grow you can share those plants with others as well. Happy gardening everyone.
Join the No Buy November Challenge 2019, check out Just another day on the farm’s post about this challenge. You can buy anything used and spend money on food and house expenses but no buying of new items. So far in my garden update I was able to do this. The flowers I bought in October.
looking at all of your plants makes me so happy! 🙂
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Awww…thank you Wendi, wish I could send some your way.
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oh I would LOVE that 🙂 – but for now, I am happy with all your beautiful photos 🙂
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Great idea on refurbishing pots!
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Thank you, we sure have a lot of them.
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How brilliant! I love how you managed the broken post! When the movers broke my terracotta chiminea , I still loved it’s pieces so I sat the broken pieces in a rock bed and planted them with succulents. But, I adore how you mended yours so creatively and that you made the decision to repair, re-imagine and repurpose instead of throwing out and buying new. You just can’t get that kind of character and interest from new items. Completely charmed.
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Thank you Laura.
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I love your wrapped pots, I can do that as well and will for a some of my own pots such a great way to fix them up.. What a lovely garden tour 🙂
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This comment was in my spam, so sorry it has taken so long to reply back. Thank you, the wrapped pots are easy to do , you will enjoy making them. Glad you liked the garden tour. For December I will be working on repairing my garden gnomes and making Santa caps for them plus updates on some plants and some chicks hatched in the incubator today.
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We feel the same way..owning a home I feel is more stressful then when I was 21 and a new home owner. Things breaking all the time! Weve had a lawnmower only 2 years old go..this one year old keeps not starting and hubz has to keep taking it apart. We had 2 brand new washers breal within 2 years…bought used ..didnt break once…we upgraded washer and dryer used…going on 3 years now. We had a brand new convection oven catch fire after 2 years ( the.main computet thing ignited…we were told not worth the cost of repair) replaced it with a used one going on 4 years. Ummm brand new fridge leaked a year and a bit after we bough it.
Ok my rants over haha
Your scarecrow turned out sooo cute! He is adorable now.
Ours lost one leg worth of “straw”…I think the mice got to it in the garage and used it for nesting..lil buggers always sneek in and use things off my halloween decor that is stored there in the winter. His hat needed to he hot glued too but I displyed him…he and I match now i say…one leg
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So cute about that little scarecrow and you matching. I forgot to add a link to your scarecrows, that would be perfect to go with the post. I like to share similar links. I get so frustrated with how things are made now. People protest about everything it seems now days but what about the fact that products keep falling apart and that contributes to the garbage and waste on this planet…all for greed too. When ever I shop at Church sales I always look for vintage kitchen supplies, blankets, clothes etc…even books seem to be changing and don’t even get me started on movies now days. I could do a whole rant post on the selection of movies now days and their hidden messages to turn us all against each other. I miss the good old days of Waltons, Little House, Happy Days, and all those 80’s teenage movies like 16 candles. Oh well, still have my old VCR and tons of old movies up north.
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My fave movies are john hugea movies…breakfast club I think will always be my fave!
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I have that on VHS up north. I bought it for my kids because I also love his movies. I grew up on them. That was so sad when he died and just how his last years he just stayed away from the Hollywood lifestyle but then who blames him for that. It was like the world had changed and kids were hurting each other in High schools all across our country with violence, gone were the days of 16 candles, and the breakfast club environments. I think in a way it broke John Hughes heart to witness that happening across our country. I have a few of his movies up north like Home alone, pretty in pink, National Lapoon’s vacation and breakfast club.
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Hubza over the years gifted me the dvds and one year the book on the teen movies. YOU COULDNT IGNORE ME IF YOU TRIED. all about the fimming the writing and the actors in it. I should do a post in the new year…was a great read
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Yeah, that would be a good one. I love that when I read a really interesting story and my favorites are always non-fiction bios and autobiographies.
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Lovely images from your garden and I love your scarecrows!!
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Thank you Anita, slowly I am getting it all cleaned up. It is a bit of a mess after our summer months.
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I love all the work you did! And yes, I agree that things do break so easily now! I’ve said it many times!
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Thank you Lisa, wish that weren’t true about the broken things but it is. Oh well, we can still find quality out there in the world, we just have to work a little harder at finding it. It was fun being creative with fixing things up though.
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Great idea on refurbishing,all photos are beautiful! 🙂
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Thank you Daisy, Now we have trees to replant, there is always something in the garden to do.
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Thats all hubz reads..he don’t read often but when he does its usually a bio or true crime story.
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Same. Sometimes I will read a romance. My aunt is always giving them to me. She is so sweet.
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Oh my gosh,! Your page is absolutely beautiful. I’m loving the pots and scarecrows. You have a talent with crafting. I love this!
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This is so sweet, thank you. Makes me so happy you like it. I love those recipes of yours. When I do my monthly updates I want to leave a link back to your cheesy hash browns with bacon…yummy. Have a great weekend.
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Thank you so much! I really appreciate it. I’m enjoying sharing recipes with everyone. Take care!! I’ll be sure to follow your page
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Thank you.
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I got as far as the first paragraph and had to comment about a spade I bought one day and it broke within a week, recent, not like spades I’ve known and loved. I will get back to reading you blog post now.
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I have resorted to looking for old products from church sales, yard sales and thrift shops for a lot of my items now. It is sooooo frustrating when something you just bought breaks.
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Yes, I agree with looking for old products. Last year at the Seed Swap event in Carmarthen, I bought a reconditioned garden hoe with a very sharp edge and hardwood handle, from a local charity called Tools For Self Reliance and it’s brilliant and made to last (as it’s already been through one owner at least). https://www.tfsrcymru.org.uk/
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This is so cool, I love this story. I will have to save the site and read up some more on it because I never heard of that.
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The coloured twine around the clay pots looks great! What a nice way to repair and bring colour at the same time!
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Thank you, and I love what you make with your pots, they are beautiful.
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Nice images for a cold, gray day!! 🙂
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We have rain here today in Phoenix which we never really get, it is a nice change. I don’t want it to last to long because I have outside projects to finish.
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