Spring Gardening

When it comes to real gardening, my thumb is definitely more black than green. Thankfully, I'm much better at fake miniature gardening.   

As you can see, the frame of the miniature flower bed features popsicle sticks. I glued them together using a hot glue gun, aiming for a square shape, but winding up with what looks more like a rhombus. (Oddly enough, reading the short story "Jaque mate en dos jugadas" ["Checkmate in Two Moves"] with one of my Spanish students reminded me of what a rhombus is — a diamond or tilted square.) For the soil, I considered multiple options: coffee grounds, construction paper, foam paper, even a sponge painted black. Ultimately, through lots of trial and error, I decided on brown yarn cut into 1-inch pieces. The paper leaves poking up through the soil are from a DIY miniature greenhouse kit.     

I used popsicle sticks for the ladder, as well, adorned with more paper leaves from the same kit.

Both the tomato plant and the soil in the decoration below are made of air dry clay. I added 2 stakes in the form of toothpicks to provide structural support. The terra cotta pot comes from Michaels.   

For the second potted plant, I knitted a small drawstring pouch, modifying Carissa Browning's pattern so that the main body features the raised rib stitch instead of Stockinette. Then, I stuffed some faux moss and sprigs of baby breath inside the pouch.   

Finally, to demonstrate that the garden is a work-in-progress, I arranged by the patio door another terra cotta pot, a packet of seeds, some gardening tools, and a bag of soil. This time, for the latter item, I used coffee grounds, specifically light roast ground peppermint bark, which permeates my office with the sweet scent of chocolate. Ahhh...         

Happy Spring!