The Garden is Finally All Set Up

It's officially 16' x 32' and level.
We got a ton of torn bags for much less than retail at a big box store.
Since we have very dense, clay soil, we were going for a one big raised bed kinda thing.
We filled it with lots of spagham moss, compost, garden soil and some top soil.
I have very alkaline soil, so hopefully this will help.
Our last frost was technically April 17, but it got cold again.
I'm DYING to plant stuff, but I'm waiting.
I do have peas, carrots, lettuce, mint, chives, asparagus, strawberries and blueberries that sprouted outside.  Inside everything sprouted and the Jackpot Zucchini is huge. They are desperate to get planted outside, as are the bush peas.  Hopefully, they can wait it out one more week...maybe two. 
I'm just not sure if I can!

Our Terrarium Collection

 

If you saw the last post, here's what the terrarium I did with the Peanut looked like before she added a bunch more animals.  She loved going outside and pretending she was an explorer finding specimens for her terrarium.  Weird kid...

The House Rules are they must be made from things we already have...although I did buy some plants in the beginning.  I just think we all have enough chotchskies around the house that you shouldn't have to buy more.

(I'm not sure why, but the tops of almost every glass container is slightly frosted. How odd.) 

 

This one...I did buy the plant from Home Depot...a low light something or another.  Those beautiful, vintage deer are from my friend's lovely mom, Agnes.  The jar is some special bulb growing thing and the silver plate is one of the many I've collected over the years.

   

I kind of threw this one together since the Peanut picked sooo much moss that I felt like I should use it somewhere.  We got the geode during the family honeymoon in New Hampshire.  The top jar was from the center pieces at my sister's wedding and the bottom is a (I believe) vintage glass candy dish...maybe...overturned to be a base and add some much needed height.

This was the first terrarium I made.  That's an African violet inside it. Again, it needed some height so I put it on top of a silver chaffing dish and burner. 

The Peanut had a snow globe that broke.  She was so sad, that I threw this together so we'd have a new happy home for her bears and their teapot house.

Shells from the beach, soaked till they didn't smell like salt anymore.  Sand from her sandbox.  The turtle is from an old indoor fountain (remember when they were popular?).  And a succulent from Home Depot.  It fit perfectly on a milk glass plate I picked up at an estate sale.

I procrastinated forever to do these.  Really, it's a simple project that's easy to do with kids.  I used leftover aquarium gravel, charcoal that we normally use for the turtle tank filter and potting soil I had laying around.  (Cacti need special soil and LOTS of light...and they do better in a dish garden than a terrarium...deserts aren't exactly high humidity....so, while they look cool, I don't think they'd work well.  The succulent hasn't died yet, but I don't know about regular cacti.)  Tuck a plant in.  Find moss outside.  Rocks, hells, marbles, toys...the possibilities are endless. 

My Kid's Barnyard Terrarium

I have become terrarium obsessed. It started a few years ago, but I couldn't find a lot of info on them. Now there's terrarium sites and books and whatever everywhere...but most have bad info, so take what you read with a grain of salt. Once I got a handle on the how-to part, I've made some lovely grown up ones.

Naturally, the Peanut wanted to make one with me, so we did this one for her pig themed birthday party.  We used a barn, barn animals and fence we gave out as the "goody bag" for one of her birthdays. I put some extra aquarium gravel we had laying around on the bottom. Sprinkled it with charcoal...easily found at Walmart or a pet store. Then I covered the potting soil with moss I found in the back yard. 

The rocks, slate and all the plants were also found in our backyard.  The big plant we had in the back right corner died...hence the reason it looks empty and brown.  But since I grabbed moss surrounded by weeds, there are constantly new plants growing in there.  At least once a week she's yelling out, "Mommy! Come look!"  because something new sprouted. 

Maybe it's not super fancy, but this one has certainly been the most fun!