Spring Fling

I found out that I have some strawberries in my backyard that are in a shady spot.  They are also not in a spot that is convenient to keep an eye out for ripe berries.  So I thought that I would try an idea I saw on Pinterest.  So I bought clay pots that I can use to make a stacking planter.  I am painting them so they will hold more moisture, i.e. not have to be watered quite so often. Anything that works to make life easier is a plus in my book.  I got enough for two stacking planters.

After I got my paint, between rain and a migraine  it took me about two weeks to get my pots painted.  After they were painted I still had to get my potting mix.  This was fairly easy to make myself.  My father has about three dump truck loads of leaves that have been sitting for three years.  This means they are wonderfully broken down and are more like dirt than leaves.  So I mixed about 1 part vermiculite to 2 - 3 parts leaves.  I don't have pictures of this step because I was working late in the evening and it got too dark for pictures.  I mixed everything up in my kids plastic wading pool which worker really well.  Each pot has to be stacked after the one under it is full of course.  This makes it possible for you to place the pots at an angle.  Unfortunately By the time I got my pots all done, the strawberries already had berries on them.  Since I don't want to kill them I am going to wait until the strawberries have ripened to move them.  In the mean time I am planting nasturtiums in their place.

So to spruce up things this spring I decided that I needed a table for the front porch.  Well, I didn't want to spend any money, and my dad has all of the wire spools that he just has to dispose of eventually.  So I rescued one of them from the trash pile.  However I didn't want to end up with it rotted on my porch, so I used the leftover paint from the pots to paint the spool as well.

 I think that it will work quite well, and it won't blow off the porch in a stiff wind.  I have to consider this since the rest of my furniture for my porch is folding chairs.  On top of the spool, I have a 12 inch pot planted with pansies sunk in an 18 inch pot also planted with pansies planted around the sunken pot.  I think in about a month it will be truly beautiful.