Where do you get your inspiration?

Where do you get your garden inspiration?  Books?  Magazines?  Internet?  How about in your own neighborhood or town?  I have found some of the best garden inspiration while simply walking.  Whether it is in my own neighborhood or a town nearby and even on my vacations, simply walking and keeping my eyes open will usually deliver an idea or two.  Inspiration is everywhere.  I bring my camera along and as you can see from some of the photos I have shared and will share in the future, you never know where you might find that hidden gem that speaks to you.  That being said, here are a few more photos to help inspire.....

Sometimes just a little pop of color will make a big impression

 

An unexpected statue gives some added interest

Doors can give provide an unexpected focal point for your garden

You say potato, I say potahto....

I have wanted to plant potatoes for years. This is the year I am going for it. There are several ways to do this; directly into the ground, in a garbage can, and in a grow bag. For reasons of space limitations the choices best suited would be the garbage can method or the grow bag method.
With the garbage can method you would get a 33 gallon garbage can, preferably the hard plastic type, and drill holes in the bottom and sides for drainage. Then fill with about 8 inches of garden soil and plant a few seed potatoes of your choice (which you can purchase online or at a local nursery). Place can with the lid off in a sunny location. As the plants grow you will add soil to cover the plant, leaving about 4 inches of the top of the plant out of the soil. Do this every week or so until your garbage can has been completely filled with soil. When it is time to harvest your potatoes in the fall your garbage can should be filled with those lovely vegetables. Just dig them out!
The grow bag method (which is what I will be doing) is simply filling the bag half way (which you can purchase online or at a local nursery) with gardening soil, planting about 5 of the seed potatoes of your choice into the soil, and placing the bags in a sunny location. Water as needed and as plants grow add more soil (every week or so), at the end of the season you should have a bevy of beautiful potatoes.

Which way is up? Vertical gardening for the horizontally challenged

Don't have any space to plant a flower bed or vegetable garden?  Don't dispair, vertical gardening is here.  Vertical gardening can give you the space you need when you don't have any.  There are many items you can use to build a vertical garden.  These include items that have totally different uses.    For instance, take one of those shoe holders that hang over a door and hang it on an outside wall, filling each pocket with soil and plant different types of lettuce in each row.  Recycle a pallet by standing it vertically with some extra wood for a base, add some screening or landscaping fabric to make pockets in between each slat then fill one side with produce and the other with flowers.  Gutters also make great vertical planters, hang them from a balcony railing, or on the side of an outside wall or make hangers out of them.  They make great containers for strawberries, radishes or lettuce, just to name a few.

One person's garbage is another person's planting container

Containers come in all different shapes and sizes, just head down to your local nursery or hardware store and you will see many examples.  You could puchase them, but why not be different?  Instead of purchasing a plant container, why not make one out of a recycled item?  Perhaps you have an old pair of sneakers you were going to toss in the garbage, or what about that old dresser that has been wasting away down in the basement?  You can use almost anything and make a plant container out of it, the sky is the limit.  With a little imagination and ingenuity you will have one of a kind plant containers that will be the envy of neighbor hood and keep one more thing out of the landfill.  Here are some samples to help give you a few ideas......