Garden Progress + DIY Palette Garden Bed - Mid March 2024

We are in year tow of our garden here in central Arkansas, zones 7a-8b,. Last year, we started some of our garden via seed, but we started all seeds outdoors. We built our amazing DIY palette garden beds (one of which we rebuilt this year), and cannot wait to plant our little seedlings in our new garden beds once they are a bit stronger.

HERE’S WHAT WE PLANTED ON MARCH 8, 2024

Notes from the garden: 2/25 and 2/28/2024

Planted basil seeds from our garden then planted organic basil seeds from store. Also planted Cave City Yellow Watermelon (one cup grew wonderful and one did not grow at all).

3/8/2024

Planted seeds of the following: Sunflowers, Bell Peppers, Cilantro, Dill, tomatoes, peas.

3/14/2024

Seeing growth on the following: Peppers, sunflowers, and peas, cilantro.


Below, you can see some of my most cherished seedlings! Last year we went on a fun adventure near Cave City, AR. The watermelons from that city are famous so we decided to wash/dry/preserve some of those seeds from last summer. We saved both yellow watermelon, shown below, and I just started some of the red Cave City watermelons a few days ago, and I am already seeing growth on them!

Above, Cave City Watermelon Seedlings after one week, and below, after two weeks and transplanted into a larger pot.

Below, you will see one misfortune in the seedling game we are playing. Before I thought to use my plastic cups for seedlings,we purchased two type of Spinach seeds online and the Giant Noble spinach seeds from a farm in Columbus, OH barely had any growth since 2/28/24, and the American Spinach seeds I ordered elsewhere has shown less than half germination. So, perhaps it was the seeds, but maybe I over watered, or something? So, I will try these same sets of seeds in my clear plastic cups and let you all know if it is the tray or what. You never know what you are going to get!

I am wondering if it is honestly these trays or what, because most everything else I started in my cups, has been germinating within 5-7 days! Below, you can see a cup I planted our Sugar Daddy Peas in on 3/8/24 and wow they are taking OFF!

DIY Palette Garden Bed Instructions:

Materials Needed:

4 Palettes, 2 1/2” wood screws, drill, saw.

Tools We Use:

Instructions:

We cut/sawed apart a total of 4 palettes length wise, and used them to create the four sides. We used 2 1/2” wood screws to attach all the sides together. Next, we used smaller boards which were still attached to the extra pallet pieces as sides, in lieu of using weed barrier fabric like we did last year on the blue bed.

After you have reinforced the sides and made sure there is nowhere for dirst to fall out, then fill the bed with as many sticks as you can. This helps us save because we use less bags of dirt

Lastly, fill the remaining space in with bags of dirt. We like using the Miracle Grow soil if we can!

Once our seedlings are strong enough and there is no more cold weather snaps forecasted, our seedlings wil be plated outside in these beds, in an efort to have an even bigger and more varied garden than year one, last year!

I wish I had known about these exact DEWAT Tools being on sale but I provided some links to the deals below for our handheld saw and our amazing cordless handheld drill from DEWALT. They have lasted a long time.

BELOW, OUR GARDEN FROM LAST YEAR (2023)

We got tons of tomatoes and tons of basil (which grew nestled beneath all of our tomatoes, shown here.

Below, out first palette garden bed built last year, then the awesome GardenWerx bag and gardening tools Travis got me as a surprise last year. I could not find a link for them, but I included a few cute ideas below.

Can’t wait to see how the garden performs this season!

Miracle Gro - Grow Together - A Cute Terrarium DIY

Super excited to share my latest project with you! I have teamed up with Miracle Gro and HelloSociety to bring you some pretty amazing Spring Inspirations. I planted the terrarium arrangement about 2 weeks ago, and it's still as happy as ever! 

I had so much fun working on this project while visiting my family in Arizona. The timing couldn't have been more perfect, because the Cave Creek, AZ Home Depot has SO many amazing succulents and cacti to choose from.

My plants obviously love their new home in Miracle Gro Cactus, Palm, and Citrus Potting Mix. The instructions for this terrarium are at the bottom of this post. 

Check back soon to see more photos as they go live on my Dedicated Board.  

MATERIALS:

Various succulents and cacti (varied heights are good), Miracle Gro Cactus, Palm, Citrus Potting Mix, natural colored pebbles, white or brown aquarium rocks, neon pink aquarium rocks, activated charcoal (optional), gardening gloves, shovel, funnel, tall glass container (Walmart has the best prices that I've found).

INSTRUCTIONS:

In a tall glass container , or glass container of your choice, add an optional layer of activated charcoal. Next, add about 2 inches of larger pebbles. Add a layer of dirt on top, then pat the dirt down with the back of your hand, to create a flat surface. Next, add white or brown colored aquarium rocks, and flatten them with your hand. Add a bit more dirt, almost to the very top, but leaving about 1-2" of space at top. Do a test arrangement by placing the potted succulents into the container. Feel free to break apart plants if it looks like there are multiples in one container. Once you have a layout that you like, take the succulents out of their container (over a bucket or similar), and knock off as much loose dirt as you can. Place plants into dirt and add a bit more dirt on top. Now, using a funnel, add pink rocks around plants, to hide all dirt. That's it! A fun project you can create in an hour or so!

LWG + Miracle Gro

Clematis Jackmanii Giveaway + Garden Inspirations + Top Gardening Inspirations On Pinterest

Nature Hills Nursery has asked me to offer my readers a chance to win a Jackmanii Clematis! You will win the plant listed here, in container #2. 

Win a free clematis

The 5" flowers transition from deep purple to a lighter violet with age. 'Jackmanii Superba' is an excellent cultivar for later season color - blooming from midsummer to early fall. Jackmanii can also be used as a ground cover!

Clematis 'Jackmanii Superba' is easy to grow in a rich, porous, alkaline soil with plenty of room for the roots to spread. Clematis perform best perform when the tops are in full sunlight and the roots are shaded. Apply mulch or plant a shallow rooted groundcover to keep the roots cool and shaded.

Flowers are produced on new growth so prune this plant back to 1 to 2 feet in late winter or early spring.

* Profusion of Purple Flowers
* Flowers Fade From Deep to Light Purple
* Blooms Mid Summer Through Fall

They have also nominated me as one of the Top Ten People To Follow On Pinterest In 2016! They love my Pinterest board called, How Does Your Garden Grow. How nice of them!!! 

Clematis

MORE GARDENING INSPIRATIONS...

Tips On Growing Clematis

Tips On Growing Clematis