MAKE A SAND PAIL CONTAINER

Beach Pail Container

While lolling on the beach this summer, I watched a couple of kids building a sand castle.  They were packing brightly colored plastic pails with damp sand to create circular blocks to build their fortress wall.  It occurred to me that these plastic pails would make excellent molds for planting containers and I found a nice blue one at discount store for under $3.  You can put a wire handle on the container in keeping with the pail idea and kids would love to help you with this project!

What You Need

-Large plastic sand pail- don’t worry about the design on it, look for one of good size                                           that is smaller at the bottom and wider at the top.

- plastic to cover your work surface

-a pair of mud gloves

-baking spray

-cross-cut shredded paper, preferably white office memos

1 bag sand-topping concrete mix

- plastic mix tub or large 5 gallon pail

-heavy wire for the handle and a large nail

-beads for decoration if desired

-and the little shovel that comes with the pail

What You Do

1. Spread out the protective plastic over your work surface and put on gloves.

2. Fill your plastic pail mold three times with shredded paper.  Dump the buckets of paper shred into the mixing tub or large pail.

3. Fill the bucket to the brim with hot water and pour over the paper in the large pail.

4.  With the gloves on, mix n’ mash the paper into a smooth mush.

5.  Add sand-topping concrete mix 1 cup at a time until you end up with a gray clay-like mass that resembles gray hamburger, around 5-6 cups.

6.  Spray the inside of the plastic pail with the none-stick spray and pack the hypertufa into the container from the bottom up.  ¾” is a good thickness for the walls of the container.

7.  Squeeze the rim to round it off and crimp edge with your finger or a stick.  Poke a drainage hole in the bottom as well.

8.  If you’d like to add a handle, poke two holes opposite from one another about 1” down from the top rim of the pail using a large nail.

9.  Allow to cure for three days.  When hard, remove from pail and burnish rough edges with a gloved hand.  

10.  Accessorize and plant up your sand pail container.

Tip:  Use small brads and a hammer to add decoration to the sides.

Rhubarb Lemon Jam

Jammin' time! With the genrous rainfall this spring the rhubarb is happy and so am I. This rhubarb jam has no commerical pecton to thicken it. It uses the natural pectin from 1 lemon's rind and seeds boiled with it and removed before jarring. Home canning is cool but you have to watch it because you can end up spending too much money on the sutff you need to make something. A bit of searching on the the internet, will pay off with oider recipes used by people who had to be self sufficient. 

This one's a keeper:

RHUBARB LEMON JAM
Makes about 5 pints

• 4 pounds rhubarb, trimmed, rinsed, and cut into small chunks
(12 cups)
• 4 cups sugar
• 1 big lemon, halved and juiced, seeds reserved in a cheesecloth pouch or tea ball

DIRECTIONS
1. Sterilize the jars for canning by boiling them and their lids. Place a small plate in the freezer.

2. Place the fruit, sugar, water, and lemon juice, spent halves, and seeds (they provide the necessary pectin) in a large bowl and set aside at room temperature overnight.

3. Pour the contents of the bowl into a large pot and bring to a boil over medium-high heat. Continue to cook, stirring the jam constantly, for about 15 minutes. 

4. Drop the heat to medium. Hold the jam at a constant simmer, checking frequently to make sure the jam isn’t scorched at the bottom of the pot. After 15 minutes, check to see if your jam has set by placing a small spoonful of jam on the plate from the freezer. The jam is set when it holds its shape on the cool plate. If it seems loose, continue cooking over medium-low heat until set.
5. Remove the seed bag and lemon halves and compost them. Place the jam in sterilized jars, leaving ¼” headspace. Gently tap the bottom of each jar on the counter to release any air bubbles. Using a damp clean towel, wipe the rims of the jars and secure the lids and rings. Process in a water bath for 10 minutes. Remove the containers with tongs and let cool on the counter. When the jam is cool, remove the metal rings, check for proper seals, and label with the date and contents. Store in a cool, dark cupboard until ready to use for up to 1 year.

MOKAN Water Garden Society Tour

cascading
sheets of silver water
spill incessantly into the pond

tumbling
beauty before our eyes
beckons us to bathe in radiance

lost in froth
we find ourselves engulfed
by nature’s pulse, shimmering delight

MOKAN Water Garden Society Tour this weekend!

JOIN US IN THE HYPERTUFA STUDIO ,SATURDAY AND SUNDAY MORNINGS, JUNE 13 & 14

Our first Hypertufa Studio of the summer is coming up next weekend, Saturday and Sunday mornings, June 13 & 14 from 9-12 each day. The Hypertufa Studio offers a hand-on experience making Steve’s “green” version of HYPERTUFA, a mix of cement, sand, recycled paper fiber and water. You’ll mix, mold and sculpt concrete and hypertufa into unique and functional garden art including a box planter, a bird puddler, cast leaves, a stepping stoned and a sculpted garden gnome. Most participants take home 4-5 finished projects from this two-morning session.  
JOIN US! For more info and to enroll visit:
peace in my garden.com.

GARDEN STAKE SALE AND MOSAIC STONE WORKSHOP

Garden Stake Weekend Put a finishing touch in your garden with a select garden stake for 50% off this weekend, Friday through Sunday.  (Premium stakes not included.) Mosaic Stone Workshop All day Saturday, 10:00-5:00, we'll be helping you make your own mosaic stepping stone. Pick your shape, pick your treasures, make your mosaic. You can even bring your own pieces to include in your mosaic stone. $25 BREATH OF FRESH AIR Our Spring Sale OPEN   Friday, Saturday, and Sunday  10:00-5:00.

Grow a “TEA”Pot

You can make refreshing iced teas from many of the plants and herbs in your garden. You’ll discover that a little experimentation with various herbs will result in interesting and refreshing iced teas that surpass any mix you can buy in the store. Start with a base of regular green tea.  As you grow in experience you can use other favorite teas as a base.  Green tea is a good one for starters because it is mild and mixes readily with other flavors.

Here’s a list of plants that might already be growing in your garden to flavor teas:

Monarda/Bee Balm                       Raspberry

Strawberry                                       Lemon Thyme

Valerian                                            Chamomille

Clove Pinks                                        Anise Hyssop

Lemon Balm                                     Mints

Juniper                                               Lavendar

Nasturitum                                       Strawberry

Sage                                                   Pineapple sage

Lemon Basil                                      Rose petals

Sweet Violet

When used medicinally, these concoctions are called Tisanes.  What we are going for here is refreshing flavor, so call it what you will!

The process for making your tea is simple. Bring cool water to boil in a large stainless steel pot.  While waiting for the water to come to boil, take a walk through your garden and gather two to three stems of  each variety of herbs you want to flavor your tea.  Wash them in cool water and bunch together with a clean rubber band. When the water is boiling, remove from the heat and add green tea bags.  For my large stock pot, l use an entire box of green tea bags because I want it strong, you can always add water.  After the tea bags, add your bunches of herbs and allow to steep overnight.

The next morning, remove the bags and herbs to your compost bucket.  Strain the liquid through a fine mesh strainer.  This removes any stray leaves but more importantly re-aerates the tea which greatly improves flavor.  Sweeten to taste, if desired with honey or Stevia products. Store the concentrate in a covered pitcher in the fridge, ready for drinking when you want it.

 Convenience tends to play a role in what gets done or used from the garden.  You can plant a TEA”Pot of your favorite herbs and keep it right near your door for easy harvest.

What You Need:

-A large planting container you can put in a sunny spot for most of the day

-four to five plants whose flavors you enjoy

-potting soil

-gloves

What you do:

1.    Fill the container ¾ full of potting soil and arrange your plants placing the taller growers to the center and the shorter ones to the outside. For this one I used Anise Hyssop, Curly Spearmint, Chocolate mint . Lemon Balm and Sweet Violet, a favorite combination.

2.    Fill in the spaces with additional potting soil and water well.

3.    Place in a spot easy to reach and let it grow!

Make a TAKE-OUT PLANTER!

Take-Out Planter

When Laurie and I go out to eat, I usually end up cleaning my plate.  She however, will always eat half of her dinner and take the rest home because she loves leftovers. I am not fond of leftovers but am quite intrigued at the interesting variety of take-home food containers and have built up quite a nice collection.  The “keepers” are a combination of a top and bottom which just happen to make pretty cool hypertufa pot and saucer molds.  What a great way to reuse a take out container!

What you need:
-One or two plastic take-out food containers preferably with a top and bottom

-Plastic covered work area
-Large plastic mixing tub or bowl
-Your favorite Hypertufa recipe
   (Here’s mine: http://fromthesummersgarden.blogspot.com/p/normal-0-false-false-false-en-us-ja-x_10.html)
-masonry trowel or large spoon
-vegetable oil and brush
-disposasble gloves

What you do:
1.  Cover your work surface with plastic
2. Lightly oil the inside surfaces of both the top and bottom pieces of your take out food container. 
3.  Put on a pair of disposable gloves and mix up; a batch of hypertufa.  You can make this project using just sand mix concrete mix but the end result will be much heavier.
4.  Line the insides of both pieces with ½” to ¾” layer of hypertufa and pat firmly using your fingers to a uniform surface. 

5. Use your finger or a stick to poke a drainage hole in the bottom of the planter portion. Don’t put a hole in your saucer.
6. Allow to set and harden overnight and pop out of the plastic containers. You can slit the plastic with a box cutter.  This will make it very easy to remove.
7.  Brush off rough edges and allow to cure for a week.
8.  Pot up and place when you want some living color.

What else you can do…

Take a breather from planting 

this busy spring and visit 

Breath of Fresh Air, 

the spring sale at 

From the Summer’s Garden.