Update from the Container Garden

I know, I know.....I promised to finish the garden update, but in the interest of not creating the longest blog post ever, I decided to split it into three sections: flower garden, container garden, and vegetable garden.

SO.....without further ado, here is the latest on the container garden....

I can't remember if I've gotten to show this guy off before now. This was Jacob's (my husband) St. Patty's day pick: a shamrock. I wasn't sure how long it would last, but it seems to be thriving.

Since it was so warm for so long (most of March was in the 80's here), I took the ranunculus (the one in front) out of the greenhouse. There are a few more hanging out on my newly painted plant shelf. Behind that is something called an orchid lily, which I am really excited to see bloom. My voice teacher and his wife gave me this from a division of theirs. Apparently, it blooms in an arch like an orchid, only the flowers are lilies! How cool is that?!

Ok, let's talk about the one on the top of the shelf....I knew that nasturtium were effective as natural "bug traps", but I was really unprepared for just how effective they really are....see how the leaves are mostly chewed off? None of the other plants have been touched....not even the tulip in the same pot!

This one's a baby. I decided it would probably be ok to go ahead and transplant some of the dill seedlings that were in the greenhouse. I may have to bring it inside later this week though...they were talking about frost on the news today.

I was starting to get a little worried about this rosemary plant. I had overwintered it and it was looking pretty anemic for a while, but it seems to be greening up nicely with some sunshine and warmer temperatures.

And lastly, the strawberry plant is starting to make berries!

An updated plant shelf

I can't remember if I've put this in any pictures yet, but I have a bookshelf (built by my father years ago) that I re-purposed as a plant shelf last year (because it's a heck of a lot cheaper than buying a plant stand). I painted it, but it was looking a little worse-for-wear

So I decided to repaint it. I started by cleaning the pieces off really good, letting them dry and sanding down the rough spots where the previous paint was peeling. I found a bright red spray paint at Home Depot for about $3 per can. Here is the paint I used:

Once the pieces were dry from their hose down and wipe off, I set to work.

As you can see, I tried to avoid painting the driveway red as well by putting down some trash bags. As you can see from the picture above, I should have covered a larger area....oops. Anyone know how to get paint off of asphalt?

After two-ish coats of paint, I let the pieces sit until the following afternoon before stacking them together. Et voila!

I will probably let them sit for another day before I actually put anything on them, just to make sure the paint is all cured.

What do you think? Have you re-purposed items from your home in your garden?