Garden Junking

Welcome to my Junkin' garden! I love to garden (at least until it gets reeeaally hot!). I love estate sales and auctions, and I loooove junking! I am very *cough cough* "thrifty"..ok..I'm cheap! I made this arbor with some help from my honey from a huge restaurant awning tunnel that the steak house near my former antique store had on the curb. Actually on the grass of the hotel's lawn, but close enough. I went and asked if I could have it and besides looking at me like was nuts I think they were glas to have me haul it off. It was about 15 feet long and we had to cut it into 3 pieces to get it on our trailer..my honey was SO impressed! :) After I explained my plan he grumbling was my fix it man. The posts are landscape timbers set in quickcrete. The sides are 3 old gates (one from my childhood home) and 2 rusty metal headboards. I don't think I paid more than $5 for any of them. There is also a section of one of those curly black porch supports.

My kids laid the path for me for mothers day a few years ago..I was happy! The rusty propane tank makes me very UNhappy because we don't even USE propane but the propane company won't come haul it off and it is technically theirs so there it sits in all its uglosity. I am planning to toss some wire fence over it this spring and grow morning glories over it.

Head board and gates in the background..

Head board and more gates and my bench..

Curly porch support..

I spray painted a couple old birdcages to stick in my flower beds as accents. This is a gazing ball sitting on a curled upside down tomato cage..just bend the feet. It kept falling off the blue birdbath post. I am planning to E6000 a pretty plate or platter to that and move it.

My people are hell on garden tools. My 8 year old broke the head off my flat rake in the garden last week while weilding it like a crazed ninja gardener, using it as a hoe instead of a rake. 2 points for enthusiasm.. - 2 points for the rake! I just save the heads and stick them through the garden on stakes as fair warning to all the other garden tools who may get any ideas! I may eventually make some scarecrow figures out of them, but as scarecrows usually only creep ME out..maybe this is for the best!

I have 2 of these old zinc chicken waterers. I just turned them upside down for an instant planter. I bought herbs yesterday and this one is getting rosemary and the other is getting either lavender or lemon balm.

A ginormous metal whatnot I HAD to buy at an estate sale last summer. The guy said it was an old bell but I think he is full of horse manure. It IS a gorgeous bronzey brass beauty though. It holds water and if I can ever be responsible enough not to burn out the pump it will be a small fountain/pond. I refuse to drill a hole in it for a drained planter though! The word "manure" always makes me think of one of my fav movies Cold Mountain where Rene Zellwigger as Miss Ruby Twos described her daddy as "That MAN is so full of manure!!! If you laid him down on the ground another one would sprout right up!" It also makes me remeber I am a farm child and was up close and personal with plenty manure. Farmers will tell you, "Smells like money!" But if it isn't your cow, pig, sheep, it just smells like poo! There also was also the usual Sunday morning accustations from my Mom in the car on the way to church.."SOMEBODY has manure on their shoe!" LOL I am not a prissy girl! But I digress..

Ok..this is another one of y vintage painted birdcages and a cheap thrift store brass doll bed I painted faux rust (Spray Krylon...spritz of black ..spritz of reddish brown primer and or brown)

The last pic is a bunch of glass chunks I got at an auction. They said they were factory leftover chunks. The big one IS mason jar blue and the pale green appears jadeite. I just think they are pretty and they will also go in a birdbath eventually! I have a couple huge aqua ones elsewhere in another bed. Hope you have fun junking for your garden! Til next time..don't step in any manure and if you do, scrape your shoes! LOL Julia