Home & Garden DIYs: Summerween Garden

I was in the midst of cleaning up our Summerween barbeque, and I wanted to keep the vibes going. Today, I’m going to walk you through a couple of DIY projects I needed to get done. We’re going to Summerween it up!

First, I got a tiered planter with multiple areas to plant seeds for a little fairy garden. I got some vines and small plants at Walmart, and moved them into the planter. I had some extra carrot seeds, so I planted them there as well. I found some decorative steps, little fairy pieces, and a fairy house at Michael’s, and placed them all around the planter to complete my vision. I think it came out super cute!

After I created the fairy garden, I planted some jack-o’-lantern seeds in their own pots. When I shared on Instagram that I was planting these, there were so many people that reached out to let me know they could be a problem with all of the deer and animals that live around the woods by our house. I thought, “why not get a raised garden bed?” I had one at our last house, and I loved it!

I bought a raised planter and put it together outside on our deck. I let the seeds for the jack-o’-lanterns thrive in their pots, and waited until they sprouted to transfer them over to the planter. I added garden soil & a little bit of fertilizer, and watered them very well. It was a total success! I think I’m going to get a second raised planter for the tomatoes, cucumbers and carrots that I planted the other day as well. The cucumbers and carrots are doing so well! The tomatoes are doing okay, but I did buy a tall tomato cage to help them along. I’m learning!

Speaking of learning, I got an app called PictureThis for the plants. The idea is that you take a picture of the plant, and it will tell you if it’s thriving or not, what to do, and how to take care of it. The issue is that the app didn’t recognize my pumpkin. Instead, it thought it was a cucumber. I panicked so I double checked the seeds, and it is definitely a pumpkin. If you have a recommendation for a better app, please share it!

My next DIY was creating some labels for the garden. I found these cute metal garden markers on Amazon. I thought, “I can’t just write on them with a Sharpie,” so I bought an engraving pen. It worked out super well! I labeled the pumpkins, tomatoes, cucumbers, carrots, as well as the spot in the yard where I planted a balsam tree.

After I finished up gardening, Andre and I created a couple of rock gardens in our backyard. There wasn’t anything there before; it was just moss. We arranged some rocks and added flowers around them. I think it turned out very pretty! We would also like to get some chairs to put down near the lake. It’s so funny, Canadians call them muskoka chairs, and Americans call them adirondack chairs. What do you call them? We want them to blend in with the scenery, so we’re thinking of either hunter green or dark brown. I want your help! What color should we get?

Next up on my to-do list was going to Michael’s. I saw on Instagram that they were starting to put out their Halloween collection, so I couldn’t NOT go. Nothing was on sale, but if you wait too long, nothing is available. The collection was amazing, and perfect for Summerween. It’s giving 60s/70s pink, but it wasn’t very “Angie.” The Angie of eight years ago would have LOVED it! I debated getting some pieces for Summerween, but ultimately decided against it. The only Halloween things I ended up leaving with were candy corn and skull throw pillows. I also got a cute birdhouse that was on clearance, and some glitter paint for another DIY I have in the works.

My new rule with this house is that any time something comes in, things have to get donated or taken out. If we’re going to be doing fresh stuff, then we’d better be clearing out some old stuff. This year, I’m going to toss out some things, donate, clean, wash down my bins, and do a deep clean of my Halloween stuff. With everything I’ve accumulated over the past 8-9 years, I’ve noticed that things start getting really dusty and get a mildew-y smell after a while. Either you need new stuff, or you need to wash it all. I bought some cryovac bags that you can use to vacuum seal things like pillows and blankets, so we’ll also try that to see if it helps!

I wanted to share a little house update. A while back, I got a sled that I wanted to turn into a bench in the foyer. Well, we made one! I got the dimensions of the sled and ordered a plaid pillow on Amazon. It turned out so good! Now, we want to get a huge mirror and a new ceiling light to complete the space. We also had a meeting for the renovations we want to do. We’re going to redo the kitchen, replace all of the flooring from the front door to the kitchen, and the open area next to the kitchen is going to become part of it. We’re also going to redo the powder room!

Once we came home from Michael’s, we went back outside to continue the DIY projects. We don’t want to do a big lighting situation yet, so we got some solar lights off Amazon. I had already put some under the trees in the backyard, and they’re super nice. We put more lights in the front yard, and pointed them upward towards the trees. The trick is that you’ve got to make sure they’re not in a shaded spot during the day.

Next, I had gotten two big planter bowls that I thought would be cool to use to create solar water fountains. They had holes in the bottom of them that I sealed up the day before with Gorilla tape and patch & seal spray. I let the spray dry for 24 hours, then filled the bowl with water and put it on top of a whiskey barrel by our front steps. I dropped a floating solar fountain pump in, and voilà! DIY done, and it was super easy. I’m also going to fill the other bowl and put it in the back of the house. Apparently, hummingbirds love it, so it doubles as a bird bath. Who am I? I’m like a Disney princess that lives in the woods, feeds all of the animals, and names every single one of them. I don’t know who I’ve become!

It was super fun taking you through all of my DIYs. I’m sorry if I made you feel the need to go to Michael’s (lol), but I hope you enjoyed the realness, and maybe even got a little inspiration. If you create any garden DIYs of your own, I’d love to hear them in the comments!

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