In the Garden: Sea shells

Sunday, June 21, 2009

Beach Planter

HAPPY FATHERS DAY TO ALL FATHERS!

A simple seed collected and given to a daughter to plant in her garden. The seed takes root and begins to open up in the garden so many miles away. The product of a Fathers love for his daughter in such a simple but special way! Thanks Big Daddy for the Morning Glory seeds you gave me from your Tennessee Garden, now in my Georgia Garden reminding me of you every morning!

Now let's take a look at a new planter shall we...

As you can see I do not have foundations beds by my Georgia house. After reading a post by Tina on her Foundation Beds, I decided it was time to created one. The spot between the Air/Heat Unit and the cement slab by the water faucet always bugged me. An empty plot waiting for something to be planted there.

My mother in law was Spring cleaning her garage and came across many collected sea shells with her trips to Florida. She asked if I had a use for any Sea Shells. Well, No but I bet Tina would like some or she can pass them along on Freecycle! I was shocked to see how many shells there were and decided to keep a few for myself. Tina got the other boxes of shells and was happy. Hum, I wonder what Tina did with those shells?

Okay, now you know the inspiration for this planter, lets move on with it... The Saint and I chose the border then I dug out the grass and a layer of soil where they were to be placed. A slope and clay dirt make for some tough digging. We are lucky as we don't have much clay in our yard but by the house we have plenty. I am sure this was brought in to level the ground when the house was built.

With border in place, the Saint dug three holes for some plants to be placed.

See the red Georgia Clay he had to dig out? Lucky for us, the soil was moist so not as difficult of a job as could have been.

We have a banana tree (passed along from my parents) that has been planted in two different spots in the yard with no luck. One year the squirrels used it as a play toy and shredded all the leaves two different times! The pine needles from the trees above tore holes in it while planted in the second spot. Each fall, I would dig it out of the ground and bring it inside during the winter to bring the poor thing back to life. I kept it in the sun-room all winter long again this past winter and hopefully, this year, it will survive its final spot. I do not plan on bringing it inside again this winter!

As you can see we made two sections within the planter. One contains the banana tree while the other side, separated by a metal plate, contains a small clump of "Avalanche Feather Reed Grass" and a tall Lily. Lola sent me the Lily bulb last fall.

Lola nor I know the name of this lily but look at the one which she has in her Florida garden! I hope my new lily will bloom such as this! Thanks again Lola for the wonderful gift! Do any of you know the name of this beauty?

The Saint and I dug out lots of fresh compost from our bin and added it to the planter along with some bags of top soil. We watered everything well then I placed landscapers fabric on top of the soil.

Next, came sand. The title to this post is beach planter so you knew I had to have sand right? I placed the sand on the left side under the banana tree.

Then I carefully placed river rocks on the other side of the planter. The fabric below should hold all of this in place.

We put smaller pea gravel on the outer sides of the planter to help hold the border in place but make for a cleaner splash with rain fall.

The pea gravel was placed along the sides and back of the planter.

The fun part of this project was placing the sea shells in the sand to form a beach type look. I added a crab which I must say I paid way too much for but he was perfect for my beach so I splurged this time.

The Saint found this empty turtle shell in our woods a while back and now was the time to incorporate it into the garden.

Some people might think this planter is now finished but not so as I had a vision not yet completed.

I cut some scrap wood and tied it together with rope. I drilled holes into some of the smaller shells and strung it on twine. I then put it all together to make this little sea post. Free decorations! We secured it in this spot by drilling a hole into the bottom of the wood and placing over a rebar we hammered into the ground.

I placed the sea post in the corner but am looking for a water proof gull type bird to perch on top. I am on the hunt for that...

I wanted the Saint and I to build a backdrop of sorts out of wood but we did not have any such scrapes lying around. We found two small trellis for a good price and decided we could not buy wood as cheap so we put them in place instead of build our own.

Next came the fun task of shopping at bargain centers for the perfect things to place on the backdrop! I found Fish Nets, a Birdhouse, Wooden Buoys and 2 Fish with my bargain hunting. I drilled holes into more shells and strung twine to make a garland.