Accidental Gardener Tips: Rock Strawberries, 2nd Chance Onions, Paper Butterflies.

I am not famous for having a green thumb!  However, I have been guilty of having my thumb (and face) covered with flecks of glitter.  LOL

This year I decided to give my front yard a makeover from the typical “beachy” to a “grandma’s flower garden”.  We have a 3 foot tall fence around the front yard so folks driving by won’t be able to admire my new plants but it is a wonderful view from my kitchen.

The strawberries grow along the side of the front yard and this year I got around to making little strawberry rocks to discourage various animals who like to get a taste of a juicy berry and leave the rest of the berry with a little hole in it!

I gathered rocks that had “strawberry angles” and painted them red with black dots and used a green paint pen for the cap.

I saw a cool Youtube video where the fellow demonstrated how to give green onions a second chance.  It is one of the most delightful growing experiences!  I think the onions are such a metaphor of life.  Circumstances happen and our old life seems gone….but put what’s leftover in a new environment…and you have a new purpose. Growth happens!

These onions just grow grow grow, you can see a difference every day.

We love to harvest the green ends, give them a nice chop and add them into melted butter for a yummy spread over new potatoes!

My nasturtiums were getting holes that weren’t from slugs.  I had noticed white cabbage butterflies hovering and found they were the cuprit.  When I Googled how to deal with them I discovered the white cabbage butterflies are territorial and found the coolest website : http://goodseedco.net/blog/posts/cabbage-butterfly-decoy

There is a good tutorial and a free pattern to make some butterflies. (Click on the website link above for the free pattern).   It is so fun to look out the kitchen window and see this paper butterfly flitting in the wind.  So far I haven’t seen any actual white butterflies since I put up the decoys.  The white butterflies are welcome in my backyard…but not in the front yard until the plants are full grown.

This year I will have hollyhocks, nasturtiums, snapdragons, gerber daisies, shasta daisies, and sunflowers.  It will be fun to see everything bloom!  I am getting in the groove watering and weeding, it is a different kind of art.

Can you say that old adage to actual plants: “Bloom where you grow?”  LOL