Bathtub Upcycled into Raised Veggie Garden

5-8"s of new snow on the ground and spring is a month or so off, I've decided its time to reflect on  another of my last summers projects which involves a Mary Shrine and flowers...

 Mary in the Tub...How many of us grew up with a Mary shrine in our yards? These shrines were beautiful purchased shrines or the cast iron bathtub. Even years ago people were attempting to upcycle! My mom still has her Mary shrine which she bought years ago. When my husband and I (hoe #2) and bought our first house we were "blessed" that the prior own left us numerous yard status and yes a Mary Shrine...otherwise known as bathtub Madonna, 1/2 tub Mary and etc. There is even the The Lady of Bathtub Appreciation Society blog! Secretly, I have often thought I could make millions on a Mary in the Tub coffee table book! Similar to this site, just pictures and locations!

The Mary above did not come from our yard but looks very similar to ours, with out Mary...the previous owners took her with them! The tub to the left came from our  yard and brought with us to our 2nd home years later. Jim had great expectations that someone wanted this tub to use in their bathroom and so it sat for over 15years in our barn. I had seen at a local shop an upcycled tub and thought what a great idea!

After dragging the tub from the barn...remember cast iron, I started scrubbing. You can see I started on the bottom right corner. The outside was the worst from being buried I suppose.

 

After scrubbing, I started the painting. If you've read my other blogs, you already know that I use spray paint as much as possible...again I spray painted this project also.

See it turned out perfect!!!
(Right? and to the Right!)

And then came the fun part, designing the look. I knew I needed some sort of flower stencils but could not find what I wanted in the stores so I merely printed large flowers off my computer and cut them out to make my own stencil. When I was ready to spray paint, I taped the stencil to the tub and sprayed and moved onto the next. I jumped around to let the previous dry.

Mind you this is not perfect. I can see issues and I am sure you can too if you look close enough but it is a whimsical way to repurpose the tub.

Next step of course put dirt in it and plants! This is the extent of a veggie garden for me! I even used the fun spray paint on the tomato cages!

And for the before and after pics!




Before

 


After

 














It was a fun little project that took a day to complete, of course the veggies (and weeds in front of it) all summer to grow!

Good luck upcycling your tubs and watch for the next blog "Winter Sowing in Zone 4"

Utility Box Cover in Yard (DIY)

With the current weather being a balmy16^o in Minnesota, it seems appropriate to talk about yard projects...of the past! For years I, Hoe #2 Darcy, have been bothered by two utility/phone boxes in our yard. They sit right out side my kitchen window so whenever I do dishes I see them!  Here they are

OK you can see I started to work on putting some plants around them as a disguise! My thought was I would then buy one of those fake rocks and put it over the top. Problem was I just couldnt find one long or tall enough. Plus to be honest, I am cheap!  $60-80 per rock...I dont think so.  So back to the drawing board I went. Crusing through my favorite home improvement stores I notice all kinds of gates to put around air conditioners but nothing for utility boxes so I decided would have to create something. Of course I have always loved  this cover which is from Better Homes and Gardens 

The problem with this project is that this Hoe doesn’t like to ask her hubby for help unless she absolutely needs too!  And being that I had two boxes to cover, I decided there were too many scary power tools that would need to be used to get this done. Looking through blogs the only one I found of real interest was from Object of May*affections. She was cleaver and place items in front to cover of the utility boxes. My problem, you can see from all directions! I was also told not to plant shurbs or large roots plants by these as the might interfere with the wires?  That meant I needed something that could easily be taken off by the Utility Company when they needed access.

Then  the light went on!  (Love it when that happens!)  I bought this A-frame Garden Trellis (42-in W x 48-in H) from Lowe’s for under $20!  The next night my husband was out of town and the kids were busy so I assembled my cover!

Sorry I don’t have pictures of all the steps but here are the basics

1.       Measure the dimensions that your cover needs to be.

2.       Mark A-frame trellis as to the area you need…I did use a circular saw for this! Note on the photo I have added purple lines. Although not 100% accurate, this is about where I cut.

3.       Assemble and secure- to do this I used the hinge from the A-frame for one corner and merely nailed the other corners together.

4.        For the top-I used the left over wood

5.       I added wood from an old fence a friend gave me to cover some of the area as the boxes could still be seen.

6.       Spray Paint (love it) the utility boxes and the cover the same color, I used brown.

By spray painting the boxes I didn’t need to completely enclose the boxes. This is what it looks like now!  You can see I added some birdhouses that I got for free! I will add another picture when the snow is gone to show you how much the plants have grown. The plants are goose neck, shasta daisy, lilies, butterfly plant etc. 



Before



After



 The utility company has been to our house and was able to remove and replace the cover with no problem or complaints! What do you think, is this something you could do? What could I have done differently?  If your not into the rustic look you can still creatively cover your utility boxes at a low cost! Can’t wait to hear your comments!