The-Artistic-Garden's Blog

Foods to Attract More Wild Birds for Your Enjoyment

Many of us LOVE attracting wild birds to our backyards and surrounding property just for the joy of watching them. I’m one of those people. I’ve had bird feeders in my yard for many, many years and have filled my feeders with hundreds, now probably thousands, of pounds of black oil sunflower seeds (my wild bird food of choice) too. I’ve also had good luck attracting birds with safflower seeds – loved by gold finches (and to deter the squirrels) – and suet placed in suet cages that all the birds gobble up. Continue reading

A Really Cool Wind Chime Project

Hi everyone. I often come across really creative and not too hard to do garden art projects that I’d love to try to make, and I also know there must be lots of you out there who do have the the time and would like to make something new and unique. Continue reading

Bird Suet Recipes with Peanut Butter as an Ingredient Are Not Dangerous

I received a comment from Consuelo on a previous post about making your own bird suet. She wanted to share information she’d found about peanut butter being potentially dangerous to certain bird species. Peanut butter is one of the ingredients I recommend using for the suet recipe.

I’d like to add a more detailed response to her comment here in a post, so that it properly addresses this subject and provides more information for those of you who perhaps have landed here, looking for information about “potential hazards of using peanut butter in a bird suet recipe.” Continue reading

For Those of You Wondering About How Large
a Hypertufa or Concrete Sculpture Can Be …

I get asked just how large you can make a hypertufa or concrete garden art object more than a couple times each month, and my standard answer to everyone is simply, “As large as YOU are capable of making it.”

I’m not trying to be smart or curt with that reply, but honestly, my answer is the truth. After all, if you can dream up the idea, and you have the skills and know-how to figure out how you’re going to construct the frame on which to apply your ‘tufa or concrete recipe … then by all means, go ahead and tackle the project. The size factor is basically not a big stumbling block if you know what you’re doing. Continue reading

D-I-Y Hypertufa Flagstone Project Questions

I received an email from a sweet lady named P.J. asking me about how doable a “large” DIY hypertufa flagstone project might be and I think lots of you can benefit from her questions and my answers. So here goes:

Hi Claudia,

I love your website and blog and I have been reading all your info about hypertufa but I have a few questions. I want to make a patio in my yard and I would like to use the flagstone or slate mold. I am a widow and I will be doing this myself. I guess my question is can I do it myself? Continue reading

I’m No Super Artsy Crafter -
Here’s the Mailbox Decoration I Made From Scratch

I thought I’d share information on making homemade mailbox decorations for the Holidays, because often times we either don’t have the time to put up all the outdoor decorations we’ve amassed over the years, or we really just don’t have the enthusiasm or physical ability we used to, to haul out ladders and all the strings of lights, and tackle that whole “decorate the house” project!

I pretty much fit all the above! But, I don’t want my house to look totally ignored over the Holidays either and the mailbox is a nice spot to add some festivity. Continue reading

DIY Christmas Decorations to Add Some Holiday Cheer to Your Lonely Mailbox

I decorate my mailbox each year for the Holiday season, one reason being because I don’t go semi-wild stringing lights all over my house anymore. (I used to … but now I just don’t care to deal with the heavy ladder and everything else involved.) But, so as not to have a home that doesn’t exude some sort of Holiday cheer, these past few years I have made it a point to decorate my mailbox with garland and lights and I also have always placed garland with lights around the entire opening of my front door. Continue reading

The Temperatures are Dropping to Freezing for Many of Us
Get Your Terra Cotta Containers Protected

Since so many of us live in parts of the USA and elsewhere in the world where the temperatures are really starting to dip low, I thought I’d provide some important winterizing tips for terra cotta (also called clay) pots. Continue reading