Aged Bronze Bunny

I had this china bunny that was painted to look like terracotta. As you can see in the picture, the terracotta finish was beginning to rub off.  I decided to give it an aged bronze finish.  Here are the steps that I took.

First I painted the bunny a bronze color.

I used Modern Masters paint called Statuary Bronze.  You can get it at Benjamin Moore in 6 oz. containers.

 

Once the bronze was dry I painted it with black paint that I thinned a little with water.  While it was still wet I rubbed off the black, leaving some in the cracks and crevices.

  It may be hard to see the results but this defines the texture and tones down the shine a little.

The next step is to paint the bunny with a light green color.  This color is called Sage Green but it was just what I had on hand.  I watered this down a little too.  I did this in sections but if the piece is small you could probably do the whole bunny at once.

Take a damp terry washcloth or old towel and rub off some of the green. 

This is the end result.

 Here he is in his new home.  It is a container with moss, an interesting stick, a rock and a little fern that I dug out of our woods.  I got the idea for the planting from my sister Carolyn.

Growing Box Progress

My boxes were planted about May 12.  Since we have frost very late here, the locals recommend that you wait until after Mother's Day to plant.

As you can see, things are progressing very nicely.  I made one mistake but it wasn't too hard to correct.  My squash plants got so big that their leaves were shading the spinach.  This picture is before the boxes were rearranged.  The cucumber plant on the right is 4 times bigger than the ones I planted in the ground.

I

I have already picked enough squash for dinner.  These are some smaller ones that I'll pick another day.

Now the boxes have been rearranged so the spinach can see the light of day.  I put rabbit/deer repellent out to keep the critters away.  So far, so good!

Gardening Experiment

Last summer I grew tomatoes in Earth Boxes that I bought at a garden store.  I had good success and wanted to expand my garden boxes this year.  I decided to attempt to make my own boxes since the store bought variety are rather pricey.  Today I will share pictures of the process of making the boxes and later I will show how they are progressing.  I planted some things in the ground so that I can make comparisons and see which method works best in my area.  The green box is the Earth Box.  I bought four tubs with lids at my local big box hardware store to make my version of growing boxes.

The first step was to cut the inside of the lid as shown.

I bought a 5 foot length of PVC and cut sixteen 2 1/2 inch pieces.  The remaining piece will serve as the watering spout so I cut it angled at the bottom.

I bought these little plastic boxes and made holes on all sides and the bottom.

Using the box as a pattern, I cut out a square in 2 corners of the lid section where the boxes would go.  In one corner, I cut out a circle for the watering spout. I drew a grid on the lid and drilled a drainage hole everywhere the lines crossed. (That was the tedious part)

To set up the box, I placed the 2 1/2 inch pipe supports all around the bottom of the tub.  After placing the lid section over the supports, I added the 2 boxes and the spout.  The other blue box that you can't see is in the bottom right corner of the tub.  These blue boxes are filled with potting mix and then the rest of the tub is filled.  Water from the reservoir is wicked up from the soil in the blue boxes. You also have to drill a hole in the tub 2 1/2 inches from the bottom.  That way, if you over water, the excess will drain out.

Fill the tub with potting mix and add garden lime (with dolomite).  Mix the lime in the top 5 inches of potting mix.

I put fertilizer in a panty hose leg, placed it in the tub, then covered with more potting mix.  The panty hose makes it easy to remove any fertilizer remnants at the end of the season.  That way, you can reuse the same mix next year.  The fertilizer strip location is determined by what you plant in the tub.  Sometimes it goes in the middle and sometimes on the side.  I referred to the Earth Box web site planting guide.

The final step is to cover with plastic, plant, and water.  You water until you see run off coming out of the drainage hole.  I planted three different peppers, spinach, yellow squash, zucchini, tomatoes, and cucumbers.  They are all doing extremely well.  Next time I will post pictures of the progress since these were planted. 

Why The Name?

I had the privilege of teaching kindergarten in the North Carolina school system for 25 years.  Since my last name was a little hard to pronounce, the children called me Mrs. G.  One year I had a little boy from Sweden who spoke no English.  He heard the children calling me Mrs G. and to his understanding, it was Miggie.  That is how I came up with that part of my blog name.

I love to be creative.  I think I got that trait from my grandmother.  She was probably creative out of necessity since she lived during the depression.  She would try anything.  Once when my daddy went to visit her, he found her on the roof, patching a leak.  She was in her seventies at the time.  I have never patched a roof but I love to try new things.

My husband and I have recently built a new house.  I love bargains and trying to save money so I attempted many do-it-yourself projects in my home.  I also enjoy painting and all kinds of crafts.  In my blog, Miggie Makes, I will share some of my creations with you. I hope you will enjoy them as much as I have.