February 25, 2021 Newsletter

Hi friend,

This week I’m sharing an inspiring garden created by two self-taught gardeners. Their garden looks incredible all four seasons of the year. You can learn a lot from this garden.

I’m also sharing a fun video from the New York Botanical garden, some tips on how to grow lettuce indoors, and an amazing DIY for glamorous wind chimes.

I’m glad we are at the end of February, notorious for it’s gloomy weather. For those of us anxious to return to our gardens, we have reached the downward slope to spring. You can feel it just around the corner.

Happy gardening,
Sue

Photo provided with permission from Four Seasons Garden

An Amazing Tiny Garden

Feast your eyes on the amazing Four Seasons Garden. Built on a 1/4 acre suburban lot in the UK, this garden is a testament to what is possible when two people have a passion for gardening.

Marie and Tony Newton created this garden themselves. Every path, garden feature, and plant (with the exception of one) are the result of their hard work and imagination. They didn’t hire a designer or landscape crew.

The garden shines all four seasons of the year and has won numerous awards. I want to share this quote from their website because I think it’s easy to fall into the trap of thinking you need special training and fancy degrees to build an amazing garden.

“Although we have had no horticultural training, and are totally self-taught, we believe we have created something very special.”

They have indeed created something extraordinary. A testament to human ingenuity. I know you will be inspired looking through their website and Flickr account.

Japanese maples and conifers have never looked so good.

Four Seasons Garden website

Four Season Garden Flickr page

NYBG Walk Through Spring Garden

No cold-climate gardener needs to be reminded of the dread of February when you are waiting for garden season. This time of year, we are bombarded with images of summer dahlias, seed starting, and an overall agreement not to discuss the cold, gloomy weather.

If you have the February blues, you’ll love this video taking you on a walk through the New York Botanical garden on the first day of Spring 2020.

New York Botanical Garden – Walk through the garden in Spring

How To Grow Lettuce Indoors

I wish I read this article about growing lettuce indoors before I tried my first crop. I didn’t have success with my first indoor crop. It turns out that I overwatered my seedlings.

It wasn’t until I read this article that I learned lettuce is a short-rooted plant that needs three specific things to grow well indoors:

Adequate light
A draft-free location
Well-drained, non-soggy soil

Follow these simple guidelines, and you can grow your own lettuce like a horticulturist.

How To Grow Lettuce Indoors for Beginners

DIY Clay Wind Chime Featured on
Design*Sponge

The Design*Sponge website is no longer active, but you can still access old articles online. It’s a treasure trove of inspiration.

I recently stumbled onto a fantastic tutorial written by Francesca Stone showing how to make an air-dried clay wind chime. This wind chime is gorgeous and I can’t wait to give this project a go. I thought you might like to try making one too.

DIY Clay Wind Chime