Every spare moment at our house has been all about the garden for the last few weeks. We’re doing some significant landscaping in the backyard (which has been a blank slate of spotty lawn and mountains of weeds for several years). I wanted more space for flowers and vegetable garden; Ethan wanted to clean up the space so we can enjoy the yard more fully—goals that actually work well together. Our original plan included building a fairly extensive rock wall, but that has been set aside for a more practical and immediate solution: making garden space with a simple edging for now…I have tomato starts to plant!

I assume that many of you are also spending time in your gardens—getting beds ready for planting, hardening off starts, and finishing general sprucing. Soon I hope to share some before and after photos of our work, but for now I have a small project that is accomplishable with little time for a pretty fun impact.

Years ago my mom found some huge, old automotive funnels in an auction or estate sale (I don’t remember which) and always planned on doing something with them in the garden, but never got to the project. Knowing of my fondness of all things galvanized and enameled, she brought them to me and they’ve been sitting in my shed for quite awhile. I finally pulled them out a few weeks ago and decided what to do with them.

I love succulents for their durability and drought tolerance. If you look for them, you’ll also find that succulents are also quite varied in color, height and shape, making for great planting versatility and interest. I planted succulents of different shapes and colors in both funnels, for just about $15—and they should over-winter if I remember to bring them in for the winter.

There is one trick I used when planning. Funnels have great drainage via the giant hole in the bottom of the bowl, but that hole is also a great place for all of your potting soil to funnel right out of your planter (ha! funnel pun!). To keep the drainage, but avoid losing all of the soil, just place 2 or 3 basket-shaped paper coffee filters in the bottom of the bowl before adding soil—water will still drain and soil will stay in place.

When planting the succulents choose different varieties, heights, and colors, mixing and matching to suit your taste.

To hang the funnels I drilled holes in the back of the funnels and hooked them onto nails on our weathered fence. So far they’re staying put and very happy in the sun between our raised vegetable beds.

What are you adding to your garden this year?
 

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