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At this time of year, I see a lot of broken bird baths for sale in yard sales so this is a good time to "shop" for your new garden rain barrel.

Rain barrels are a good way to collect rain water for reuse later in your garden.

They can be fancy with spigots and hose connections, and a bit expensive.

If you want to capture water for your deck plants or a small flower bed, a repurposed broken bird bath can be an interesting and inexpensive alternative.

One of the best shapes for a recycled bird bath rain barrel is a bird bath with a large bottom, which will serve as the water holding tank.

You can also repaint the bird bath with spray paint to help it better incorporate into the landscape where you plan to place it.

Make sure the bird bath fits nicely and securely under a gutter spout.

Experiment before the bird bath is full of water.

Stabilize the bird bath with rocks or bricks underneath so once it's full of water, it's not tipping.

In the photo, the smooth side of the lid is towards the gutter so water can easily splash into the bird bath lid.

Rocks on the bird bath lid help to secure the lid when a lot of water is splashing on it.

If the gutter can't reach bird bath, there are gutter extensions that can guide the water out of the gutter into the bird bath top.

No need to have the gutter immediately on the lid.

The pressure of water coming through the gutter, and water levels over the center opening, will ensure water gets into the bottom holding tank.

You can pick up an inexpensive spigot and plumber's tape to install a spigot half way down the barrel.

Or you can use a plastic can stored inside the bird bath to water plants.

No need to remove the broken bird bath motor. Actually if you do, you may end up with a hole so best to leave it.

Wind any plug into a bundle and tuck under the bird bath.

I've had this little broken bird bath as a rain barrel for several years and it works beautifully! Looks like it could use a little paint job before next season, doesn't it?

So maybe calling it a "pot" garden doesn't quite have the right connotation but I'm talking about growing vegetable gardens in flower pots.

There are a lot of products and guides on how to do this so before I make container garden gift suggestions, here's how my "pot" garden is growing.

I have been gardening in pots for years, keeping large soil-filled and compost-enriched  pots on my deck so I can keep them watered and away from maurading wildlife. I leave them on the deck over winter, adding compost late fall so it can slowly trickle through.

 

Not that wildlife don't find the pots; I saw a raccoon checking one pot last night, and a squirrel took a nap on a bed of spinach last spring but all in all, I can at least protect the containers faster when they're sitting outside my deck door.

 

To make these large pots easier to move around, I put half a dozen soda cans in the bottom before adding soil; and each pot is on metal casters, which ran $4 each at a local liquidation store.

 

This year my little "pot" garden included lettuce, radishes and onions, some of my favorite salad fixings, and a sprig of dill that came up from last year.

It was still cold and damp when I started late March. I seeded the pots directly and watered well.

Our frost date in mid-Missouri is middle May so there was still a good chance seedlings might be hurt.

When weather turned colder, I used a large pot saucer over the top to keep seedlings protected.

Now more than a month later, you can see lettuce around pot  edge, and radishes forming a necklace around onion sets. (Yes, I like my little gardens to look pretty!)

I picked my first salad a few days before Mother's Day, our last frost date in Missouri.

If weather stays cool, I'll have a few more before it's time to plant something else.

If you would like to make a - well, let's call it a garden gift in a pot  - for someone, herbs are a wonderful choice. Basil, dill, any of the mints, catnip, parsley, chives and oregano all do well in pots in direct sun in Missouri. Although most of these are annuals, some do come up next year.

Want something more interesting?

Plant a tomato or pepper in the center and surround with marigolds, nasturtiums and onions, or chives. The onions and marigolds will keep bugs away and nasturtium flowers make a lovely salad garnish.

Charlotte

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Charlotte
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These bulbs also make fun garden gifts grown inside the hour-glass hyacinth glass planters available at most garden centers.

Keep watered, out of direct sunlight and watch the bulb grow its lovely thick flower stem with many flowers any time of the year.

Hyacinths also make good cut flowers!

Charlotte
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Thanks to Laura for sending this charming idea!

Don't we all have a box of old coat hooks we've saved, just in case?

Often well-used birdhouses loose their perches and here's a great idea to make use of those old coat hooks!

Laura took an old coat rack hook and added it to a bluebird house.

Bluebirds don't need perches; Laura said her house is used regardless but it sure adds a little extra charm to the neighborhood, don't you think?

Coat hooks would also come in handy to quickly renovate other birdhouses where perches are used...

Charlotte
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One of the many benefits of going to a University of Missouri Extension Master Gardener class is getting plant starts.

Harriet Bain, our propagation instructor March 8, 2010 demonstrated how to use No. 1 rooting powder, which gives most plants a nice head start.

Rooting powder is simple to use; dip the wet end of a plant cutting in root powder poured into a separate cup; then place cutting in a pot of good starter mix. Water well.

This lovely selection of potted plant starts includes bay leaf cuttings, basil seedlings, all spice seeds, green pepper starts (and a plant whose name I forgot.)

If they all do well, they'll be ready to be savory Mother's Day gifts. Ever had fresh-dried bay leaves in a stew or soup? Nothing quite like fresh-dried.

Besides being good Mother's Day gift ideas, with a little care these plants will keep on giving. It's a little early  to get peppers and basil started in Missouri but I have sunny windows; as long as the cats don't mistake basil for catnip....

Oh, and a fig tree start. No, not native to Missouri; needs to be mulched and grown in a secluded garden spot. I'll worry about what to do if the cutting makes it but just think - figs!!

Charlotte
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Eastern Bluebirds are lovely birds; I watched two of them earlier this winter eating smooth sumac seed pods off my back porch, their blue feathers lovely against white snow.

A little larger than a sparrow, Eastern Bluebirds live off garden insects and help keep insect populations in check.

Early March is the time in Missouri to get Eastern Bluebird nesting boxes in place so these lovely birds can settle in for one of their three yearly nestings.

Eastern Bluebirds were on the decline until a concerted effort by amateur bird enthusiasts put up nesting boxes and watched over them. The are the state bird for many states, including Missouri.

There's a bit of controversy over what is the best bluebird house to use.

In general, cedar homes with at least 7/8 inch walls and at least 4x4 inch floors seem to be the eastern bluebird's favorite nesting spots. Bigger the better.

I'm putting up Gilbertson PVC nest boxes along Bluebird Lane this year (that's Bartholomew "helping" in the garage)

To make Eastern Bluebirds most comfortable, install boxes at least 5 feet high facing away from the sun and prevailing winds, open to the surrounding area for easy fly-in access.

Some people prefer to mount nesting boxes on pipes in the ground; my eastern bluebirds have comfortably used nesting boxes on trees. Monitor to make sure sparrows and other birds don't move in.

There are a number of bluebird house kits you can make; get plans or buy from someone who makes them like KNWoodworks, who just shipped me several, and  pair them with one of our Singing Bluebirds and a Bluebirds book to wish someone happiness. Makes a great gift for spring occasions.

These lovely birds love mealy worms so if you want to see them closer, stock up on a supply and provide them in a bird feeding station close to a window.

My friend Bob McKune has some fabulous bluebird pictures (photo left) from his patient photo-taking off his deck; you'll find many of these wonderful photos throughout Bluebird Gardens.

That's one thing bird-watching definitely teaches, it pays to be patient!

What luck have you had putting up bluebird nest boxes? Do you enjoy bird-watching and have some tips to share?

Charlotte
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Early spring is a good time to clean out birdhouses and other hanging garden decor, and check them for safety.

I seem to remember to get everything BUT the hangars!

To make sure birdhouses and other garden decor items hang safely, I recycle metal can tabs to reinforce and replace old hangars.

Be careful removing them; I use two pairs of plyers to keep metal can tops away from my hands.

Hammer at least two panel nails in the smaller metal tab opening to make sure the tab is safely secured.

If you have something large, open the other side of an opened tuna can and tie to the bag as a VERY LARGE tab. Run the plyers along can ridges to make sure there's nothing sharp sticking up, and wash well. You don't want cats swinging from wreaths!

 

Do you have tips for safely hanging birdhouses and wreaths? How about stories about cats and tuna cans??!

 

Charlotte
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It was below zero and snowing when I spotted them in the corner of the retail center: lovely bags of red and yellow onion sets, and piles of inexpensive seed packets...

American Seed Co, has offered 10 cent seeds for years; this year they went up to 20 cents  but the usuals were still there: basil, lettuce, pumpkins, zinnias, nasturtiums, cherry tomatoes.

Last year,  I was so excited to find them, I planted cherry tomato seeds in cardboard egg cartons a bit too early. The teenage seedlings fell over and crowded each other before it was time to put them in the garden so I transplanted them to bigger pots thinking these are "cheap" seeds, some won't make it.

By the time it was frost free, they were still all there so I shared some as Mother's Day gifts and populated my vegetable garden. I didn't name each plant but I was tempted. We'd been through a lot to get to that point; every time I picked cherry tomatoes I could taste the warmth of it not being midwinter.

There are a number of other reputable companies that offer a wider variety of seeds, and more of them. But there's nothing quite like seeing those little packets waiting to go home,  holding the promise of spring.

 

What means spring to you?

Charlotte
Gardening to Distraction

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