Spring Garden

This past weekend was kind of chilly here in central IL, but the gardens are taking it in stride. The vegetable garden is shaping up, though the rain this weekend kept me from getting a few tasks done. The shade garden in the courtyard is looking lovely. All the hostas that I divided last fall are filling out. The allium is blooming. The clematis is just starting to bloom, and there a TON of buds on it, it will be a show-stopper this year!
My all-time favorite flower, the irises are blooming. This clump needs divided, but I'll wait until their done blooming so as not to disturb them.
New this spring, the rock border around the herb garden came from my parent's farm. When you live in the country, rocks are SUCH a nuisance and there are always a pile of them that have been picked out of the ground. But when you live in town, it seems rocks are few and far between. And I'll be darned if I'm going to BUY rocks at a garden center!My newest project was a prayer flag banner for the veggie garden! I made the prayer flags and sewed them together into a vertical banner that I tied onto a pole. Here's a better view of the flags.And here's what it looks like fluttering in the garden. You can see the lettuce, spinach, kale and kohlrabi in the SE corner behind it.
I've joined this Prayer Flag Swap and I think I'll string those up and swag them on the fence that the peas grow up!

Cake postcards

In my last post I mentioned making faux cake postcards and I'm finally getting around to blogging them! They are made from pink rigid foam (like the kind you nail up in basements for insulation), spackle, paper and paint.
First you cut the insulation into a wedge shape and glue a piece of paper to one large, flat side. Then paint the other large side the color you want your cake.
Then spackle the top and wide edge with "frosting". You can tint the spackle with paint if you want, or add glitter "sprinkles"! When it's dry you'll need to seal it. I use spray-on finish spray.The paper side will be what you write on and place your stamp on. I've successfully mailed this for around $1.50.