Garden Crafts - For a bit of winter colour

 Painted raised beds at Barrack Hill in Carndonagh

I was recently at the Guildhall fair having a look at local handmade crafts.

I wasn’t there to buy anything, (I leave that part to Julie) for me it’s more an opportunity to wander around and think “I could make that” , then come home bursting with creativity, eager to emulate a cut price festive present made from sticky backed plastic and an egg box. 

I’m getting a bit of a reputation in the family with my budget crafts. Last week my lad bought himself a long cylindrical floor standing lampshade. When I saw it my first reaction was “I could make that” to which he replied that he wouldn’t want a shade made out of old toilet roll tubes and Quality Street wrappers. I’m sure he doesn’t, but I actually think that sounds like a good idea.

There were a lot of very professional items at the fair but also a lot of things that any of us could make with a bit of glue, paint and imagination; I particularly liked the mussel shells, driftwood and sea glass made into pictures of flowers.  The shells were the petals, the glass the centre of the flower and the driftwood was the stem. It’s the sort of thing you could make and leave on the beach for the next person to find and probably destroy in much the same way someone else’s sandcastle creation is when it’s found by a youngster.  

I do enjoy fleeting temporary pieces of art and this is probably why I enjoy growing plants and gardening so much. Every day, week and year are different in the garden when ever changing colours and designs come to play. If you have ever been away for a week or two in summer and been amazed at how different the garden looks you’ll know what I mean.

If you do get a bit of time on your hands or feel yourself getting enthusiastic and motivated to make something for yourself or as a present then read on. 

I generally start by making something elaborate like a lamp base made from concrete or peat with the lamp shade made from coffee grounds and when it doesn’t work and I’ll just say it’s a garden ornament and add it to my collection of rubbish accumulating in the garden. 

That way there are no failures and as the rain washes the coffee into the ground from the shade I can say that it’s a slow release fertilizing machine to drip nutrition back into the soil. It’s a win win situation.

Let’s get Creative

There are things we can put in the garden to brighten things up over the coming darker months and most of them will be totally frost hardy, all we need is a touch of bright coloured paint.

Wind Howlers. These are a variation on a windchime. Cut strips from plastic bottles, paint brightly and put up on trees. They will howl every time there’s a gust of wind. I’ll give you two days until they are taken down but fun for a few minutes.

Make a Giant Allium. All you need is the bright paint, a hard ball and some 4” nails. Tap the nails into the ball leaving most of the nail sticking out, paint and put on a stick. Gaint magic flowers all winter (you might need to check google for an image to clarify)

Paint up the old wheelbarrow bikes or car tyres. You don’t even need to add flowers if you splash enough paint on it.

Spray car wheel trims you find on the side of the road. These can be then stuck to the garage wall outside and add a few bamboo canes from the base and these will look like stems.

Form balls with chicken wire and paint these bright colours. Stick on bamboo poles and scatter around the garden.

 

Plastic jar and bottle tops. Barrack Hill Town Park and Community Gardens in Carndonagh have probably made the brightest and boldest addition to their gardens with lovely painted raised beds. Some don’t even have paint, they have screwed hundreds of plastic jar tops onto one of their raised beds. So many colours, you could almost see them from space.  They have 8 boxes being decorated by the different schools in the area which will be planted with spring bulbs as part of the nectar cafe project, part of the ECO Inishowen project with IDP, funded thought the EU LADDER program so hope to have loads of pollinators in the summer.

Be mindful not to go overboard with the paint or to leave them there until all the colour disappears. The garden will then have turned from a glorious haven for bright and cheery creativity into my garden. A dumping ground for lots of rubbish. I wouldn’t have it any other way though, although I do need a tetanus jab every year.