Junque in the Garden Part 1

Its that time of year again for Spring's peek-a-boo game: now you see me, now you're covered in snow. Spring can be so moody.

The perennials and volunteers are popping up and I'm nursing some annuals indoors waiting for the overnight temps to move above freezing. 

My favorite garden planning, though, is the garden junque, because its unkillable. In fact, it appears to thrive with neglect. My kind of gardening, hands down. Everything else is so picky about needing water. ~sigh~ 

Garden Junque #1: Rusted & Patina'd Key Chime

My favorite keys are the one's with the green patina. ~love~ I followed this tutorial for creating rust and patina with vinegar and salt. Its a simple process but time consuming. 

To create, I raided the junk drawer and collected a bunch of we-don't-know-what-this-key-goes-to  keys, key rings, and random metal pieces to hang them by. Do you see the clothespin-metal-thingy, yep, random stuff. 

Its Spring Cleaning at its best: you get a clean drawer and an awesome garden decoration. 

This adorable metal butterfly was a garage sale find. Its those giant eyes and clunky feet that stole my heart. 

Here they are together buried in the snow.

Garden Junque #2: refurbished wooden crate

This old crate was a curb find. I had dropped my daughter off at school and was driving home when I saw two guys cleaning out their garage. A growing pile of goodies sat on the sidewalk. Immediately, I stopped the car, jumped out (in my pajamas), and asked if I could take the crate. Just before I asked, one of the men said, "Here they come." Sounds like they were anticipating some curb alert enthusiasts. Glad I was the first! 

It was a bit to big and deep for me to figure out what to do with it. So, I cut it up in the hopes of turning into two smaller crates. The wood was actually more degraded than I thought, so some of the pieces literally started falling apart when I tried to nail them back together. So far I have one mini-crate made and I'm deciding what to do with the leftover pieces.

I just love the rusty nail heads and the way they have bled into the wood. 

Its currently holding six primrose plants. The crate makes it easy to take them inside during the freezing nights, then back out for some sun during the day. 

Garden Junque #3: Recycled Owl
A quick search in Pinterest for a recycled owl yield so many adorable owls! Here is my own take on it:

This won't be his permanent home. I'd like to create some sort of recycled branch for him to sit on. That should be a fun project! 

There are more junque-y finds in my garden but they look better with flowers in them. Part 2 coming shortly! 

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