Handmade for the Garden: 75 Ingenious Ways to Enhance Your Outdoor Space with DIY Tools, Pots, Supports, Embellishments, and More

by Susan Guagliumi

Overview

The DIY craze has moved beyond the craft room and into the garden! Relying on easy-to-find, inexpensive, and repurposed materials, Handmade for the Garden is a treasure trove of original projects that not only make planting and growing efficient and successful but also add a personal touch to the gardenscape. Among the myriad projects in this hardworking book are mini hothouses; painted, stamped, and stenciled terracotta planters; hypertufa and cement pots and decorations; rustic and formal fencing and trellises; plant markers and stakes; and sieves and baskets. With Handmade for the Garden to inspire them, gardeners of all skill levels will be empowered to experiment with form and function to discover creative, artful ways to personalize and beautify their gardens with handmade objects.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781617690976
Publisher:	STC Craft/A Melanie Falick Book
Publication date:	03/18/2014
Pages:	208
Product dimensions:	8.30(w) x 9.90(h) x 1.00(d)

About the Author

Susan Guagliumi has restored the interiors and gardens of two early 19th-century homes, and her gardening projects are a compilation of 10 years of research, explo­ration, experimentation, and creativity. She is also the author of several machine- and hand-knitting books and has led craft workshops in the United States and abroad. She lives in Northford, Connecticut.

Table of Contents

Introduction 4

Chapter 1 Early Season Gardening 8

Chapter 2 Potting 32

Chapter 3 Mosaics 76

Chapter 4 Cement & Hypertufa 88

Chapter 5 Standing Tall: Single Supports, Tripods & Tuteurs 116

Chapter 6 Rustic Trellises, Fences, Arbors & Box Supports 140

Chapter 7 Off-Season: Projects & Planning 158

Sources for Supplies 201

Recommended Reading 206

Acknowledgments 206

Index 207

Editorial Reviews

This book is jam-packed with instruction. That is a real plus.

Getting Stitched on the Farm

A treasure trove of original projects.

Poppytalk

Ideas in this crafting-meets-gardening guide book range from clever ways to repurpose hoses (make them into a planter) to illustrated step-by-step instructions for making mosaic pots and rustic trellis frames.

New Orleans Times-Picayune

This book is bursting with beautiful and creative ways of using everyday materials to liven up your outdoor spaces.

Country Woman

Two of the most humble [projects] are my favorites. They set the DIY bar low enough to admit all, and they guarantee success . . . they’ll make me feel like a DIY genius.

BookPage

This book adds a new dimension to playing outside . . . if you love the garden, tinkering with tools and creating beautiful objects for out-of-doors, this is your book.

Examiner.com

Any person with a modicum of entry-level crafting skills can add individual flair to their garden following the descriptive step-by-step instructions . . . many illustrations depict precise details in the fabrication process. A source list, with website addresses, will prove useful to those who cannot find supplies at their local home improvement center.

Better Homes and Gardens / Country Gardens

This book is bursting with beautiful and creative ways of using everyday materials to liven up your outdoor spaces

Country Woman Magazine

Enhance your outdoor space with décor and functionality.

Mother Earth Living

As spring takes its own sweet time in coming, you can save pennies and get a jump start on gardening with Susan Guagliumi’s Handmade for the Garden as your guide.

New American Homesteader

Susan Guagliumi puts a chic, modern spin on garden upcycling . . . We love the way she took a leaky old hose and made it into a garden pot.

Birds and Blooms

12/01/2013
Guagliumi, author of many books on knitting (Hand-Manipulated Stitches for Machine Knitters), takes a trip to the garden with this lovely book. Chapters are arranged to follow the gardening year. Early season projects involve making newspaper cups for seedlings, seed tapes, coverings, and planting tools. Some sections are weak—the one on painting and altering terra cotta pots is a little less adventurous, and the part about making concrete containers and building plant supports lacks needed detail—while other sections shine (the areas devoted to making sieves, garden baskets, and gift seed packages are quite well done). Step-by-step illustrations are only sporadically provided, though instructions are well written. A better choice for readers learning to make concrete containers is Sherri Warner Hunter's Creative Concrete Ornaments for the Garden: Making Pots, Planters, Birdbaths, Sculptures & More; those seeking information on plant supports and related structures would be best served by Trellises, Planters & Raised Beds: 50 Easy, Unique, and Useful Projects You Can Make with Common Tools and Materials. VERDICT Despite some flaws, this pretty, fresh work would round out any garden project collection. Recommended.

Library Journal