What better time than Halloween is there to be creative in the garden? I decided to take a stab at my very first miniature garden design to celebrate the spookiest eve with skeletons, tombstones, and (of course) a miniature pumpkin patch!
I?ve been wanting to try mini gardening ever since I read Janit Calvo?s amazing book . I am lucky enough to call Janit a friend, so after she wrote this fantastic tutorial on for Garden Therapy, she also sent me a containing skeletons, pumpkins, tombstones, gravel, and even straw!
Here is how my miniature Halloween garden turned out.
From afar, it seems to be a very tame planter with some evergreens and groundcovers in a decorative terracotta pot.
Now look a bit closer?
And closer?
Boo!
Who let the skeletons out? Who! Who-who-who!
The skeletons are escaping from their graves up on a hill shadowed by a blue star juniper and a small cedar tree.
Just down the hill, there is a dry river bed that separates the pumpkin patch made from Ajuga ?Black Scallop? and miniature pumpkins from the kit.
Beyond that, there is a blue star Pratia pedunculata ?County Park? groundcover and a cobwebby Sempervivum arachnoideum.
All of the plants in this miniature garden will continue to grow and fill in the space and I can replace the pumpkins, tombstones, and skeletons with other seasonal planting when Halloween is over. It should be noted, however, that none of the plants I used are truly miniature plants.
I hope to make a proper miniature garden in the future with miniature plants that will make the Miniature Gardening Guru proud! Check out how a pro really does up a mini garden for Halloween here:
Warning: this garlic bread made with spinach and kale butter is dangerously tasty! Gluten-haters don?t be afraid, you can easily make this gluten-free by swapping out the bread with your preferred brand. No matter what bread you choose, you can pack in the greens and make a new favorite side for dinner. I especially like to serve this mouth-watering garlic bread when I?m entertaining!
This recipe isn?t just to get a healthy dose of greens and garlic into your system (or the bellies of little ones), but once you taste it there is no doubt that you will be clamoring for kale, chard, green onions, spinach, and herbs from the garden to make more.
You can use whatever you have growing fresh in the garden for this recipe. Grab a colander and a pair of scissors and head outside. See what?s green and flavorful and ready to be harvested. Is it time to eat the spinach before it bolts, is your kale taller than you, or do you have an abundance of green onions flopping everywhere? Whatever you can find, fill up your colander and head back inside. Let?s make green butter!
Ingredients
- a medium sized colander loosely packed with various greens like kale, chard, spinach, green onions, garlic scapes, parsley, basil, and sage
- 1/2 cup butter
- 1/2 cup olive oil
- 1-2 cloves of garlic
- salt to taste
- Loaf of good quality uncut bread
Make it!
- Wash the greens well and remove any woody stems.
- Pack the whole lot of greens and the garlic into a food processor and pulse a few times to greatly reduce the volume.
- Add the butter, olive oil, and salt to the food processor and blend until you have a thick green paste.
- Slice the loaf of bread from top to not quite the bottom. Don?t cut the loaf all the way through so that the bottom is still holding it together.
- Generously spread green butter in between the slices and then wrap it up in foil.
- You can throw the whole thing on the grill or bake it in the over at 350 degrees until it is warmed through and crispy on the outside.
