October 23, 2014
I've been planting as many bee attracting plants as I can. This year the garden included seven varieties of sage, as well as rosemary, lavender, calendula, anemone, cilantro, three types of thyme, two types of yarrow, borage, dill, alliums, etc.... Last month while the sunflowers were at their peak, I took some shots of the bees in action.
I planted several types of sunflowers, some unlabeled, in order to use up old seed, so don't know what this was that grew. It was a branching type about 7 to 8 feet tall that produced multiple flowers 3 to 5 inches across. The bees loved it.
I've got a couple types of crocuses to put in the ground this fall (including the sativus variety that produces saffron) and hope to include rudbeckia, hollyhocks, and poppies in the flower garden next spring. I'm on a quest to continue to increase the varieties of herbs in my collection so also plan to add more varieties of sage and others. And at some point I'd like to keep honeybees.
Update 03/31/2015: Four of these photos are now available as bee cards in my etsy shop!
bee (4), degree (24), flowers (48), garden (29), insect (31), sunflower (3)
Degree (67), Flowers (42)
October 22, 2014
After it was left to me by a previous housemate, I had this garden bench sitting around and deteriorating for some years. I liked the cast iron sides but the wood had become rotten.
From the underside, the old paint is visible where it hadn't been completely weathered away as on the top surfaces of the wood.
I removed the wood slats by unscrewing the nuts and bolts that held them to the iron legs and the screws that held the center support to the wood. Many of the bolts were rusted and were aided in loosening with a spray of wd40.
Once I got all hardware free, I cleaned all the metal with citra solv degreaser.
I rinsed the hardware and put it in a container with CLR (calcium/lime/rust remover) to clean the rust from the bolts and screws.
After soaking for a few hours and shaking them in the liquid occasionally, watching for tarnishing, I drained them and put them on towels to dry.
Once dry, I used masking tape around the threads of the hardware, lined them up on cardboard and spray painted the heads and nuts with a black iron rust-resistant paint. I spray painted the iron legs and other support hardware as well. The bench has lost a few bolts so I found a close match in the hardware store and painted them as well.
When the paint was dry, I removed the masking tape and put the hardware on the new wood slats.
I used poplar, which Rick routed the edges of and pre-drilled all the holes for the bolts. I stained the wood a "safari green" stain I had sitting around left over from a previous project. I used two coats of an exterior UV blocking spar urethane to protect the wood from water and the elements which I let thoroughly dry before assembling the bench.
The metal support strip got screwed in under the center of the bench.
This is not how the bench is to be typically used, but the pumpkins got harvested and needed a backdrop for their portraits.
It's otherwise nice and stable and better than new.
bench (1), crafts (25), degree (24), diy (13), furniture (4), garden (29), restoration (1), reuse (7), wood-working (10)
Degree (67), How To (5)
Arianna Helen