Garden Accessories that Hide Your Spare Key

Garden accessories may add interest to your garden, however, some accessories have another benefit because they conceal your house key. These useful accessories are eye appealing and will save you money because if you become locked out of your house you will not have to call a locksmith.

Hide key here, learn how to bellow

Many people have gone outdoors to get the newspaper in their robe and slippers then find that the door closed behind them and they are locked out. If somebody is home then there is no problem but what if you are home alone?



This morning when I went out to walk the dog I purposely left the side door open because I had no intention of leaving the yard. Yet when I returned I found the door locked. While I was on the other side of the house my husband locked the door and went to work. I was locked out without my phone or a spare key. What a situation I was in, my phone inside, my neighbor with the spare key out of town. I had two choices; break into the house or walk a mile in my pajamas to the next neighbor's house.



Had I bought the discrete garden accessories that had a secret compartment
for my house key, I would be able to get back inside easily.



I shopped online at Wallmart.com and found just what I needed. I like synthetic rocks and other garden accessories for concealing your spare key. But think if I had a waterproof key box I could hide it anywhere outdoors.



How to Hide Your Outdoor Spare Key

Conceal the key in a sprinkler head.  Learn more at step 5 bellow

1. Shop for an outdoor box for your key.  Insert the key in the box.  Make sure it is sealed before hiding the key box in the garden.  Choose a planter then dig a shallow hole, set the key box flush with the soil, and cover it with mulch.
   
2. Hide the key box in the patio furniture. Unzip a seat cushion or pillow and put the key box inside.
   
3. Buy landscape rocks that are made to conceal keys. Hide the key underneath the rock in the special compartment. Then set rock around flower or other plant containers. Create a rock display on your porch, patio, or garden.
   
4. Use gorilla brand tape to adhere the key box to the backside or bottom of the patio furniture. Make sure this furniture is flush with the wall.
   
5. Hide your key in a sprinkler head, Trademark Global makes this discrete product for your spare key and you can shop for it at Walmart.com
   

Hide a spare key in planters

Hope these ideas are helpful to you. My husband says the best way to not get locked out is to check the door before going outdoors. But you know as well as I do accidents do happen.

Gardening in November

The fall season has been unseasonably warm and many of my flowers, zinnias, chrysanthemums, and black-eyed Susans are still blooming. I am thankful that the weather is mild as I enjoy gardening in November.

Here are photographs of late-blooming flowers in autumn gardens.

My neighbor today visited me in the gardens and could not believe that my flowers had many blooms and buds. He told me that he cut back all of his flowers the first week of September because he thought it would be a cold season.

Know that most people stop tending to their gardens in September but I am not one of those people. If the weather is warm then I continue to tend to my flower and tomato gardens. This year I planted tomatoes in self-watering containers and thought instead of cutting them back I would move them to the mini walk-in greenhouse. If the weather should turn cold the greenhouse will protect the plants from frost and I may be able to harvest cherry tomatoes in January.

When I looked at the weather for my area I saw that it is not supposed to get cold until January so I will continue to tend to the flowers that are blooming in the garden. After a hard frost, I will gather seeds for next year and cut the flowers back to the soil then cover them with a layer of mulch.

By extending my growing season into November I was able to make fresh herb wreaths with cut zinnia and mum flowers for my home's décor. On Thanksgiving, I will cut flowers for bouquets for my elderly neighbors.

Know that I reseeded my zinnia gardens in August for late summer blooms and also deadheaded the chrysanthemums and fertilized them with bloom booster by miracle-gro. This is why I have so many flowers blooming in November.

Keep Watering Gardens in Fall

Many people ask me if they should keep watering their gardens during the fall season and I reply yes especially if you season is dry with no rain in the forecast. Several flowering plants will continue to flourish in the garden until there is a hard frost.

Know that I do not water daily but I do not let my gardens and spring-blooming shrubs dry out. I generally stop watering when there is a hard frost and plants go into a dormant state.

Fall is the season when the weather can be hot, cool, and cold all on the same day. This fluctuation in temperature is hard on plants and generally, they will start to die back. When a plant begins to die back I will clean up the flower bed by cutting the perennial down to the soil or removing the annual. Then add a layer of much to the garden bed.

it is okay to cut back flowers that have been spent. I cut back my Shasta daisies and my Asiatic lilies as soon as the weather changed and nights got cool, the mid-40s.=[ However the days are warm and some days are hot which means my zinnias, at 4 o’clock, black-eyed Susan’s, and Sunflowers still have blooms.

I water my garden plants, and container gardens and also water the spring bulb beds until there is a hard frost. Here are some photographs of late summer and early fall blooming flowers
. 

Zinnia Flowers will bloom until the weather changes; cold/ frost.

Chrysanthemums will continue to bloom until hard  frost 

Black-eyed Susan's keep feeding and watering and they will bloom until fall frost.

Sunflower is hardy, water with bloom booster and they will put out flower buds.

Plant Food Plot Seeds and Deer Will Come

This morning a doe deer brought her fawn to my yard. I could view them from my picture window and noted that their winter coat had grown in. There were three deer in my yard when I went to get my camera when I returned to the window I found more deer grazing at the food plot that I grew from seed.

There was movement from behind the oak trees and I assumed it was another doe, but to my surprise, it was a young buck with antlers. I was so excited to see the buck in my yard and was certain that this was his herd. 

Here's a photo of fawn in my yard. The deer come to my main yard to drink from our pond.

photo of fawn in my side yard 

The young buck was six feet from my window and was aware of my presence because he snorted and stomped his hooves. My husband told me to step away from the window slowly because a territorial buck could come through the window. Granted I was too close for comfort and did step back. I took some photographs from the window.  

View this video to learn more about deer food plots

The deer food plot seeds that I planted were easy to do I bought a product at Walmart.com that required little work, it was thrown and grown. (see photo above) You plant in the spring and in the fall and this will enable you to view deer in your yard all year. 

When to Plant Chrysanthemum

Summer is almost over and I find that I am thinking about the fall season. Fall is my favorite time of the year because of the garden activities. When it comes to working in the yard and garden there are many things to do, planting chrysanthemum is one of my favorite activities in fall.  

Do you plant mums in fall? 

In late August to the first week of September, I will plant Chrysanthemums in containers and in feature gardens. Now I live in growing zone 6 and we have a long autumn season. For other growing zones in the USA, I would say plant mums at least six weeks before a hard frost.

Chrysanthemums come in a variety of colors; white, yellow, lilac, purple bronze, cream, orange, pink, green burgundy-red, and bi-colors. There is a color flower for everyone and these long-lived flowers really brighten up the garden.

The mum is a beautiful flower so show it off by planting in your feature garden, or outlining your front walkway. You can also add to wheelbarrow gardens or plant container gardens for your front porch. 

I have planted mums in containers and in the ground. Then after a hard frost, I will cut the plant back into the soil and add a layer of mulch. The mum then returns the following year.

Here are a few photographs of chrysanthemums I hope they will inspire to plant this lovely flower in your fall garden.

All images are from pixabay.com

Rustic Trunk Planter Ideas

Instead of shopping for new clay or plastic planters for your flowers or greenery, go to yard sales, and buy rustic wood trunks for your garden. These rustic trunks will add interest to your garden. A container that is different from the norm will not only enable your plants to grow but will also be a focal area in your yard and garden.

Grow petunia in a rustic trunk planter

Here is a digital design that I created to show one of the clients how she could utilize one of her vintage trunks. In her case, the trunk would be set up on a sunny porch that had rain protection. 

Before planting in a wooden trunk I would recommend that you apply

a water seal to protect the wood. Also, you would not fill the trunk with soil but you would drop in a plastic shelf about 10 inches into the trunk. Then on top, you would add your self-watering planters for your flowers, herbs, or sweet potato vines.

This open trunk planter is unique and adds tremendous interest to your garden.