Handmade Garden Projects - Lorene Edwards Forkner

You can transform your garden into a handmade, personality-infused oasis. Author Lorene Edwards Forkner — part eco-friendly non-traditionalist, part crafty creative — will show you how.

Projects run the gamut from eye-catching structures, like a pergola made from plumbing pipes, to imaginative details, like a tree-hung chandelier for nighttime ambiance. You'll also find helpful plant guides to accompany projects: delectable herbs to fill a stacking container tower, stellar succulents for a vertical gutter garden, glorious flowering vines to climb a bamboo obelisk, and so much more.

Ready to get started? All you need are refreshingly simple, inexpensive materials — hardware store basics, salvaged goods, repurposed castoffs from cluttered basements — along with a little do-it-yourself spirit. With clear instructions and inspiring variations on every theme, this book is easy to follow and easy to love. Your journey to a made-from-scratch outdoor space starts here.

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I love my garden.  Not as much as some gardens but slowly my personal outdoor space is becoming one of my favorite places to be.  I am frugal to put it simply.  Not that I have to be but it is how I was raised and I embrace the practice.  I'm always saying that anyone can go out and spend gobs of money and end up with a beautiful space but it takes ingenuity and creativity to create a beautiful space on a budget of next to nothing.  Besides it's more fun:)

I long for a tranquil idyllic garden full of birdsong, slightly wild, a little overgrown, a trickle of water.

I don't desire anything fancy or formal.  Slightly rustic and lots of charm are what I'm after.  I have yet to achieve the longed for affect but I keep at it;  adding this or that, painting furniture, rearranging pots and little by little I am getting closer to my goal.

I picked up 'Handmade Garden' because it seemed like it was just what I needed.  Simple do it yourself projects made out of common everyday objects that are transformed into useful and whimsical accents.  There are a lot of ideas in this book.  The author takes you through your outdoor space one element at a time addressing all your needs.  The ground floor addresses...you guessed it the ground.  From laying pavers to pebbles to creating what the author calls a 'temporary turf tattoo'.  I love the idea of turf tattoo, in fact just the other day I picked up my local paper and found an article on creating labyrinths on your lawn...just a fabulous idea.

Ms. forkner shows the reader how to accomplish each project in easy to understand language with concise step by step instructions. Accompanied by clear, lovely photos the book itself is a joy to look at.  It would be hard to read 'Handmade Garden' and not come away inspired.  There are plenty of planting suggestions peppered through out the book as well, just in case you need a nudge of inspiration in that direction.

Here is snapshot of the contents so you can get an idea of what the book offers.

That's s fairly comprehensive list.  So, it looks like I have a solid source of inspiration at my fingertips now and I have high hopes that my garden will one day be the dream oasis I imagine it to be.

About the Author

Lorene Edwards Forkner

Lorene Edwards Forkner is an award-winning garden designer who lives, gardens, writes, and designs in the Pacific Northwest. Her writing has appeared in several national and regional publications including Organic Gardening, Pacific Horticulture, MaryJane's Farm, Northwest Garden News, and Edible Seattle.

Read more about Lorene Edwards Forkner

* I received an advance copy from the publisher for purposes of review. I was in no way obligated to write a review much less a favorable one. The opinions stated herein are all my own.