Stacey Weichert, like many gardeners, spent summer days tending garden with her grandparents and parents. This is where she learned the value-both organically and economically-of growing your own fruits and vegetables.
Stacey has worked a 30 year career in floral design and retail gardening.
Her garden is located in southern Minnesota and features a greenhouse, unique potting shed, kitchen garden, perennials and fruit trees. Her garden and blog, www.downtoearthdigs.com have been featured in national publications.
Stacey teaches gardening classes and lectures locally on herb gardening, growing naturally, and the process of building a garden over time.
Each garden season brings shopping trips for new garden needs and wants.
Split garden hoses need replacing, and who can resist some new garden shears, sharp and shiny, to use in the garden.
You will also find me shopping for vintage garden items or even better, something that I can re-purpose for a needed task or an eye-pleasing display for the flower garden.
Old crates, wire baskets, a vintage shopping cart, fishing tackle box and even an old washing machine become both practical and pretty additions to the garden.
This old grocery store shopping cart holds trays of seedlings that are hardening off for spring planting.
Crates hold peat pots and later are used to move plants out to the garden.
Old chicken feeders are repurposed to keep potting soil and an old fishing tackle box works to sort and keep garden smalls tidy and easy to find.
A visit to an antique shop brought my favorite addition to the greenhouse. A copper washing machine tub is the perfect rain barrel.
There is a simple joy in finding a castoff and re-purposing it for the garden, and when the result is useful and lovely, it’s the perfect combination; rural practicality.
