RHS Garden Projects… OutDoor Inspiration from DK Books…

Spring is springing and we are so excited to be doing some yard work… our garden has been abandoned for months and we are ready to do some great projects, get a new batch of vegi’s planted and lots of cleaning up. Our inspiration came in the form of a fabulous craft book from DK Books…

1. Beautiful, wonderful and inspiring photography, that invites you into the book and you can’t help joining in and seizing the day.
2. Love the variety of craftiness in this book, so many ideas for all stages and ages of readers.
3. Clear sections of learning, doable crafts and pages of inspiring and kid-friendly recipes.
4. Step by step instructions, all photographed so that any age book lover can dive in and be inspired.
5. Almost every page has a top tip, or some useful and incredible fact. Something to help you with your project or planting. Not to mention, pages packed with amazing facts, plant facts, bug facts, heaps of facts.
6. All sorts of gardens: flower gardens, vegetable gardens, container gardens and we will now have to try a water garden.
7. So many ideas to get you outdoors and doing things… playing, planting, and feasting!!!
8. We loved the pages full of cool plants to try and grow… some we have tried and some were totally new to us.

1. Seed Box Organizer: We were still in the thick of winter rains when we started this project, and we were so keen for spring when we were done!!! This was a project we really got stuck into. It was a lot of fun, not to mention lots of painting and drawing and chatting about the seasons… and sorting the chaos that was our seed collection. That chaos was exactly the reason why we never got around to planting our seeds… so we are very keen to see the results of our seasonal planting over the next couple of weeks.




2. Newspaper Pots: Just wrapping newspaper around a glass and “voila” we had mini plant pots… and our sunflower seeds are in there… and we are waiting for some magic. I cannot tell you how many years I have intended to plant sunflowers and just not got round to it. So for the first time ever we are all set. And the added bonus is that the newspaper pots will disintegrate when they are placed into the soil.


3. Plant Label and Markers: There are a couple of ways to label your plants in this book and for the first time ever we have some labeled plants… and I am guessing that you are guessing… that these are our tomatoes in training!!!

4. Herby Cheese Muffins: We had to go and hunt for herbs in the garden and then… The ultimate test of a good book is if the recipes turn out half as stunning as they do in the photographs!!! Well these were a winner and everyone has been asking for more herby cheese muffins since we made them. The recipe was great and you can find it on the DK Books Website right here.


5. Sun Tea: I have always wanted to try this and finally the sun came out this week and we were able to make some sun tea… of course we didn’t have a huge available jar, but little jars did the trick and minty tea was the order of the day – and I dare say it was a success.



6. Potato and Carrot Crisps: So, so, so easy!!! And delicious!!! Where have we been, why did no one tell us how easy and delicious homemade crisps were!!!




7. Garden Buddy: We have one avid recycle artist in our midst and now we have a garden hung with tin-can buddies… I sense they’re going to get more and more creative as the summer rolls around and more and more interesting recycling artefacts are added on them.

And the se7en + 1th…

8. And so many other projects: You can take a peek at other projects from this book on the DK Books website. We couldn’t decide, we are in the thick of projects over here: a water garden, a lavender buddy, paper from corn husks, an ivy man… the wonderful projects just go on and on…

Thank you DK Books for gifting us with a copy of this fabulous book!!! DK Books did not ask for a review at all, and we were not paid for this review. The opinions expressed are entirely our own.