Tomorrow morning I will be teaching garden themed crafts at Lehman’s Hardware in Kidron Ohio and I’m really excited. This post is a quick preview of two of the projects I’ve prepared.

The first is a traditional coil basket woven with shopping bags and VHS tape. This small version is good for putting odds and ends in. If you come visit me tomorrow you can watch me make a larger version to carry garden tools and harvested crops in. This project is easy to make with what’s on hand. And with all of the many colors of plastic available can be made for multiple purposes, for decoration in a home and given as gifts. You can also use it as a pot for planting!

The second craft I’m demonstrating is a seed starter pot from a woven coffee bean bag. This is a variation on a craft I learned from Craftzine’s online blog. The shiny coffee bean bags are water proof and the woven basket pattern is tight enough that soil doesn’t leak through but it lets water drain out. These are a lot of work for just your own starter plants, but if you plan to give seedlings as gifts this is a wonderful alternative to a yogurt cup especially if you have a colorful coffee bean bag to start with (mine were just silver). The best part is that you can just cut away the bag off of the seedling when you’re ready to put it in the ground and you won’t disturb the roots.

There are more crafts to be seen tomorrow, so please come on out. I’d love to meet you and share some gardening fun to bring on spring!