Crunchy Cummins Tulip 

I stayed up late last night {midnight!} going through all the different bulb combinations before finally hitting the “order” button for next year’s spring bulbs.

It feels so good to have that task checked off my list. And I’m pretty excited about the varieties I ordered.

The most unusual bulbs I ordered were a bulb called Crunchy Cummins. They’re so unusual, and kind of homely too, I thought they would be a great addition to the garden.

Fritillaria Persica Ivory Bells

I also ordered Fritillaria Persica Ivory Bells. I’ve never grown these before but I thought they {kinda-sorta} looked like foxgloves and I thought they might go well with the whole cottage vibe I’m trying to create. 

Have you grown these before? Did they grow well in your garden? I’d love to know.

Gardening seems to be taking up a lot of my time lately. Not that I’m complaining {I’m not} but there is SO MUCH to do in such a short amount of time that some days the garden feels a little overwhelming. 

Which is sort of funny because it’s not like we have a huge garden. It’s just a new garden and well, those always take a bit of time to get to set it and forget it mode.

Yesterday I pulled up one of the chive plants to see how they were doing since planting them in Pro-Mix two weeks ago and holy cats man, they’re going nuts!! I can’t wait to get a HUGE row of these planted out front by the fence.

Today’s big project is to get the tomatoes, peppers and leeks planted in the raised garden beds. And to direct sow green beans, Christmas lima beans {they can grow 10 feet tall!} sunflowers, beets, turnips and radishes.

I’ll start the zucchini and cucumber seeds in pots {they seem to do better that way for some reason} and I still need to find a spot for the packet of zinnia seeds I bought.

That’s the latest garden news from here in Maine. How about YOU? What’s going on in YOUR garden lately? Curious minds want to know. 

~ Mavis

OTHER

The post The Latest Garden News appeared first on One Hundred Dollars a Month.

As promised, here are the super easy tutorial photos of the twig and flower pot garland {swag?} I made to hang over the door of the studio. This is one of those projects that you don’t want to over think.

It’s literally just 6-8 branches {from a maple tree?} and some flower pots all wired together. But I like step by step photos just as much as anyone else so I made sure and took a bunch as I was making the twig and flower pot garland.

I don’t know why, but there’s just something reassuring about seeing step by step photos when you’re making something for the first time.

Supplies 

• {6-8} 8 foot long branches ranging from 1 ¼” – ¼ round
• 30 terra cotta flower pots {2” – 4” in size}
• {110 ft} 18 gauge galvanized steel wire
• Garden twine
• 2 ounces white acrylic paint
• 2 screw hooks

First things first. Get yourself some branches. The length of the branches will totally depend on how long you want your garland to be. 

I made mine about 8 feet wide. I was going for a rambling, vine cottage vibe and I think I succeeded. The thickest branch was about 1 ½” inches round. You need a good, solid “support branch” so don’t skip on this.

The smallest branch was about ¼ round.

I used twine to hold the branches loosely together until I came up with shape length that I wanted.

Then I grabbed my crate of vintage terra cotta pots. 

New pots will work just as well. I prefer the old pots though as they are thicker and made better than the ones they sell in the big box stores these days. 

*yard sales and antique stores are great places to find old pots.

I decided to paint a few of the pots {with cheap white acrylic paint} for contrast. I did not spray the pots with anything. If a little paint flakes off over time… All the better.

Can you tell I was going for a more of a time worn look? 

Next up was wiring the pots to the garland. 

For this I used 18 gauge galvanized steel wire. I like using 18 gauge wire for projects as it’s flexible and easy to wrap around things and strong enough to handle 25 pounds.

First I ran the wire through the pot, gave it a twist, then using the wire I secured the terra cotta pot to the twig “frame”. I mostly wrapped the wire around all the branches, but a few times I only wrapped the wire around a single branch.

You’ll get the feel for how to secure the pots as you go.

Keep adding pots until it looks right to you. There is no set way to do this. 

I knew I wanted to leave the “ends” of the branches free of pots for a bit of a wispy look so I left the ends bare.

In the end I used about 30 pots for my 8 foot garland. {Keeping in mind only about 5 feet of the garland had pots on it}. 

I mostly used 3” wide pots. There were a handful of 2” pots as well as 4” pots.

I was going to wait and add some fairy lights for Christmas, but now I think I want to weave a set or two in for a little summer magic.

To hang the garland my husband simply screwed two hooks into the side of the house and hung the twig and flower pot garland. I tucked in a few extra smaller twigs after the garland was hung 

This whole project took me about 2 hours from start to finish.  

~Mavis

OTHER

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Get Back To The Basics + Learning to Unplug

It was another great week in the slowing down and being unplugged as much as possible department. 

I listened to two audiobooks and started a third which I am really enjoying.  We talked with neighbors, went to a pancake breakfast and got some solid gardening time in too.

In The Kitchen

I made a sticky toffee pudding {it was fantastic} and the HH grilled some burgers. We also popped by Costco for a few things. Normally I like to get in and get out of Costco as quickly as possible, but every once in a while it’s fun to take the time to look around and see what’s new. 

Have you tried the new Dubai Haagen Dazs bars? We didn’t buy any but if you have I’d love to hear what you thought about them. I had a Dubai chocolate cookie in London last summer and it was fantastic. I’m not sure how the ice cream would taste though. 

Kitchen Goals For This Year

• Master the pear frangipane tart from Standard Baking Company. 
• Put my Weck jars to use.
• Use two bins of beans {working on it}

Rug Hooking

I was able to get a ton of rug hooking time last week which made me really happy. I still have about 40 hours or so to go before the big whale rug I’m working on is finished.

I added some new pillows to my Etsy shop and had fun wrapping wool bundles too.

Rug Hooking Goals For This Year

• Finish drawing out all my patterns, making kits, dyeing wool by March 31st. 
• Release 10 new rug hooking patterns/kits.  {3 down 7 to go}
• Hook 27 of the patterns from the “someday I’ll hook these” bin. {4 down 23 to go}

Go New Places – See New Things

My friend Jen texted to tell me she put us in the lottery for The Grand Canyon hike again. She really wanted to do it last summer but we didn’t get in so we went hiking in Utah instead. 

Something tells me hiking to the bottom of The Grand Canyon and back up again might just be a wee bit more difficult than the Utah trip. I might have to get a weighted vest if we get picked.

I wonder if there are any shower enclosures at the bottom I could lock myself into. Does anyone know? Gaa. I can’t believe I agreed to do another big hike. 

Travel Goals For This Year

• Travel someplace {internationally} that I’ve never been before.
• Travel somewhere in Maine {overnight} that I haven’t been before.

Places I’ve Been So Far This Year

• Boston {Birthday getaway}
• NYC {Girls getaway}

Walk And Stretch More

The HH has been out walking with me pretty consistently lately which is awesome. I told him we need to change things up though and walk the beach. I have a new project in mind and I’m going to need some driftwood.

Walking/Stretching Goals For This Year

• Get into some sort of stretching routine
• Fast walk a 5K, 10K, and Half Marathon 

Garden

RED ALERT –> The Van Engelen website is up and running and they have some really nice tulips mixtures this year.

I’m hoping to finalize my bulb order today and the “Delightful” tulip mixture is in my cart.

I think these colors will look pretty amazing in the garden next spring, especially with all the red lobsters on the house. Pinks and reds… I’m going for it.

Garden Goals For This Year

• Rework the driveway and garden areas {in progress}
• Go crazy and plant a ridiculous amount of flowers {working on it}
• Step out of my comfort zone and plant some flowers I’ve never planted before

Paint

I finally got around to painting the trim in the front room and a pale blue color on the walls {it took 2 coats!}. I really like it. The previous color was a grey-blush-green color which was kind of drab.

I’ll try and remember to take some pictures to show you. I also painted the window trim {which was a total pain!}.

Next up is putting a fresh coat of white paint on the beams. I’ll get to that in the next day or two. The HH is planning on sanding the floors towards the end of the week so I have to get it done.

Here’s hoping you have a good and productive week, 

~Mavis

Painting Goals For This Year

• The Van Gogh wall
• The gallery wall down stairs
• The captains wall in the hall
• Trim and walls 

OTHER

The post My Goals For 2026 – Week 21 of 52 appeared first on One Hundred Dollars a Month.

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Yesterday I popped by a few of the local nurseries on the hunt for perennials. Specifically I’m trying t find pink, purple, lime green and maybe some coral perennials that have staying power. 

Plants that will bloom more than a week or two. Maybe you have some suggestions? 

Two of my stops had dahlias, which I LOVE, but I forgot to dig mine up last fall and they rotted. Dahlias would count as a perennial… right? I mean if I dug them up?

Another one I liked was this purple baptisia. I’ve never grown baptisia before. The flowers look sort of like a softer, prettier, lupine to me.  

Do you live in New England? Do you have these in your backyard? Are they easy to grow? Do the blooms keep on coming?

I have a sneaking suspicion that by the end of summer there will be a full blown cottage garden out front. 

Even the HH is starting to get into going flower hunting with me. Which is sort of hilarious.  Usually he’s just the guy who unloads the car and digs the holes.

But now he has opinions.

I think if it were actually possible to live in a greenhouse surrounded by topiaries and flowers, I would. One of these days I’m going to get a topiary in one of those glorious pots. Mark my words.

One of the dreamiest potting sheds around.

If only there was a wood stove and a little hooking nook this would be the perfect hideaway during the winter months. 

Flower pots and rugs… What more do you need? Well, tea and pastries. 

And maybe a duck or two.

Gardening season… It’s finally here. I’ll probably be tired of yard work come September… but right now, the only thing I want to do is play outside. 

I hope you have a lovely weekend.

Peace Out.

~Mavis

OTHER

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Today I thought I’d share a few photos of how the big landscaping project is going over at the studio. Because seriously, everyone loves before and after photos, right? 

This is what the cottage looked like the day we got the keys to the place. 

Call me crazy but it looked kind of sad and unloved. 

This is what it looked like one week later after we had removed the plastic shutters, moved the fence forward and ripped out the overgrown landscape.

And this is what it looks like now.  

I hesitated even showing you because there’s still a lot of work to do outside {more plants, fencing, maybe a surprise or two} and we’re still waiting for the grass to grow in.

But I had to share because I am SO in love with how things are turning out. 

I LOVE GARDENING. And I love creating new spaces. And I am SO, SO lucky to have a husband who goes along with {most} all of my crazy ideas.

The idea for the flower pot swag came from a trip to Quebec City. A little French restaurant had a similar one above their doorway and I thought it was the cutest thing!

The idea for the benches came from the restaurant too. Originally I was going to have my husband build some window boxes and just plant flowers in them. 

But the more I thought about the benches, they just seemed more versatile for around the holidays. The man loves to build things, what can I say? {He made me the door last fall.} I told him he should turn pro. 

The flower pot swag was super easy to make. I took pictures while I was making it so let me know if you want me to write up a tutorial. I’m planning on adding fairy lights for Christmas. 

Yesterday our first two visitors arrived. Two pretty little house finches. They’ve been working hard at building a nest just behind the flower pots on the branches.

It is the SWEETEST thing! I’ll have to try and get a photo when they’re not around so I don’t disturb them.

This place is so different from the Lobster House!

The {hydroseed} grass and landscaping is coming along. The grass is starting to fill out in the {parking} pavers which has been fun to watch.

We were able to repurpose the three mature hydrangea plants that were previously swimming in a mound of bark alongside the cottage.

I was a little worried they wouldn’t transplant well because they were so big, but we were able to get them in the ground before they started to leaf out so I think they’ll survive. 

We were given a couple of white hydrangeas last fall from a neighbor who was thinning their garden and those seem to be doing great as well. The catmint came from Costco as did the begonias.

The goal is to fill the garden with 90% perennials and save the other 10% for summer annuals and bulbs.

I still have a boatload of shasta daisies, chives, rhubarb and English lavender growing in pots that I need to get planted. But I’ll wait to do that once the fence is installed {end of June?}.

I also bought an enormous packet of hollyhock seeds that I’ll scatter in the fall as well. Fact: I am rather excited about the prospect of a garden with a gazillion hollyhocks in it!!

When I was planning this garden, I knew I wanted some flowers, but I wasn’t exactly planning on a total cottage garden vibe. 

But hey, I think that’s where we’re headed… And it’s fine by me.

~Mavis

OTHER

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