This year, for some reason, I’ve been bitten by the gardening bug. I have visions of a little plot in the back yard, the kids getting their hands dirty planting watermelons and squashes. We’ll see if I can get our act together in time to enjoy the heirloom tomatoes dancing in my head.
My first attempt to get the kids interested in gardening was a semi success. I bought a big cardboard letter at the craft store for each of the kids’ names and let them have fun planting pretty pink and purple flowers in their letter.
DIY initial letter planters
Using a serrated knife, cut off the top of each letter. Get right into the edge of the letter and it’s really easy to cut. Then poke a few holes in the bottom of the letter for drainage and fill halfway up with dirt. Add flowers and finish with a bit more dirt.
Caroline was in raptures over all the pink. Henry was freaked out by getting his hands dirty. And Sam just wanted to eat the dirt. So while I’m not sure I inspired a love of gardening, I sure do think the results are pretty cute.
I was worried the cardboard would fall apart as soon as the letters got wet, but they held up to the heaviest rain we’ve had in ages. The planters’ permanent home is in the back yard so I don’t mind if the cardboard loses it’s shape over time.
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This is AWESOME! Thanks for the idea!
that’s a really cool idea!
I linked to your tutorial on my blog – thanks for sharing!
♥, doro von Hand zu Hand
Totally adorable!! I love this idea and how fun for them to experience some “gardening”. :)
So, so cute! I’ve got the gardening bug too and I’ve been loving the letters I’ve seen on Pinterest– but I never thought to do it with those letters! Such an awesome idea!!!
I wonder if you sprayed these with a clear spray paint to almost water proof them if that would help them hold up? Spray the inside of the letter before you put soil and plants inside and the outside too beforehand? Does that seem like it would work? Love this idea! So adorable!
That’s a good idea Molly! If you try it, let me know how it turns out!
this is the CUTEST idea! love it – thanks so much for sharing!
Love those pictures with kids little legs :) and the flowers are cute too :)
Aren’t those adorable? Love those little Henry legs :)
such a cute idea, if i can get my act together, i will definitely be trying this
thanks for sharing
brett
Pretty cute?! The are absolutely adorable! What a great idea Stephanie!
These are adorable–and I’m so excited to hear that you’re going to be gardening this year. Woo hoo! We’ll have to compare notes. :)
Yes, I imagine I’ll be asking, what went wrong?! :) But I’m definitely hoping for a few tomatoes.
Soon cute! I wonder if you could stand them up to? I love am gonna do it!! :) Michelle
They aren’t quite sturdy enough to stand up – you could prop them up though. Let me know if you give it a try!
These are really cool! Yes,standing up would be great too, like mini vertical gardens. This would be great on my courtyard wall. I could fix them to some backing board, paint them as Molly suggested, then staple some fine mesh over the soil and pop some herbs or succulents in them. Ok, I’m feeling inspired!!
2 (green) thumbs up!
This is so fun and pretty!
How much were the letters? Genius idea btw….
I think the letters were $4-5 each – I can’t remember exactly – I got them at JoAnns.
How adorable is this? One of my favorite DIY’s of yours yet!
This is genius! I want to try this so badly. If it wasn’t snowing today I would head to the floral shop right away. xx. McKenna Lou
http://www.lynnandlou.com
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These are seriously awesome–I want to do this!
I seriously LOVE this idea! How big were the cardboard letters you used?
Thanks Gloria :) The letters were about a foot / foot and a half tall. The store had really huge ones that would have been super cool but they didn’t have the letters I needed.
I love this idea! My back deck is 1-2 levels above my backyard so I could easily do this and look down upon some fantastic word.