Scavenger Chic

Scavenged Treasures by the Stream

• By Joan
• March 6, 2017
• 8 Comments

Behind my house, down past the pallet garden, the pallet wood  signpost and an old apple tree…down past the storm drainage pond, runs a tiny little stream.

I can’t say my kids played in the stream very much when they were younger because in the winter the icy stream was too cold to play in and in the summer the weeds and sticker bushes formed an impenetrable barrier.

On  Earth Day every year, before the weeds would reclaim the stream, I would send my kids out with a  great big garbage bag and they would do their best to pick up any trash that happened to get caught up in the storm runoff or a windy trash day. But usually the stream was ignored.

With some warm weather last week, I did have a chance to walk down to the stream. You can see some of the weeds starting to emerge, so it won’t be long before the stream is hidden again.
Besides a bag of trash I did manage to find a couple of treasures.  Doesn’t look like much does it?

It may not look like it, but this fine piece of wood is a succulent planter.  Can you believe it was just sitting there?

Not wanting to take any chances on any critters that may have been spending the winter inside, this fine log was shoved into the oven for a half hour at 200 degrees. I had to saw a piece off so it would fit.

I’m assuming the baking did it’s job because I didn’t see any critters crawling across the counter.

Some of the log that was rotting was easily chipped away with the end of a screwdriver.

The rest of the log was drilled out with a 1 1/2″  Spade Bit.

Just drill a nice little hole for your succulents to sit.  Try not to drill all the way through the wood.

I have two planters going.  The piece I had chopped off of the log was plenty big to have it’s own succulent garden.

As far as soil is concerned, I just used the same dirt the succulents came in.  I found it was cheaper to buy a planter with several different kinds in it then to buy each plant separately.

Finished off my succulent planter with a layer of moss.

I would love to say I’m an expert on the planting and care of succulents but I’m not.  I do have a beautiful jade and aloe plant sitting in my kitchen window and they seem to love it there.  So I will tell you that succulents seem to like a lot of sunshine.  Other than that, I’m going to refer you over to this website, Succulents and Sunshine for tips on succulent gardens.

I did say that I found a couple of treasures…

My other treasure was this 2×10 that seems to have been caught up in a heavy downpour.  It was tossed with a bunch of other branches against a couple of trees. I can never resist a perfectly good piece of wood so I hauled that back with my succulent log.

The 2×10 didn’t make it very far, setting it down on a couple of stumps at the bottom of my yard, it now makes a pretty good bench…that is until I need a nice piece of wood, then I’ll know just where to look.  That bench may be the easiest and least expensive project I’ve ever made.

Have a wonderful week, stay inspired.

Shared at Metamorphosis Monday, Wow us Wednesdays,

Talk of the town, Salvaged Junk Projects,

Related posts:

Railroad Spike Coat Rack diy Upcycled Hand Cart Coffee Table Upcycled Feedbag Ottoman Upcycled Hand Cart Coffee Table Version II