5 things Under $20 that can make your Backyard Beautiful

DIY Easy and Practical Potting Table

I have a quick and easy DIY for you today. I’ve been wanting to organize my backyard potting area for the longest time. Inspiration struck when I saw this super easy cinder block and wood plank table on Freunde Von Freunden. So pretty and simple. In fact, it was such an easy DIY that my son built it for me in a few hours.

Add String Lights around your Porch, Patio or Trees!

An Amazon Reviewer says: I have ordered 4 boxes of these light sets now, the 25ft. I might just get the longer strand at this point. I love love love these lights. I will attach a photo at a later date, but these lights are gorgeous. They arrived, I plugged them in while in the package to make sure they all worked. Then I unscrewed all the bulbs to make it easy to hang. I hung them up all around my balcony using a staple gun. When I finished I screwed the light bulbs all in 🙂 I would highly recommend these lights. They are PINTEREST perfect!

Hang a hummingbird feeder to attract these beautiful little birds.

Homemade Sugar Solution (source)

Ingredients:
1 cup of white cane sugar
3 or 4 cups of spring water

Directions & Tips
Dissolve the sugar in the water. No red food coloring! The unused mixture can be stored in the refrigerator for up to a week.

• Cane sugar is highly recommended, although beet sugar is okay.
• Do not use any other sugar — not turbinado, raw, powdered [it contains starch!] or brown sugar, etc OR ORGANIC SUGAR* — and never use honey or artificial sweeteners.
• Springwater is preferred, but most tap water is acceptable.
• If too many bees are being attracted, change the mixture to five cups of water for every one cup of sugar. But a bee problem is, in fact, a feeder design problem, and you need a different feeder–one which makes it impossible for the bees to access the mixture; usually, this is by having an air gap between feeder port and the liquid below it.
• Taking down the feeder: In the fall, wait until you haven’t seen even one hummer for three weeks before taking your feeders down to reduce the risks to late migrants.

 * If cane sugar is not PURE WHITE, it may not have been sufficiently purified to remove trace amounts of molasses. As we know, molasses is rich in iron; this is helpful to humans but is a toxin to hummingbirds in all but the tiniest, tightly monitored amounts.

Turn wooden crates on their side to make handy end tables

Scatter flower seeds for a low-maintenance but still beautiful flower bed

Fall is a perfect time for sowing wildflower seeds, no matter where you live. This schedule is the most successful because it follows the same approach that Mother Nature follows; wildflowers naturally drop their seeds in fall to take advantage of the freezing, thawing, and/or extra moisture that winter delivers. This weather helps to crack open their hard, outer seed cases. (source)