I remember it like it was yesterday.  Dad would park the van in their driveway in Minnesota, us 3 kids would jump out as fast as we could, and run down the sidewalk on the hill that was graced with beautiful flower and rock gardens all the way to Grandma and Grandpas door.

Grandma and Grandpa always kept a neat and tidy yard.  It always made me so happy as a child to run around their yard and to follow the gorgeous garden paths, which at a young age felt like secret paths winding around the back of their house.   Whenever we would go to visit their house on the lake, we spent lots of time fishing in the boat, jumping off the end of the dock, and always always helping Grandma with some sort of chore.    She made sure her gardens were always kept up, and on occasion she would have me and maybe a few others, take all of the small rocks that lined the border of one garden alongside of the deck, remove them from their place, and hand wash them one by one and put them back in place.  I loved it.

Grandma and Grandpas gardens have inspired me in life in so many ways.   I have taken my own kids to pick out flat rocks from Lake Superior, so they can paint on them, to put in our flower gardens- just like Grandma used to let me pick out a rock from her garden to paint on.

After owning our little hobby farm for 2 years now, I am finally putting in the time, and effort to create that sort of a space that I know Grandma would have loved.   That space that you can walk through and feel peace, sit and watch the birds in, look at and feel inspired. I however, will not be taking my rocks out and washing them on occasion.

This time around, I decided to make several small gardens, inside of rusty trucks that I have had laying around for a long time.    This was a fun project that was perfect for my 2 kids to help me with!  Read below to see how I turned rusty old trucks into art in the garden!

Mini truck-garden tutorial

What you need;
-Rusty toy trucks (if you can’t find trucks- that’s okay! Other items will work too, like rusty buckets, wheelbarrows, etc)
-Potting soil
-Small gravel or rocks
-Window screening -if desired
– Plants of choice (Succulents make perfect contenders for truck gardens)
-Fairy garden supplies -available at most local garden centers & stores

What to do;
1.) Gather all of your supplies.  If your truck has small holes, or rusted out areas in the part of the truck that you will be placing the plants, that is perfect!    If they have too big of holes, you can choose to cut window screening and lay it across the hole, but if the truck has no holes in it, you will have to get out the drill and drill a few small drainage holes in the area you will be planting.

2.)  Take the gravel you scooped from your driveway , like I did.  Or small rocks and place them in the bottom area of the truck in a thin layer.

3.)  Take a few handfuls of potting soil and place it in the truck and mix it together well with the gravel.

4.)  Carefully place your plants where you would like them.  You may have to shake off some of the dirt that came with the plant in order to get it to fit right.  Feel free to mix some of that in with the potting soil already in the truck too.  Succulents work great for mini truck gardens and are very low maintenance.

5.)  If you found some net fairy garden items, place one or two in each truck for added charm. (P.S.  No trucks were harmed in the making of these gardens.  They all returned to their normal truck state after summer)

6.) Enjoy your new mini truck garden!