Where were these helpful types when I was out there slaving away over the Traveling Salvation Garden?

This is a Sponsored post written by me on behalf of Miracle-Gro for SocialSpark. All opinions are 100% mine.

As close followers of this blog know, this year has been a banner year for gardening at the Pagel household, in that over 30% of our plants have survived thus far and are ready for the next step: releasing them into the wild.

No, seriously.

The plants in Mr Bunches' Traveling Salvation Garden, remember, have been raised in the relative safety and shelter of red plastic cups, and while they are thriving (read: not dead yet possibly) they are getting to the point where it seems like maybe they should not be living in cups anymore.

So I was GOING to plant them into the garden, somewhere, but in OUR garden, these sheltered plants that have been living in my office and on our driveway would be eaten alive in seconds, quite possibly literally. I'm not 100% sure what kind of plants we have in our garden, and some of them are I'm sure carnivorous. Just playing the odds, there.

So along comes something that solves my problem: The Scott's Miracle Gro “Toyarium” idea.

The “Toyarium” is a terrarium, crossed with toys: you can get kids interested in gardening, and plants, by doing something simply like taking a fishbowl, putting some plants and toys in it, and letting them grow. (The plants, not the toys. If you DO grow toys, though, call me at once, as it was my idea and you probably owe me some money.)

So the Toyarium is not the best idea for Mr Bunches Traveling Salvation Garden, because a Toyarium is small and these plants are going to be large, I think, I can't remember the plants we planted now. But I'm going to build on the concept, as we have a large pot, about three feet in diameter and about three feet tall, and we can put some dirt in THERE, and transplant the Salvation Garden into that, in several easy steps:

1. Take the plants we've been growing in our cups.

2. Put them in the large pot.

3. Put some toys or action figures in there. I'm thinking “Hulk.” Seems gardeny.

4. GROW! GROW YOU PLANTS! GROW! (I hollered that encouragingly.)

The "Toyarium" idea and lots more are actually something thought up by "The Gro Project " and I wish I'd known about them when we were starting the Salvation Garden, because I'd have had some guidance on the garden and other fun garden projects.  The whole thing is sponsored by Miracle-Gro, which, no lie, that stuff is amazing.  It's pretty much the only reason my plants have survived being cared for by me.  

I mean, Miracle-Gro has things like the Shake’n Feed All Purpose Plant Food,, which will let your plants actually survive in yards, like mine, that are deficient in everything except raccoons, and they offer Moisture Control Potting Mix, or the LiquaFeed All Purpose Plant Food Advance Starter Kit, for potting plants in indoors or outdoor containers, so whatever you're going to grow, you can grow it better.

Hit that link and seee what else you can do beyond Toyariums and not killing your houseplants. They've got articles and videos for just about every plant or garden topic, for beginners to experts.  (I'm in the expert class.  I'm like a Kung Fu Gardener.  No, I know that doesn't make sense, but I stand by it.)  Or, if you're a "Pinterest" type, Miracle-Gro has a page there, too, where you can share stories and photos and, I guess, Pinterest things.