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.

Picture of the Day

So I am not alone in my conception of Heaven (except for poo bugs)

This:

Is basically the theoretical underpinning to one way to look at my conception of the afterlife in this:

Not to go all advertising on you, but here's what you get if you read it:

Saoirse's life didn't really begin until it ended: When a plane crashes, Saoirse wakes up in 'the After,' a place where everything is exactly what you want, unless what you want is to not be there.

Confused at first, Saoirse's new... life?... takes a turn for the (more) unexpected when William Howard Taft knocks on her door and says he knows a way out. From there, Saoirse travels through scenarios that are fantastical and mundane at the same time, trying to discover not just a way to end this new existence, but also whether she wants to do that in the first place.

'the After' is a heartbreakingly sad and funny mystical journey through one version of what happens after we die, told through the eyes of a woman clinging to the memory of a life she didn't know she cared about. Thoughtful but action-packed, 'the After' presents an entirely new and not always comforting view of what comes next for us all.

And, of course, you can CLICK HERE TO BUY IT FOR JUST NINETY-NINE CENTS.

Children Standing In Front Of Art, 1