Beltane DIY

I admit it. I have got that Spring gardening fever going on this year! Maybe it's from a year of lock down. Maybe it's a natural part of my healing process. Who knows? All I know is the garden is calling me and telling me it needs a facelift! I decided to start with re-potting a favorite plant.

I brought some Kahili ginger back from the Big Island. It's horribly invasive, so it's been in a pot from the beginning, and I intend to keep it that way! Its blooms have a gorgeous scent, though, which is why I brought it back in the first place.

My dad potted it in one of the multitudes of terra cotta pots we have around, but I was never 100% happy with it. So I went hunting for a new pot and found one of those concrete-looking ones at Home Depot. I didn't like the color, but I did like the shape of it. It looked like it would be easy enough to change the color, so I ambled over to the paint aisle to find something suitable. Rust-oleum has those nifty "2X" colors, and I grabbed an aqua that I couldn't live without.

Yesterday morning, Grace and I were up early and I got everything set up to paint. I did a scuff sand on the pot, wiped it off with a damp cloth, and I was almost ready to go. I have a heavier-duty sculptor's "lazy susan," which I covered with newspaper before putting the pot on top. I hung an old sheet we use for a drop cloth up, creating a poor-man's spray booth, of sorts.

Of course, since it was after her breakfast and part of our morning routine, Grace had to bring me the ball for a good game of fetch, in between being my self-appointed paint supervisor! I swear, anything they absolutely and under no circumstances shouldn't get their noses into, is a sure-fire invitation to them to stick their noses into! It's like she knows there is no way I want her inhaling spray paint, so she's just going to come on over and try to, anyway.

Hence the distraction of the ball-tossing while trying to lay down a first coat of spray paint!

Voilà! First coat done! That lazy susan really made it easy to keep the flow going nice and even.

I laid down the second coat when I got back home from work.

And the end result, while not immediately impressive, is still pretty good! I like the pop of color.

Dad says he's planning to re-do the outside of the house, so I'm holding off on any major plantings until that's done. I can't wait to see what happens.