Find Beauty In The Fall With Miracle-Gro

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

Autumn is my favorite season of all. I love it when the leaves start to change, and mums go into bloom. Give me a beautiful fall colored flower bed, and I'm in heaven.

....The only problem with that is that I live in Florida now. Trees really don't change color too much, and mums bake in the sun. Daisies die in a heartbeat, so my flower beds consist of a lot of green shrub-like things. I decorate with a lot of sunflowers, as they are the ONLY fall-ish flower that does well in Florida, at least for me.

While searching for ways to spruce up our landscape and Find beauty in the Fall outside, I came up with several ways to beautify your flower beds with these Fall gardening tips from Miracle-Gro:

• Add fall color (ornamentals, mums, pansies) to your landscape (garden beds or containers)
• Grow fall or cool weather edibles (In the southeast, many leafy veggies are great!)
• Get a head start for spring by planting bulbs
• Plant trees and shrubs

Miracle-Gro offers a bunch of tips, no matter where you're located. For my area, they recommend using a garden soil specific to my gardens needs, (like Miracle-Gro Garden Soil for Trees and Shrubs). For flowers they recommend using a product like Miracle-Gro Liquafeed which makes  feeding as easy as watering. It feeds the plants through the leaves and the roots, and is for use with all flowers, vegetables, trees and shrubs. Simplifying my life = perfect for me!

The Miracle-Gro Facebook page has some great tips and techniques available from Fall Veggies through big, beautiful flowers. You'd be surprised with some of the things they teach you!
Although my flower beds aren't quite in an autumn mood yet, I can still get the feel inside. I'm burning my Scentsy warmer with the delicious smelling Carmel Pear Crisp, and preparing to make my own rendition of this autumn centerpiece I found on Pinterest:

Isn't it gorgeous?! They used elements from Pottery Barn, but I think I might have enough acorns outside to help make it look spectacular. There's a wreath just like the one they used in the picture at Target (in their dollar spot), and I'm sure I can grab some faux leaves from Michael's or Dollar Tree, even.

These are available at Dollar Tree, I think they would work, right?

I need to just hunt down my hurricane vase centerpiece...or hope Dollar Tree has something I could use. Keep on the lookout for my spin-off centerpiece!

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Miracle Gro Expand n Gro Concentrated Planting Mix

This post brought to you by Scotts®. All opinions are 100% mine.

We have found it virtually impossible to make a garden successful in Florida. The dirt is just awful, and we've resorted to making table-top gardens, but have been unsuccessful there, as well.

I've recently been introduced to a new product from Miracle Gro, called the Expand ‘n Gro™ concentrated planting mix. Expand ‘n Gro Concentrated Planting Mix is different from basic potting and garden soils. Because it’s a unique blend of Miracle‐Gro plant food and coconut coir fiber, a compact, lightweight, easy‐to‐carry and easy‐to‐store bag of Expand ‘n Gro can do everything a big, heavy bag of soil can do, only better.

This concentrated planting mix expands up to 3 times when mixed with water, feeds plants for up to 6 months, makes native soil more workable and retains up to 50% more moisture than basic potting soil.

Coir is a lightweight, all‐natural material derived from coconut husk. Coir consists of 2 components: fiber (both long and short) and pith. Sri Lanka, India, Vietnam, Dominican Republic, and Mexico are the top producing countries of coir. Harvesting coconuts begins with de‐husking. The copra (flesh) and milk of the coconuts are used as food, but the husk itself is also useful. First, long fibers are removed. These will be used in the manufacture of ropes, doormats, mattresses, automobile car seats, and garden pots. The remaining short fibers and the pith, which makes up about 70% of the weight of the husk, are by‐products of the fiber industry. Previously, these materials were disposed of, but now they are compressed and sold around the world as soil amendments.

Most native soil, whether sandy, hard clay, or somewhere in between, is not ideal for plants. Improving and then maintaining the condition of native soil can be a daunting task, and many soil amendments last only one year. Bags of traditional garden soil and amendments are messy, heavy, and difficult to transport and store. Lightweight, concentrated Expand ‘n Gro is easy to use, and helps ensure plants get the right amount of moisture and air they need to thrive. The honeycomb shaped, sponge‐like cell structure of compressed coir pith re‐expands when water is added. This permanent re‐expansion of coir offers several benefits for plant growth, including improved moisture control and bulk density. And because coir contains a great deal of lignin, a slowly decomposing organic polymer, Expand ‘n Gro continues to benefit native soil for multiple years after it is first added.

In pots or in‐ground, the absorbent coir fibers help ensure that water is used efficiently. Expand ‘n Gro retains up to 50% more moisture than basic potting soils and then releases water as plants need it, to help prevent over or under watering. Since moisture and nutrients must be able to reach plant roots, proper air space and circulation in soil is critical for plant health. Tilling this planting mix into native soil can reduce the soil’s bulk density – making it up to 40% lighter, and creating up to 90% more air space. The result is more workable native soil with better water holding ability, moisture distribution, and drainage, all of which ultimately creates an improved rooting environment for plants.

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Home Depot - Best Customer Service Experience EVER!

Today was a great day. Alex had his baseball game this morning, and then afterward we went to this event at our local park. During this time, Alex got to make a "Rain Gauge" from the Home Depot. It came out super cute, but little did I know this would be the first experience with the Home Depot today.

When I came home I found Brian was busy working on his car and buzzing around the yard cutting back shrubs, leveling the area that the pool sits in, and so much more. I got motivated, and packed Abbie up and decided to go flower shopping at the Home Depot.

Now, I'll be honest.. One of the last times I visited the other Home Depot in my area, I had a HORRIBLE experience. The people were rude and obnoxious, and checkout was a madhouse. There wasn't a person around to help me find the stuff my husband sent me to get, and when I asked three associates I got two "It's not my department", and one who offered to try to help.

Brian loves the Home Depot, I unfortunately, did not. Until today.

I have this section of flower bed directly in front of my house. I have a little bistro set on the small patio in the front, and I love to sit out there and drink my coffee in the morning, or watch the kids play on the lawn. I have tried to plant beautiful flowers in this portion of my yard a gazillion times. You may think that that is an exaggeration, but I cannot count how many times I've wasted money by trying to plant something in this bed.

I have cultivated it and dug all of the dirt out and replaced it with fertile soil; I have placed that black weed preventing fabric over it; I have tried roll-out seeds, planting from seedlings I grew inside, replanting plants from other areas of our yard, planting baby potted plants and planting fully grown, mature potted plants into this area and NOTHING has kept.

Without going further into this spiral that is my front flower bed, I went to Home Depot with the intention of getting a couple of plants to throw in there for however long they lasted because I was sick of looking at a giant bed of dirt.

So I get there, (dreading the thought in it's own), and am warmly greeted by the three associates in the front of the garden entrance. Abbigaile and I started on our quest, and very soon thereafter I started feeling overwhelmed. I approached the associates back up in the front and asked for a moment of their time. This gentleman came to help me, and that was when my experience with Home Depot just took off.

For the first time in my entire adult life I can say to you that this man took the time to get to know my "problem". He gave me tips and suggestions, asked what I had tried, what I was open to try, how the flower bed was laid out, and what kind of issues I was having. I started my story, and instead of him looking at me like I had three heads- he responded with more suggestions and more tips. I wish I had a notebook for all of the knowledge this man shared with me about gardening and planting.

Beyond that, he went through different types of flowers with me, suggested a handful that he thought might work the best, and truly went above and beyond my expectations. After I thought I had decided and started comparing colors, we parted ways, and a couple of minutes later he returned with this beautiful yellow and burgundy Viva Lilly that COMPLETELY tied together the entire flower bed. He explained that as he was returning, he caught these out of the corner of his eye and thought that this might be what I was looking for. I was never so excited by a flower in my life, but more importantly, I was excited at the fact that even after he walked away he continued his quest to make the customer happy.

As a customer I felt important and like my flower bed really mattered to this associate. I know that when the gentleman that helped me goes home tonight he's not going to be thinking of my flowerbed, but I am so super thrilled with my experience with this Home Depot experience I had to share it with everyone. Even the check out lady was courteous and helpful, I felt like I was in a TV Land Episode or a commercial! I've told my neighbors, I've told my friends, and now I'm telling you all- I love my Home Depot Gardening Department!

So, what do you think? Is it possible that retailers like Home Depot are taking a turn back to the old school morals and customer service- or was I truly zapped into a once in a lifetime experience??

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