Summer is dragging on and things are slowly ending their cycle. This is the time of year where you start fortifying for the winter. Things start turning brown and the hot last days of the year make you lazy! Start by gathering your winter tools. Pitchfork, rake, shovels and the "can't live without" hoe. clean up any weeds that may surprise you by hiding in the flower beds. I use newspaper and cardboard under my mulch to help fight weeds. I have popsicle sticks that I use to mark bulbs I want to move. Makes looking for the bulbs easy. and bright colored ribbon goes on shrubs so they are easily identified always mark their names on the ribbon. I have a rose of Sharon that needs moving and a gigantic rose that as never bloomed. Getting my sign made that says free weeds pick your own....While you are trapped in the house by rain or the long winter have a look at my Pinterest board. Ideas and thoughts I've gathered...send me a note let me know how your garden is turning out and if you have any tips! Those of you that have never seen pinterest are in for a treat! http://pinterest.com/edfred_warren/cottage-garden-ideas-favorite-places/

Back at it after a little break

I haven't written in a while so many things taking over my life. The guilty pleasure of blogging my progress with the yard has been waylaid by things I actually needed to do. Things are getting hot here so I expect to blog more to stay out of the sun. I started posting on Pinerest there are some shots of my garden and most of them are ideas gleamed from Pinterest. Have a look. and leave me comments. Remember the rules be nice or be gone http://pinterest.com/edfred_warren/cottage-garden-ideas-favorite-places/

it's catalog time!!!

It's time to pull out those cataslogs and plot. This year we're going to attempt a victory garden and to can and freeze some of our produce for the following winter. I'm told this is ambitious. The goal is to not pay full price for commercially grown horrible tasting produce. We'll still support local farmers but commercial genetically bread nastiness? Noooo way! Something tells me we're biting off alot but then whats life without challenge? New photos to come of the winter brown that will become green!

Fall

Getting your garden ready will make it a lot easier in the spring. October is the month when you plan and plant your bulb garden. Make or buy your mulch and arrange to have your garden tilled and covered to kill off the little pests and weeds in the soil. Time to start raking the leaves and or wait for them to drop. This year we decided to pile them up and run a mulching lawn mower over them and use them as mulch as a way to be more green. A lot of garden supply stores are having sales getting rid of summer inventory. It’s the perfect time to buy your manures/ composts, pre-emergent, fertilizers, oil sprays, repellants and even some plants put them in the ground immediately (perennials) . Store things for next year somewhere cool and dry so you have them in the spring. Its also time to start collecting seeds. Remember to wrap them in paper towels to ward off mold and keep them nice, cool and dry. Mark the seed containers with permanent markers so you won’t be trying to guess what they are later. Bring in containers and plants that aren’t winter safe and store them.

Morning Glory!

Summer hit me with a lazy kind of heat. Heat in Georgia is wet and numbing you spend your days avoiding it. Most plants wilted and some died, but my morning glories were magnificent! I planted a little flower called a Cardinal climber with them. The purples, pinks and red brightened cooled a wall that got full sun. All it took was a few sticks for them to climb, and a little water in the mornings every other day. Morning glories are tough little plants. Next year I'm going to plant more variations and see if I can get a full riot of color. The flowers planted in spring are still flowering and it's October!

I've been a busy girl

Summer has come and it's too hot. I catch myself watering before the sun comes up and only coming out to gather a few fruits of my labor mostly tomatos. The good thing is composting it fast!
The heat is cooking everything down to a nice dark rich and smelly earth!

Rainy days

Today it was cold and rainy I spent the day with my seed packets. Picking out the next great experiment in color. A white garden or a red garden or something in all purple...As I think about it I see the riot of colors of Atlanta's highways planted with wildflowers. I put the white, purple and red into the basket. I then dump all the rest of the colors in what will be will be! Anything too planned looks like that! Too planned! Here's hoping for happy accidents.The crush of color, the wave flower faces as I put my head down on the pillow facing the tv and dream not of movie stars and their dresses but flower faces. In rings...in waves..in things dreamed of. I sit in a field of flowers every color known to god...on a rainy day.