Great question.... I am a cool who married a warm...yikes! I have always done the beds in cool colours, pink purple blue white and maybe a bit of pale yellow. When we moved to our new house and started from scratch I discovered hubby's preference for the warm colours in roses. Geez at that point I didn't have any red roses. I also realized that the warm colours would compliment the brick colour of the house better than the cool shades. What we did was warm colours in the front yard and cool shades in the back. They are also kind of split between hardy in the front and tender in the back. That way the neighbours don't have to look at my protection materials all winter. Raspberry Ripple looks yummy.....will have to check it out. cathy

I think a lot of us do it. I do it all the time. Every bed in my garden will have at least two separate and distinct crops, and some will have more. Some beds start out with a cool-season crop planted sometime between late January and late March, and then when those crops are done in May or June, I yank them out and put in a warm-season crop. Others start out with a warm-season crop planted between late March and late May and then after those crops finish up, those beds will get a succession planting of another warm-season crop generally for a late-summer or fall harvest, or herbs or flowers or a cover crop. With careful planning, I can keep every bed in my garden full from late winter through late fall. The exception is that if it is a horrible drought year like last year, I stop watering and planting, and just let whatever is still in the garden sink or swim on its own. Part of the reason for that, other than the expense of watering, is that in a bad drought summer we're so busy fighting fires that I am not home enough to tend a garden. When you use succession planting year in and year out, it develops a certain rhythm of its own, and you can do it without giving it much thought. However, the first few years that you do it, you probably need to draw out your garden on graph paper, and label each row with what you will plant there initially. Then, look at the DTMs for each crop and figure out when one crop will be finishing up and then figure out what you're going to put there. If it is a crop you can direct seed, be sure you have your seed on hand so you won't be running around town looking for it at planting time. If it is a crop that needs to be started in seed flats and transplanted into the ground, figure out how many weeks in advance you need to start your transplants. It works perfectly fine. One thing to remember is the nutritional level of the soil. If the first planting was a heavy feeder, you may need to mix in compost or some fertilizer into the soil before you plant the succession crop. You also can plant crops together in the same bed knowing that one will come out earlier than the other and that the remaining crop will spread out to fill up the space once filled by the crop you harvested first. For example, I sometimes like to scatter sow radishes, carrots and lettuce in the bed where tomato plants will be planted. Later, at tomato transplanting time, I pull enough radishes, carrots and lettuce plants to clear an area for planting the tomato plants. Over time, as you are harvesting and using the radishes, carrots and lettuce, the tomato plants are continuing to enlarge and take up more space. By the time the tomato plants are really large, say by the end of June, all the radishes, carrots and lettuce have been harvested and the tomato plants have all the space to themselves. As I pull out the earlier crops, I put down grass clippings or chopped leaves as a mulch so weeds won't sprout in the areas where I disturbed the soil by pulling up cool-season plants that are finished producing. Or, I plant corn in late March or early April. Then when it is either melon planting time or winter squash planting time, I put the melons or squash alongside the corn plants. When the corn is done and is harvested, the melons or winter squash grow into the space left vacant by the harvesting of the corn. Some years I plant Red Ripper/Mandy southern peas on all 4 sides of the corn bed when the corn plants are about 3' or 4' tall. This particular variety of southern pea grows like crazy and I let it invade the corn bed. By the time I am harvesting the sweet corn, the southern peas are climbing the cornstalks. Sometimes I end up with a jungle, but as long as it is producing well, I don't mind the jungle. I should emphasize that not all my succession plants are veggies. Sometimes they are flowers, herbs, cover crops or insectary crops. Dawn

Floral_uk, that's just what I was hoping. I was planning to go ahead and give it a try anyway, but I definitely feel better about it. Getgoing, my poppy order actually won't be here for 3 weeks! I was planning on scattering some seeds at the end of October and hoping for some seedlings in the spring, but otherwise would start them indoors in the spring. Sweet peas, bah. I have terrible, terrible luck with both sweet peas and nasturtiums. I've tried the 24 hour soaking...I've tried nicking the shell...nothing. I did manage to get one lowly nasturtium to sprout this year, but I do agree that it's a bit late for sweet peas. I have quite a few varieties so I'm going to try to grow a couple in pots, so I can move them to shade in the afternoons. I heard that they aren't big fans of transplanting so hopefully this will work!

I wouldnt say 'true gold' but its a nice light brown almost with a depth to it. Its a really beautiful counter, we get compliments all the time on it. Order a sample and see how it looks with your lighting. Stood up well so far, 2 years in. Barkeepers friend is magic for stains. I still need to apply a sealer to the counter that will help with stubborn stains like red wine.