Hi again Barbra. I see from your list that you are getting lots of annuals. That's very cottagy but where you live your garden could be all year round so I personally would also get into perennials and, as I said, some shrubs. A 'real' cottage garden would be full of a mixture of plants, not just annuals. By their very nature cottage gardens were eclectic and had to be easy care. Permanent plantings will help that. You could also be getting some summer flowering bulbs like Crocosmias and the little Gladiolus nanus cultivars. Crocosmias have run riot around our coasts. They thrive in mild, well drained, sunny ground and there are some lovely ones which are less rampant the the standard 'Montbretia'. Another two bulbs which love the sun and will flower in November are Schizostylus and Nerine bowdenii. Both will take an occasional light freeze. Also there are the Mediterranean herbs, rosemary, lavender, sage, thyme and bay which would be perfectly happy in a seaside location. They can take heat, drought and salt. I am quite excited with this project. The opportunities are endless. Even before you start thinking about 'nautical' featues like drift wood, rope handrails, pebble edgings, boat seats in shelters, etc. I'd love to be doing myself! Here is a link that might be useful: Boat seat

OK, everyone, the last set of plants was collected last week. So I'm happy to declare the exercise completed. Some observations for future reference: 8 people participated. We had 2 rounds of sending out lists to get an order together, which took 2 months. Once the order was placed, it took just over 2 weeks or so to get the phytosanitary certficate. We ordered 32 varieties, of which 12 were not available by the time of shipment. Shipping cost was US$80 for 114 plants, or C$0.86 per plant. The liners varied tremendously in size. The little ones withstood shipment much better than the largest two varieties. On the other hand, the large ones, though they lost leaves due to heat stress, had root systems to die for. Each 6-pack came with only 1 label, so I had to make tags for each plant - cut-up yogurt and milk plastic containers came in handy, but lacked in elegance ;-) sorry! Mistakes happen.... I was charged $15 for a variety that didn't get shipped & am still waiting for that one to be reversed; and a pick-up mix-up in my absence resulted in some tags (though not plants) getting lost. I'd be very interested to hear in May how you all overwintered these babies, and how many made it through the winter. I planted all of mine directly in the ground, in wire cages to protect against squirrels & rabbits. Bugs/slugs ate the leaves off one down to the ground while I was away, but most of the rest have lots of new leaves. That said, a Komodo Dragon made up of merely 2 flat green leaves the size of quarters is a baby only a mother could love. It was a great "little" game. Digs.

Hi all, I love everyones ideas. Keep them coming. I'm glad to hear there are a bunch of you in SW Florida. If it is okay, why don't we keep this link going from both coasts so we can still learn from each other. We are all on the same path. I was on craigslist or freecycle somewhere yesterday and a girl wrote in asking for seeds as she lost her job and has no idea who she is going to feed her family. I don't think we are so way out. Heather I love the blog. Incredible. I have a number of links I look at for ideas. Take a look at http://www.mysquarefootgarden.net/ don't think I say that one. Brute: you are right on. Take a look at http://www.abysmal.com/LDS/Preparedness/Preparedness.pdf. It is off the main topic of gardening but it is probably the most indepth "emergency preparedness manual" that is put out by the LDS or Mormon church. It is written with facts and humor but it covers everything up to and including growing your own garden. I am not LDS but I have many friends who are and I have learned a lot from them. When I was looking for the above link i came across this site which had a lot of info some of it very scary but staying on our topic I liked this link. http://www.shtfblog.com/how-to-build-a-concrete-block-raised-bed-garden/ I really like the concrete block raised bed idea. I have my veggie garden raised and a timer on a hose that has kept things simple. I need to redo my bed as I am down to basil and 0regano. I bought a lot of seeds last week but to be honest I have never grown anything from seed except for watermelon. This will be a great start. My email address for anyone who wants to contact me privately is: IBelieveKandC@yahoo.com. I am not as good as Heather on Blogging. If one of us gets a great meeting or speaker going this is a good place for us to see if we have an interest. We could always do a fieldtrip. Literally. Lets try and keep the ideas between east and west going together for now. It's all good. The more info the better. Claudia

You can use google to find what plants are good companion plants to repel pests for each of the items you want to plant. You will have both herbs and flowers to choose from. Also, Mother Earth News had an article this month about using flowers to achieve an organic, pest-free garden. You can access that article on their website. Tomatoes like to be planted deep. If you are starting your own from seedlings, try to repot them as many times as you can. Each time you repot them, plant them deeper into the soil. Those little hairs on the stem will turn into roots. If you are planting plants from the store directly into your growing pot, plant them as deep as you can into the pot, leaving the top few stems poking out the top. You can find more information on encouraging your tomato to be strong by googling for how to pinch off the suckers, and possibly by pinching off the first few set of flowers to encourage your plant to become large and healthy before it tries to set fruits. Corn likes to be planted with lots of friends, for pollination. Because you usually need a lot of plants for them to pollinate well, I'm trying out the square foot method this year. Otherwise, you'll need rows of at least four plants deep. Your peas and your morning glories will need a trellis to grow on. Google and the search function on this website have been the most valuable tools for me to find the information I need. Most of the things you want to know will be out there, and if you happen on an idea that no one else has written about, try it out and let us know how it goes!!! Oh, and take lots of pictures. It is so much fun to see how the garden progresses over time.