I'm also still in recovery mode from this year's garden. I normally do spend time planning next year's garden in the fall and reviewing the previous gardening season in my journal, but I've been pretty busy with other things that thoughts of the garden are considerably rare these days. Everything in the garden is done for the season. We had a fairly large bin of compost that was emptied and spread to make room for chopped leaves. The bin is 2/3s full of leaves already. We extended the front garden by about 4 feet, covering grass with lasagna layers that are waiting for spring. We finally got around to pulling out grass and weeds from an area on the side of the house, that has developed a nice large patch of moss, moved a shurb there and put another lasagna layered area around that for further planting in spring. Added three new shrubs this fall and barely a couple of dozen new bulbs, etc., etc. So I guess I have general plans but I don't like to invest in the details yet, because it's a long winter and you know the old saying 'the best laid plans of mice and men....' In general, the back yard is going to need adjustments. I will be moving things around as usual. The front yard should have the lion's share of any major work. I have overgrown shrubs to come out and I'm 'this close' to mulching over the small patch of lawn that's left and extending the garden bed that is there already. There is a large Maple that I'm hoping to fill in under it with epimedium, hostas, ferns, tiarella, etc. It already has a very good stand of crocus in the spring and I may add other small bulbs next fall. But I'm looking forward to a break this winter as I always do. I want to add more houseplants over the winter, but I won't be giving that a thought until January. A little winter sowing, maybe. I collected a good amount of seed from my favorite Hostas and hope to have seedlings to grow on for the front Maple. As soon as the holidays are over, I'm sure I will be counting the days until spring too. [g]

I was hoping to only have a couple small projects for next year since we did our backyard project this past year which cost a small fortune in plant material. We still need to put in paths and edge back there too. However, after reading everyone else's plans now I'm thinking "yes, i need to start a veggie garden", "yes, hardscape that area", "yes, meadow garden"! Isn't gardening great! Always something to think about and plan for. Glenda, I like your idea of mixing in veggies to the borders as edging, tee-pee, etc. If I don't have any woodchucks this year (which has been keeping me from doing veggies), I may try that. I'd also love to see a picture of your "funny border". Ianna, I completely revamped my cottage area a number of years ago. There were about 5 borders that I removed every last plant and then ammended the soil and started from scratch. I actually drew up plans and it is the garden I now have today. I agree with Hollygarden to take your time to decide what you want. I think you would find it very rewarding. Since I just received my Bluestone catalog, I've decided my main project for next year is to replicate this (on a smaller scale) in the backyard. As I was perusing the catalog I started thinking of this garden when I got to the grasses and lavender pages. This was at Chanticleer in PA. I could have stayed in this border for hours. It just seemed so easy and serene. Anyone have any idea what the low, straw-like grass is? I have the rockytop coneflower (ID'd thanks to GW'ers), I'm going to pick up some lavender and I have orange butterfly weed. Also have some blue fescue I can put in. Any other ideas you can throw at me for annuals or perennials that might work would be very welcomed! Flowergirl, a deer-fenced area for planting...I'm jealous! LOL!

It's a little warmer here than in Boston, but not by much, so I think you should have similar results with lavender (one of my favorite plants). My happiest and most long-lived lavenders are in areas that are slightly raised above the surrounding soil - it really likes to be dry in winter but likes average water levels during the growing season. My favorite cultivar is 'Grosso' - here's what High Country Gardens says about it: This long-stemmed beauty has the darkest blue-purple flower spikes of any of the French hybrid types. It is also the most cold hardy French hybrid lavender cultivar. A heavy bloomer, the flowers have a strong lavender fragrance with a hint of camphor. The calyxes cling tightly to the flowering stems when dried, making ÂGrosso an excellent choice as an everlasting flower or for use in lavender crafts. Zones 5-10. 30" x 24-30" wide. If you deadhead fanatically, you can get a second flush of blooms on some varieties. I've only had Grosso (identified!) for a couple of years, so I don't know if that will work on this cultivar. Lady is very easy from seed, and can be grown as an annual, as it flowers the first year. Lavender really hates to be crowded - most of my garden is underplanted with common thyme and other assorted creepers, which I have to constantly hack back from the lavenders. If the lavs don't have enough space, they get a lot of die-back of the leaves along the lower branches - very unsightly. The pros will tell you to replace your plants every few years because they get woody and awkward. I happen to like that look so I usually just leave mine in place. They also can be propagated by softwood cuttings, but I haven't tried that yet.

I advise a variety of plants. Seems like every year what did well last year fails and some new thing grows like a weed. Tomatoes in particular seems to be unpredictable for me... sun sweet yellow one year, early girls the next, romas another. I don't even know what survived this year other then I have a dozen tomato plants doing well. I planted beefsteak, romas, early girl, and a variety mix called heirloom. Whatever I get will be far better tasting then store bought. I plant 99% from seed. About the first week of March give or take some I start planting indoors. Pepper plants need the most time and tomatoes use up some weeks. Most seeds are good for more then one year so keep extras in a cool dry place for next year. Seems most people I know buy plants from a greenhouse so perhaps I doing it wrong... but then I don't spend a small fortune just to plant my garden. Peas go directly in the ground as soon as the snow is gone and the frost is out of the ground. It does not matter if they get some snow on them... won't hurt a thing. Plant a row every other week. I let the weeds grow up around them and they climb the weed stalks for support. Seems to deter the deer as they can't go down the row munching everything level with the ground. Onions don't seem to mind the cold either and I have 3 nice rows that were planted in early May. I have a hole in my garden where I dump all my organic scraps. Anything that goes bad in the fridge along with clumps of cat hair, coffee grounds (paper filter included), egg shells, vegtable ends, peels, hairbrush debris, grease from the frying pan... anything organic. I keep a bucket in the house and dump it every couple days. Have to cover the dump with a shovel full of dirt or the wild animals will come in to feed... they love egg shells. Nature wastes nothing! A side benefit is that I get volunteer plants. Last year I plucked out three onion sprouts to replant and this year I have a huge potato plant that sprung up from a hole I filled and moved on from. Free plants is free plants and they obviously like the soil they are in. Another benefit is almost nothing in my garbage bag can rot so my garbage stays stink free. If you can get someone to plow up your garden spot even once it helps. Once the sod is broken working the ground is much easyier. Lots of local people spray the top with a herbicide called roundup that kills all the grass and weeds. It breaks down in a few days and your vegtables won't be affected. I don't use it because I'm organic as possible about everything. It does really help with keeping weeding to a minimal level. For my garden I have a cultivator attachment for my heavy duty garden tractor. Most garden attachments require a 3pt hitch on the tractor. Tillers are an expensive attachment... the one made for my tractor is over $2k!... and I have to install a pto kit that cost $800 to make it work. Chump change to people like me that make $14/hr. ; ) The cultivator was not bad... the dealer screwed up when I bought a tractor and after several weeks he finally dropped it off at my home free of charge (book value is about $350). A single bottom plow is about $400 as was my 5' back blade. After the inital ground preperation I do most of my work with a hoe, rake, and shovel. After cultivating the ground I give is a good rake job to gather up all the grass and weeds that were uprooted. No point in pulling a weed unless you remove it from the garden... grass in particular can simply reroot stronger then ever. I rake them into a pile which seems to kill them pretty good. A good workout and I see why some people use herbicide for that chore. For tomato plants I dig a hole a foot deep and refill it with a mixture of compost and regular soil. This leaves a depression around the plant which makes watering easy. Squash has been a huge winner and almost work free for me. Last year a butternut squash plant just appeared in my garden... almost took it out with my hoe. It was huge and I had more squash then I could eat. One squash laid on the ground all winter long and this spring I ran it over with the tractor and let the cultivator bury the pieces. That created a whole row of squash plants for me. Summer squash I plant on filled in garbage holes which makes them grow to a huge size... they must like coffee grounds and cat hair. Probably obvious that I am not a master gardener. I just plant stuff and go with what comes up and does well. Finally got some asparagus to take root. As another poster mentioned some things like fruit trees only need one successful planting for years of produce. Rhubarb and raspberries are fairly easy to plant and produce year after year. I have enough land that I take advantage of natural "gardens"... black raspberries, wild stawberries, mushrooms that just spring up. I pile brush to create a home for wild rabbits then hunt them when in season. No garden grown or store bought stawberry will ever have the concentrated tangy sweetness of those tiny little wild ones.... and they is free for the pickin. Gardening for me is not just vegtables but an exercise machine, a place to get a suntan, an eco-friendly garbage disposal, and a puzzle to figure out. Hope you have as much fun as I do! A fair warning that the flavor of fresh tomatoes and other vegtables is highly addictive and life will never be the same without them. A happy discovery from these gw forums is that pepper plants live forever. I potted my cayenne pepper plants last year and was looking at the bright red peppers just this morning. My stupid cats will eat the pepper plants and bite the fruit so I keep them in an old rabbit cage in front of double glass doors for protection. Pretty much a constant supply of fresh hot peppers... soon as I pluck the fruit new flowers appear.... must self pollinate as most turn into peppers. One of my non-organic exceptions is that I stick a miracle grow spike into my house plants every three months. : ) lyra