You can butcher during cold weather - but you better have some where warm to do it in - you will get mighty cold outside especially if you have alot to do - i was in a heated barn, that is after I killed them (humanely), bled them, dipped them and put them in the feather plucker - this was done all outside.... until heat went out and had to quit and bring the rest home to finish in my kitchen. You will be cleaning with cold water and your butchered hens will have to be in a cold ice water bath - you will be fishing out the hens one at a time and your hands get cold fast. A few threads above I listed a site that I found that has great information on how to butcher a chicken and has step by step directions with great pictures. I am by no means an expert - but I can say from personal experience after butchering 26 chickens outside I thought I would never get warm!!! No question is silly - ask away that is how all of us here on the forum learn - we learn from each other, if I had to do it over again I would do what mxbarbie said and wait until warmer weather Nelda

The first thing that I would do is put a nice sharp edge on the bed along the grass side. A good edge makes a bed look neat and carefully planned. Next, I would seriously think about edging the whole bed with a low hedge. It's a box - play that up. As the hedge grows and fills in it also covers/hides/detracts attention from a lot of problems. Since height is the basic issue, I would use a perennial that can be sheared, something like Santolina, Teucrium, Germander, Iberis (Candytuft), or Aurinia (Basket of Gold). I have had good luck in my zone 5 garden with Santolina (only marginally hardy for me) on the outside edges of raised beds with the corners done in Candytuft and Aurinia. If your garden conditions are right, short sedums might be an inexpensive edging/hedging choice, since almost any stem would root for you and shearing would not be necessary. You could check out ones like the blue/grey Sedum sieboldii (6-12in), reddish Vera Jamison (1 foot, but sometimes flops open), or the warm yellow variegated Sedum alboroseum Mediovariegatum (listed as a 2 footer, but only growing about a foot in my clay, forms a nice rounded upright plant for me). There are lots of taller sedums, but my Autumn Joys and the newer Maestro (a sport of Matrona) get really tall in good garden soil. Also, it's just a guess, but I think that a shorter edge will make the other plants look taller than they are, somewhat hiding your height restriction problem. This sedum idea really depends on how much you like sedum and how much sedum you like. You might try mixing and matching some of the shearing plants up with some sedums at your local nursery and see if you get a combo you like, then using the sedums in shorter runs or for structural impact in certain areas. I would stick with just a few types of edging plants to make the area more unified. If you wanted to, expecially since it's a large area, you could also divide the inside of your garden into sections or shapes. Lots of Parterre ideas are available online and in books. Remember though, that even relatively informal hedges, such as I have suggested, are WORK. You could start with a perennial hedge on just the grass side towards the center and see if you like the effect, before spending a lot of time, effort and money on the idea. You can then divide or take cuttings from you existing plants and spread them across and down the sides over several seasons. Also you could easily incorporate the Dianthus that you mentioned into this garden. They are nice low plants that like good drainage. I am especially fond of the Chedder Pinks like Firewitch which form dense mats of bluish foliage. There are lots of other varieties, but the matting forms (versus the grassy ones) also plays into that guess/idea of mine that you need layers. A caution though - keep the Dianthus away from your grass - I have a really bad infestation of grass in some of mine along my grass path, which I just can't seem to eliminate. In fact I would keep your entire edging/hedging planting at least a foot away from the grass edge and keep that area heavily mulched. Some of the sedum groundcover ones such as Dragon's Blood or Angelina are pretty short( 4-6 inches), very colorful in bloom, and spread easily. They could be used to carpet the interior of the bed, lessening the too much mulch look. Another possibility are Thymes. I'm especially fond of wooly thyme, a very low blue-green mat forming thyme. This can take some moderate amount of stepping on which might be nice along a driveway. Lots of other steppables out there in the marketplace, even one using the term as a brandname. When I want to plant a larger-growing new plant in my garden I do not hesitate to simply dig a somewhat larger than usual hole (to give the new plant some breathing room)in the middle of my thyme or tear out a bunch of Dragon's Blood sedum and plant directly into these groundcovers. The removed bits can be patted into the ground somewhere else and usually take well with no extra care. A good edge and some strategically placed pots of creepers might give your garden a finished look and play well with your hot color scheme.

Most of the time I wake up before my 5:30 AM alarm goes off. Up, turn on the TV, and the computer, get dressed, read email and the paper online while eating breakfast. Then, peek in here at the KT, and on facebook, and get ready to go to work. If I ride my bike I leave the house 15 minutes earlier than if I drive. I work till 1:30 PM officially, but most times don't get out till after 2:00 I return to my bed after the 10:00 PM news and start the whole fun scenario again. :) Moni

Hi everyone!! Not sure how many of you are still following this post that commented, but wanted to let you all know that I have officially paid off all of my student loan debt!!! Woo-hoo!!! I took advantage of the 0% interest and became really aggressive with getting down the balance. I’m in limbo with buying a home because of this terrible market for buyers, so I’ve decided to continue to hold off until the market starts to settle and just continue to put money in savings. Also, I’ve been in Atlanta for more than 10years and I’m not sure if this is where I want to purchase a home. I’m going to take some time to sort that out. My dream has always been to experience living some where in Southern California but sigh — cost of living. Anyways, just wanted to let you all know I crossed that major milestone!!!