Make a Garden Plan online that you can PRINT and SAVE!!

I got tired of my print shop, it's just NOT conducive to making garden plans...so I went in search of FREE programs to work with.  First, I found Better Homes and Gardens' FREE garden planning program, complete with structures, plants, paths, trellises and such that you can click on and add to your garden.  The only problem I had was that it doesn't work for larger gardens (my current garden is 21'X21'), but it is PERfect for patio gardens, small planter gardens, or if you're just wanting to plan a patio area.

Houseplanz.com lists several types of software that you can order for FREE, you just pay shipping and handling.  That's great if you're someone who's not quite ready to start planning yet, but will be in a month or so, by the time you get it in the mail....but I want something NOW!  So they had a FREE TRIAL download version of a CAD program called Smart Draw VP (you'll find that download button at the top of their list of FREE programs on their link.  I've just downloaded this program and am excited to try it out!! I'll let you guys know what my 'review' of it is and if it is indeed the type of program that I'm looking for.  It's a 7 DAY program, so if I like it, I will get it (depending on the price, that is, lol)...this program ended up NOT being for me.  It was detailed, but not enough for me, and frankly, it wasn't easy for me manipulate...I just wasn't gettin' it.  So, I continue to search for THE pefect CAD program for me for this...ughhhh!

Download.com has one that's a 15 day trial, with watermarks on all printouts.  Frankly, I want one that's there, to keep, on my 'puter, that I can go and update each season as I add, remove, change things in my garden.  So now, I'm in search for one that's a free download w/no trial removal dates...IF that's possible, but hey, it's internet land, there's BOUND to be one out there, right?

OK, I found a page that has SEVERAL types of FREE garden design programs listed, including 3D!  it's DIY Home Design Software.  The list w/links is toward the bottom.  ughhhh, but alas, I don't like any of them...still on the prowl.

It's important to note that, as you can tell from my above commentary on the subect, not every program will work for you and your plans.  Someone with a smaller garden may find that Better Homes and Gardens' version is perfect for them.  But others, like myself, my need a program that's more detailed, and will allow me to expand upon my garden, that will allow for the garden to be larger, etc.

A plan for a stone paver patio by the garden...

Last year, we had a neighbor that (not the hateful one, lol) decided to move out of state, they're since going to move back, but prior to leaving, they gave me their iron and glass top patio table.  These are so nice to have, to sit out with a glass of lemonade or wine and just enjoy the outdoors.  We already have one of the tall glass top bar height tables on the back deck, so it got me thinking.  Right now, we have it sitting at the side of the house.  I think there's a new plan a-brewing in my head.  It will require some leveling of some grassy land (not much), putting a hedge-fence up in front of the compost bin (needs to be done anyway), and laying some pavers down, filling in the pace w/some sand...and viola!  a patio at the edge of the garden will be born!  right next to my rose hedge (divine!!), and YES, by bestie got me a fire pit for Christmas, so that will be the PERfect spot for it!!  I'll be drawing up the new plans for it in the coming weeks and will post it for all to see...by having it in those types of plans, somehow it makes it seem like it's more likely to come to fruition, ya know what I mean? 

You can find the below photos at Houzz.com

Isn't THESE garden patios be lovely?  I could SO pull this off if I had a pergola...which I could SO pull THAT off, as well, lol

eclectic patio design

traditional patio design by media and blogs Aiken House & Gardens

If you're in the mood to check out some garden, patio, pathway, and more designs and ideas, check some out here.  Their projects are super easy to follow and understand.  Get inspired and DO something to your yard this year.  If you don't have a yard, redecorate your entry way or balcony...do SOMEthing new this year!!

See how easy it is to transform a simple balcony?  Do it the thrifty way and start shopping now at thrift stores and Goodwills and such, you could SO do it on the cheap.  Plus, do it with stuff you already have!

traditional patio design by new york architect DiGuiseppe Architect

eclectic patio design by london interior designer Celia James

What about your screened-in porch, patio, carport, etc.?  If you don't have a patio, but one of those instead, try something new with that, as well.

traditional patio design by other metros Witt Construction

the KEY is to make the space YOURs...because that's what it is!!

traditional patio design by portland landscape architect Micah Dennis

and then don't forget about YOUR garden!!!
We have a hillside in our far backyard that is ALways wet and soggy in the summer...it makes it very difficult for the hubs to maneuver his yard tractor.  The grass that gets cut comes up in huge soggy clumps...so I had the bright idea a few years ago of a dry (not-so-much) creek bed to run down the hill.  We've yet to do it, but the pic below would be wonderful to have.

traditional landscape design by seattle landscape architect Exteriorscapes llc

eclectic exterior design by los angeles media and blogs Lisa Borgnes Giramonti

LOOOK at this WONderful veggie and herb garden!! it's BEAUtiful!!!

contemporary landscape design by portland landscape architect Micah Dennis

No yard?  no optimal growing conditions?  no time to take care of a garden?  whatever the reason, how about trying a ROCK garden!

landscape design by new york general contractor Design To Live LLC

(can you tell I'm totally addicted to Houzz.com's photo galleries, lol)

So, it's January...if you're a gardener, then you know what THAT means!

(2010's garden plan)

Time for seed catalogs!  They've been coming in, along with Herb catalogs...my FAVE!  It also means time to start planning my garden.  I've been 'promised' 4 new raised beds this year with the fence to be expanded around it...we'll see if this so-called 'promise' actually takes place or if it was just a pseudo promise, lol...it took me 4 years to get this garden built, lol it's liable to take 4 more years to get it added on to.  But anyhoo, lots of work to do for the garden:

• get rid of the grass in the walkways,
• carpet roll the walkways and put woodchips on it (tired of having to beg to get it mowed! ugh!)
• build the lattice tee pees for the mator plants
• decide where to plant what for the rotation
• get basil seeds sowed in cups (and remember to tend to them, lol)

The peppers didn't do well this year.  I planted them at the end of the tomato bed...between the tomatoes, of course, I planted my basil.  ya'll, this is THE best fix for no bugs in your garden...BASIL!  ANY kind of basil.  I had NO bugs, literally NO bugs, NO fugly lil worms, no yucky crawly things (other than bunnies), in my garden beds at all this year and I praise the BASIL for that!  So, no more pepper plants in the mator beds.  We grew melons, but they weren't all that tasty, so I dunno if I'll do any this year.  The cucumbers were glorious.  I used upturned tomato cages for them to climb that really helped alot by keeping them off the ground....they'd grow up, then drape down over the top fo the cage, and THEN it would spread across the ground, so it kept most of the cuke plant off the ground and out fo the walkways.  I need to start working on my garden chart to get all this figured out.

A NEW year...a NEW beginning...or is it?

You know what the bad thing about New Year's Resolutions is????  it's something you're suppose to commit to, supposedly by your mind, body, and soul.  Who can do this?  it's a very difficult thing to do.  I try not to do it...I avoid these types of commitments, because I always tend to disappoint those commitments, lol. 

Christmas was a whirlwind...very very busy, and almost NONE of it was for numero-uno!  I think I'm just going to stop cold turkey...conforming, that is.  Conforming is not always the best solution, ya know.  I want my cats to commit to using a new litter box, in a new location, with a new type of litter, that will inevitably turn into then conforming to use the TOILET instead of a litter box, lol...oh, it WILL happen.  I'm tired of conforming to the cat's whims that include scooping and flushing and sweeping up THEIR messes...it's time that THEY conform to MY standards.  Standards...it's a very broad term, don't ya think?  I mean...each person has their own standards.  Each living thing, including plants, have their own standards.  I had a tomato plant that was to produce yellow fruit this year...I planted it along with all the other types of tomatos I'd gotten...that plant refused to conform...it did NOT bear any fruit.  Conformists...highly over rated at times...extremely under rated, as well.  I want to be one of those that stays in the middle...I don't mind being 'on the fence' on most things...there's nothing wrong with that usually.  I'm not a Democrat...I'm actually not even a Republican...I'm 'on the fence' on most issues that regard politics, but I know which side I'm on when it comes to life issues.

ok, enough for my soap box...I have issues, lol....

wanna see some decor pics of my home this season???? here's a few:

Just LOOK at these GORGemous huge vintage ball oranments!!!

Check out the beautimous vintage ornaments that I picked up at one of my favorite thiftin' stops for less than $5 for alllllllllllllllllll of them!  and they're huge.  The round ornaments are actually 3 different sizes...as you can see in one of the bottom pics, there's a small red glittered bulb in the box with 5 other more larger ornaments, that lil red one is the smalles one and it's 3", which is 6" around!  the others are much larger!  There's one broken, and nope, it wasn't broken when she packed it in the bag, but she was just a teenager so it wasn't packed very well anyway, dangit! and it was PINK too...don't they know that my Christmas theme is PINK this year?  ughhh!  The boxes of ball ornaments were only, get this, $1.01 each per box.  The vintage orange bells, yes, they're a bit gaudy, but they're vintage, AND they were only 60 cents! 

THEN, at the same store, I picked this vintage enamelware pan up for $2.53 (weird numbers, I know, lol). 

darn...thought I'd uploaded those...I'll get'em uploaded and show you the 'end result' which is TO die for, love love love it, adorable...I'll keep you guessing until then, lol.

It is officially time for the Christmas decorating to commence!

My first Christmas tree of the season...pink!  can you see the ribbon candy ornaments?  In an earlier post, I showed some ribbon candy ornaments made out of striped grograine ribbon...I made these out of  2 different colored ribbons, one spool of white and one spool of pink.  I cut their lengths and folded them at the same time so one side is pink and the other is white.  Then I ran the doubled thread through the center with a small crystal on the bottom, tied it off w/a small round crystal bead at the top and hung a filigreed ornament hanger from the thread...and viola, done.  I've tweaked the tree since this pic was taken, I put 3 pink ostrich feathers in the top and some tiny floral crystaline picks in the branches...adorable, I think...and of course, I just HAD to put my faux goodies with it.   Today I prepared about 17-20 floral picks from a bunch of cream roses and pink poinsettias that I got for super cheap at a thrift store...I plan to use them on the staircase bannister's garland.  I usually put shatterproof balls, but think I'm going a different route this year.  I post pics when I get it done.

Time to Decorate for Christmas! YAAAAAAAAYS!

Thankfully, it's that time of year again...time to decorate for Christmas.  It's true, Christmas is MY favorite holiday season...it's not just a day (that's the day we celebrate the birth of Christ our Savior and all that HE has done for US), but the entire season, where I get to enjoy anything and everything about the not-necessarily-religious-side of Christmas...santa, tree, shiny balls (get your mind out of the gutter, lol), garland w/lots of flowers on it.  And of course, with all this stuff coming out, lots of stuff has to go back in, which means, I have to pack non-Seasonal things away, to prepare for the Seasonal things to come out.  And that's where I'm at at the moment...looking around knowing I need to get off my bootie and pack stuff so that the hubs can start bringing in tubs this weekend.  Yesterday, I left for PT in the morning and noticed that the elderly gentleman that lives across the road (the NICE one) had put up his Christmas wreathe (his daughter did, that is) and his big red ribbon on the bannister...I jumped in glee.  When I got home in the evening, I could see twinkling lights in their front window and I jumped in glee again, w/giggles and clapping my hands...she'd put up the TREE!!!  YAYS!!!  this means that SOMEONE has beat me to it, ugh...and I really need to get off my bum and get to it...so that's what I'm doing this weekend, decorations galore.  Which means, I have a few crafts that I have to do like ASAP.  First, I have some non-vintage bottle brush trees that I've decided to spray paint pink and sprinkle a lil mica on them.  Second, I have some pinecones I've decided to spray paint pink and sprinkle a little clear glass glitter on them.  Third, what's third? crap, see? I've already forgotten yet aNOTHer thing I need to do...I'll remember later, no worries.  Ok, I was on frequency after having another spinal shot on Wednesday and was flipping through St. Louis Home mag. Christmas and got some pretty cool ideas...these are pics of how I usually decorate.  I have a tall tree...it's 10 1/2" tall, but my ceilings in this house are standard which means I have to remove the top part to lower it to 8", so I don't put an angel or star on top because every one I've found are too small and get lost in the scope of the tree.  So I put big bows and use berry sprigs and quail feathers out the top, like this photo:

yes, I took a pic of the pic in a mag, lol

anyhoo, this is what I do.  and then I saw the bannister pic, which yet antoehr thing that I do, even tho my stairway bannister is only like 3" of an area to decorate before it leads into a wall, blah, it's not quite as GRAND as these pics, lol, but aren't they lovely?  I do, however, have a bannistered wrap-around porch that runs the length of the front of my house and I always swag greenery around it (I'll post pics when I do this for all to see and enjoy) and put huge bows and shiny balls on it, along w/white twinkle lights.

 



aren't they pretty? and yes, again, these are pics of pics from sitting in my chair at pt, lol...but I didn't want to buy the mag just to show ya'll the ideas of what I do, sorry StL Home mag,

Isn't the big Snow Santa beautiful?  I don't think I'd sprinkle all that faux snow all over the floor just to get the effect, tho...especially since (you can't see it in this pic) the floor is shiny, white marble, ughh...can you imagin the cleanup and mess of that?  my cats would have that strewn all over the house to where I'd be vacuuming the entire month of January w/out taking a breath, blah.

And I LOVE this pic of the tree...I love all the shiny balls and baubles...and can you see the fairies hanging from it?  They've taken metal wire sticks and bent them a bit, attached them to the tree trunk and hung the fairy from the rounded end to make it look like they're flying around it, decorating it...too cute.  Wouldn't quite go over well in my house, not enough room, but if I had a grand large room like this, I would probably try that out.  The ribbon...I love putting large ribbon as garland on my tree, as well as fluffy maraboo in pink and white, to make it look like snow.

but this pic, is from me...it's the very first Christmas decoration in my home, my dining room to be exact...sitting w/faux hot cocoa, atop an antique rusty, chippy enamel plate w/pink baubles and drops.  The Merry Christmas ornament was only a buck at Walmart, they have them in like 6 different colors, but I liked the red.  Do you have pics of your ideas or home decorating that you'd like to share?  we'd love to see them, forward them or post them in a comment to share it with us.