Bits of This and That #4

This week has been all about tying up the loose ends before winter arrives. Planting the last of my bulbs in wide ribbons throughout the garden beds. The early bloomers that provide a lovely bit of colour when the snow melts in spring, like grape hyacinths, squill, and crocuses.

To make a bigger splash, toss them into the trench or onto the garden bed and plant them in masses just like they land. If you have a long fall, you may see the leaves coming up shortly after you plant them, this is totally normal, do not worry about it. They are super hardy!

To plant up pots... Layer the bulbs in the pots. Put them really close together for bigger impact, but not so they are touching. Remember to buy bulbs that bloom at the same time for biggest impact. The bag will tell you if they are early, mid, or late spring bloomers.

in a cold (my Zone 3) winter area, you want to bury the pots to keep the bulbs from turning to mush in the spring, when they freeze and thaw. Dig them in, mulch them up, dig them up in spring and add some pansies or violas.

In a zone 7, like this washtub I planted up when I lived on the island, you just plant it up and leave it outside. If it is in a ceramic pot, you want to put it under cover from the rains so that the pot does not crack. You can add the pansies and all, in the fall. It will look spectacular in spring.

We are also doing the last of fall clean up and filling those deep raised beds. More on that next week though as I still have to go pick up the straw this weekend as they say winter is coming on Monday. Eek! We still have leaves on the trees, they have still not all fallen so hopefully we get a warm spell later to rake them all onto the garden beds.

I have some really fun links for you all this weekend. I love these Sunday posts so much.

Garden Related Links

Here are some pretty bulb planting pictures. Just because I love these pictures of her 'koloni' garden.

Here is a fantastic how-to for making your raised beds into cold frames! So easy and handy, you don't need a greenhouse : )

Or, if you have a wall you can use, build this lean-to greenhouse. Relatively easy and cost-effective.

Home Related

Here are a bunch of super cute diy's. I was just going to share that cute white cabinet made from a wooden box but then noticed several others that I thought were pretty cute, too, so here is the whole list... Budget Friendly DIY Projects for all Skill Levels - Knick of Time

My living room

We have company coming next week so I found this article about making company feel welcome, very helpful. One of the ideas is to have different stations. The main floor of my new house is smaller than the last one, by quite a bit, so making stations/zones is going to be key to making things go smoothly.

How do you all feel about mood boards? Do you make them when you are planning changes to a room or to your yard? Here are a bunch of them for different rooms and spaces. I love looking at people's mood boards but have never made one! Is that crazy or what? I do have a couple of pinboards though, real ones that is, in addition to my Pinterest boards. On them I put pretty pics from magazines that I like to see in my office every day, or that I want to remember so that I can implement them at a later date. One is for my gardens and yard, the other for sewing and crafting.

Check out this lovely old house with lots of colour, feels so homey. You know what I noticed right away that made me think, this is really a home rather than a showplace? Books. Books everywhere. Love that. A renovated Arts & Crafts home (desiretoinspire.net)

How do you all feel about corner cabinets in the kitchen? I have a very tiny kitchen but I also just cannot with those corners so I told the designer that I would rather have dead space than any kind of pullout, no matter how nifty. Here are some ideas for those corners if you are struggling with yours or making a change. I really like the shelving idea, open storage. What do you think? Foolproof Storage Solutions for Corner Kitchen Cabinets (houzz.com)

How real does this faux marble look, eh?

Did you all like the cute cottages from last weekend? The Swedish cottages that were not in Sweden? I love looking at them and wish they were near me, hah. Here is round 2, a few more cute cottages. Love that dark blue one!

One more house to show you. Check out the pantry in this gorgeous house! Charming Modern Transitional Home Tour - shabbyfufu.com

Christmas & Yuletide Related

Are you thinking holidays yet? I have not been, in fact, I have been thinking UGH about the holidays popping up in the feed already.... but suddenly a few fun things, like THIS popped up. I suppose some things take time to make so a bit of prep and early ideas are to be expected. Anyway, this one is so cute that I had to share it with you! If you want to make one of these wreaths, just pin the post for later, for whenever you are ready to think yuletide crafting.

I am, however, going to start baking in November, to get a head start on the crazy and have goodies on hand for guests and grandbabies. These cookies look really yummy, and the gifting idea is a good one.

This lemon almond biscotti sounds amazing. I will be adding this to my Christmas 'cookie' list.

Forcing paperwhites. Now is the time. If you see them at your grocers, box store, or garden center, pick them up and get them going so they are in bloom for the holidays

I am going to admit that I am not big on Christmas. For several reasons, but one thing is that I do not like a lot of colour in my home, especially red and green ; ) Here is a holiday home that I like. Understated and simple, organic looking, and white, haha, very, very white, which is my favourite colour of all.

Last but not least is this article about how to hide your shed or make it blend into your landscape nicely. I just really loved this shed they used. I would not want to hide that one!

Happy Gardening and Have a Great Week! ~ Tanja