Don't throw in the trowel—there's still time to garden!

Here in my part of the world, the growing season is practically year-long...one of the great things about living in East Texas. No matter where you are, I think you'll find several new ideas to perk up your window boxes or container gardens for the Fall.

As usual COTTAGE LIVING MAGAZINE is an excellent source of ideas...many thanks.

Have a good one!

Fall Window Box, 3 Ways

Don't throw in the trowel—there's still time to garden.
These fiery fall container combos will last all season.
By Kate Karam

photography: Robbie Caponetto
A: Purple fountain grass (Pennisetum setaceum); B: variegated Japanese sedge (Carex morrowii 'Variegata'); C: florist mums; D: small white pumpkins 'Baby boo'; E: ornamental peppers

1. Playful

Tricked out for the season in combustible colors and a late-autumn harvest, this exuberant window box celebrates all that we love about fall—like the vivid colors and leafy textures. While it may require some boldness and a passion for abundance to pull off a planting like this, it was actually very easy—we found all the plants and supplies at our local home-improvement store's garden center. (By the way, this was the one that really got the neighbors talking.)

Tip: Mums rarely come tagged from a nursery or garden center with specific variety names; they usually are just listed as "florist mums." If you want to know which mum's which, check out kingsmums.com or yoder.com for color photos of dozens of named varieties.

photography: Robbie Caponetto
A: Ornamental cabbage 'Dynasty'; B: ivy (Hedera helix 'Glacier'); C: ornamental kale 'Kamone'; D: ornamental kale 'Peacock'; E: cascading mums

2. Elegant

We love the luxe, posh look of this box with its classic pairing of mums and ornamental cabbages. What keeps it from veering into cliché territory are the unusual cascading mums. To get the look, pack a window box with deep smoky purple ornamental cabbages and sparkling white ornamental kales, then intersperse them with rich magenta pompom chrysanthemums trained into a graceful cascade. Ice-tipped trailing ivy adds shimmer in the late afternoon light.

Tip: Cascading mums are no different than the mounded pots of mums you’re seeing at garden centers right now. The plants are simply trained to one stem when young then wired downward to achieve this particular effect.

photography: Robbie Caponetto
A: Black mondo grass (Ophiopogon planiscapus); B: small white pumpkins 'Snowball'; C: large white pumpkins 'Lumina'; D: bittersweet (cut branches)

3. Modern

Gleaming white 'Lumina' (large) and 'Snowball' (small) pumpkins spiked with shiny tufts of black-as-night mondo grass makes a simple combination that's all-hallows spooky but oh-so chic. In and around, we tucked fat clusters of blood-orange berries, which drip from branches of bittersweet vine (sold in bunches at florists). You can up the spook factor by hiding strands of mini lights between pumpkins.

Tip: Ivy can be potted up (before a killing frost in coldest regions, anytime in more temperate zones) and brought indoors for the winter.

WINDOW BOX PLANS

	Window box Plan Plans for the cottage swallowtail window box. Download the PDF plan

Build a Fire Pit

Having acquired our 11 acres just over one year ago, I am now looking forward to landscaping and fine tuning the garden and yard. Not only is this project a focal point for family gatherings, but it also provides heat on those chilly winter evenings.

I've had the idea in my head for some time now and have a stack of old Chicago bricks but needed the knowledge that I was on the right track.

A special thanks to our friends at Lowe's Creative Ideas for the instructions.

Have a good one!

===================================================================

Linger outside with friends and family on cool fall evenings.

Photography by Brian Francis | Styling by Jen Rotenstreich

Build a simple fire pit in a weekend and add ambience to your backyard. Find
inspiration here, and then follow our step-by-step guidelines to create your own cozy outdoor retreat, where your guests can enjoy nightly tall tales, ghost stories, or sing-alongs.

Skill level: Advanced

Rough cost estimate: $715*

Rough time estimate: 2 days

• wall block pavers (Olde Manor, #123429)
• red bricks (#10298)
• 5 bags of patio/paver base (#100166)

*Does not include applicable taxes, which vary by market, or the cost of tools.

Design for Comfort and Safety

• Set a few stones into the ground to serve as a flat surface for a side
  table. If desired, add additional pavers around the structure or to create a
  path leading to your home.
• Before you begin building, check your local codes regarding open fires and permits. Take care to site the firepit away from overhanging trees and shrubs, structures, and flammable materials.
• It’s best to dry stack the pavers because heat can melt adhesive or cause it to release fumes.
• Line the inside of your firepit with fire-rated material, such as fire-rated bricks.
• Follow basic fire safety rules. Children should always be supervised, and a water source needs to be easily accessible.

Use a whiskey-barrel planter to store firewood.

Basics for Building

1. Mark the dimensions on the ground with stakes and twine, creating a square. For easier building, adjust the dimensions to avoid splitting any pavers. Spray-paint over the twine, covering the grass. Remove the stakes and twine.

2. Use a shovel to dig out the square to a depth of 12 inches. Keep the site level.

3. Add several inches of paver base to the square, and tamp it down. Usin g a level, make sure the area is flat. (The paver base covers the entire floor of the firepit.)

4. Lay a perimeter of pavers level with the ground. For each course, check from paver to paver and from front to back to ensure that the structure is level. Alternate the gaps between pavers from one course to the next.














5. Line the interior walls with fire-rated bricks, smooth sides facing out. Complete one row before you add the next. Bricks need to fit tightly with no gaps; this will make a stable, uniform surface so that the pavers are not directly exposed to heat.

6. ENJOY!!

Fresh-Mex Recipes

Spice up summer's most gorgeous ingredients
Combine the season's perfect tomatoes, corn, squash and herbs with the freshest meat and seafood and give it all a bright south-of-the-border spin.

Ripe tomatoes, arugula, and drunken goat cheese get
a kick from chile-infused oil and baked tortilla chips.

Tomato & Drunken Goat Cheese Salad
Grilled Corn on the Cob with Lime-Cayenne Butter
Farmers' Market Quesadillas
Grilled Tuna with Mango Habanero Mojo
Web Exclusive: Coconut-Chile Shrimp Tostadas
Spicy-Smoky Pork Kebabs
Browse the entire collection

Our thanks to Fine Cooking Newsletter, Taunton Press

Great backyard project: Instant garden retreat

Don't know about you, but I'm always looking for creative inexpensive ideas for landscaping. Here are a few of my favorties from the folks at Sunset.

Have a good one...be careful in this heat!

Have a small patch of grass? This patio measures just 7 feet across. You can build it in a weekend for less than $200.

By Kathleen N. Brenzel, Sunset

Most patios take time — and days of effort — to build. But a small, detached patio like the one pictured here comes together quickly with minimal effort.

Think of the possible uses for this circle of bricks (see three ideas in this slide show). You can tuck it into a perennial border. Or place it in a remote corner of your garden, where you can linger at day's end over a glass of wine or on Sunday morning with a latte while perusing the papers.

Such flexibility was our goal when Sunset's Bud Stuckey installed this patio near the end of a wide flower border in our editorial test garden in Menlo Park, Calif., last summer. But we also wanted our tiny tuck-in to be relatively inexpensive to build, easy to install in a day or a weekend and moveable. (Since heavy foot traffic wouldn't be an issue, we set the bricks in sand.)

You wouldn't want to walk on this patio wearing spike heels. But if throwing fancy-dress garden parties is your style, set the bricks in mortar on a concrete base, or arrange them on packed soil so you can grow plants such as creeping thyme in wider spaces between them. (You can edge the patio with bricks set on end in a trench around the outside, soil packed firmly against them.)

If bricks don't match the other pavers in your yard, you can adapt the idea, substituting flagstone, slate, cobblestone or colored concrete pavers. In place of a round slate paver in the center, you can use a concrete paver embellished with broken glazed tiles in pretty colors.
Locate your patio on level ground, out of wind and hot sun. Position it to take advantage of any grand views and create access to it with steppingstones. Then comes the fun part: styling your patio. Oh, and settling in with a tall glass of something cool to celebrate its completion.

Build it yourself: Installing the instant patio

Time: 1 day (plus a day for planting)

Cost: About $190

Materials: Two 7-foot-long two-by-fours, two 1-foot-long stakes with pointed tips, string, gypsum, 12 1-cubic-foot bags (about a half-yard) of clean sand, one round slate or flagstone paver (about 17 inches in diameter; add two or more for steppingstones — optional), and 150 used bricks (includes a few extras for color matching). Optional: One 80-pound bag Quikcrete mortar mix, one quart mortar color

Tools: Rotary tiller or spade, rake, carpenter's level, tamper, hose, rubber mallet, bench broom. Optional: Bucket for mixing mortar, grout bag, trowel, rag, burlap

Begin: 8 a.m.

1. Rototill or dig the soil; rake it smooth. Lay the two-by-fours about seven feet apart to serve as temporary guides. Place a stake in the soil to mark the patio's center; tie a 3 1/2-foot-long piece of string to it, then tie the string's free end to the second stake. With the free stake, trace the patio's outline in the soil, pulling the string taut as you walk in a wide circle around the center stake. Remove the stakes and mark the circle with gypsum. Remove the two-by-fours from the sides; then place the carpenter's level on one of them to make sure soil is level. (Recheck level at every stage.)

2. Pour six bags of sand evenly over the soil to about five inches beyond the gypsum mark. Smooth it with the edge of one of the two-by-fours, then tamp it evenly to firm. Spray with a fine mist from the hose, then tamp it again into a layer about two inches thick.

3. Place the center paver on the sand base. Working from the center outward, set down the bricks (use the pattern on your left), tapping them into place with the mallet and butting them together as tightly as possible. Spread three bags of sand evenly over the surface of the finished paving, let it dry if wet, then sweep the sand into the joints between bricks. Mist lightly with the hose. Add sand until joints are full.

4. To mortar the center paver in place (optional, but recommended), mix the mortar and add color, if desired, according to package directions. Using a grout bag, apply the mixture between the bricks immediately surrounding the center paver (use a trowel tip to smooth it if necessary). Allow it to dry; wipe away excess with a clean, soft rag. For extra firming (also optional), mix one part mortar with one part sand, then brush the mixture into joints between the outer bricks. Carefully sweep excess mortar off the bricks. Mist periodically over the next two hours. Scrub bricks with burlap to eliminate any mortar stains.

5. Pour the remaining sand around the patio's perimeter; mist it with the hose and pack it firmly with your hands or the back of the trowel.

End: 5 p.m.

Finished! Planting can wait until tomorrow. To help reinforce the patio's edge, lay sod or plant low-growing ground cover as close to it as possible.

More from Sunset.com

5 circular patios. Plus: free planting plan
Photo gallery: 184 great outdoor rooms
Easy style: landscaping with gravel

DRILL HERE, DRILL NOW, PAY LESS

Howdy Ya'll!

This morning our Congressman, Louie Gohmert, (R) Texas, made an appearance on our local television stations to address the high gas prices and oil dependency issues. He endorsed AMERICAN SOLUTIONS http://www.americansolutions.com as a source for all of us to become aware of the situation at hand and take action.

Their program 'DRILL HERE, DRILL NOW, PAY LESS' has a petition to sign (which is free.) You may of course make a $10.00 contribution if you wish but is not required. You may also sign up for an email newsletter for updates.

It might be worth your while to take a look, so I'm passing it along.



AMERICAN SOLUTIONS basically says:

'As gas prices continue to increase, Congress continues to blame others while ignoring practical steps to stop the pain Americans are feeling at the pump. To lower gasoline prices and reduce our dependence on foreign oil, we need real solutions to our energy challenges.'

Background

• The average price for a gallon of gas is now $3.72, this is $.61 higher than a year ago.
  
  
• The U.S. Congress has acted, but in the wrong direction. Last week, the Senate voted narrowly against reversing a moratorium on oil-shale development.
  
  
• Federal officials and industry experts estimate that up to 1.8 trillion barrels of oil is trapped in the region's oil shale, or three times the proven reserves of Saudi Arabia.
  
  
• Laws and policies that restrict access to America’s abundant energy drive up the price of fuel and electricity. They cause widespread layoffs and leave workers and families struggling to survive, as the cost of everything they eat, drive, wear and do spirals higher.

Research from the Platform of the American People

73% of the American people agree that with appropriate safeguards to protect the environment, we should drill for oil off America's coasts to reduce our dependence on foreign oil. Read more tri-partisan solutions in the Platform of the American People: Energy and the Environment Oil and National Security Overview of the research data

ENOUGH SAID!!