Happy fall y’all! As mentioned last year in my post Gobbling up Thanksgiving, fall is my favorite season!

This year I am getting a jump on spring by doing a bit of landscaping. My inspiration is a cottage garden. I’ve been wanting a cottage garden since I first saw one as a young girl. I’ve always wanted a garden full of color and life! I plan on tucking away little treasures to be found within the garden as well as laying down a flagstone path that will wind through our front yard. I’m sure you will be able to find a few of the faerie folk living within my garden!

Last weekend we started our landscaping by putting up an arbor, featured in the Trulock & Park wedding. It will now permanently grace our front yard! Next week star jasmine and clematis will be arriving to adorn the newly installed arbor. The two plants make wonderful companion plants and do well in my zone. Next in is a beautiful border of french lavender. We planted 20 young plants around the edge of our front yard just yesterday! No cottage garden is complete without lavender! I plan on harvesting the flowers and distilling them into a hydrosol or drying the lavender for use in cooking and crafts. Within the borders of our front yard I plan on planting a variety of herbs and flowers to use medicinally and for cooking. I invested in a variety of seeds from Baker Creek Heirloom Seeds this past spring that I will be planting in the front yard this fall and next spring.

One of the challenges I had to plan for is our harsh desert climate. Our summers have temperatures above 110°, high winds, and very little rain. All of the plants that I’m planting are drought and heat tolerant. We also have very mild winters, making the fall a second growing season for cool weather crops.

Although, you do not need to live in a warmer climate to take advantage of fall planting. Many spring flowering bulbs must be planted in the fall. Some vegetables do well being “over wintered”, like carrots or turnips. Many types of lettuce and cabbage thrive in the cooler weather. Ornamental vegetables like cabbage and kale make a very showy display with their deep green, creamy white, and even purple and pink leaves they make quite the statement.  You can even find some really stunning and unique bouquets featuring these cruciferous veggies!

So, what does fall have in store for you? I hope you are all enjoying the cooler temperatures, I know I am!