November!

Hello Friends-

Here we are in the midst of November, a period in Portland characterized by strong winds, heavy rain and chilly air. Although I am dissuaded by the lack of proper gardening weather, I am not completely dismayed-- as I know it is not Winter yet! Other than the obvious absence of snow, there are still roses, dahlias, and nicotiana blooming in the garden, and we still receive the periodic visit from finches and hummingbirds!

On the home improvement front, we are installing raised vegetable beds to place in the front yard in an attempt to eliminate all of our lawn. We plan on arranging these beds in a diamond shape to offset the monotony of our very rectangular floor plan and to provide visual interest to the front yard. These garden beds will be bordered with cool weather annuals such as lettuce, spinach, kale, and violas-which are all edible and heavily used in our kitchen! In the center of each bed, I will plant tulips. We've already begun measuring and now all that is left to do is to purchase the wood and pray for a dry day for installation.

The Tiny Green Cottage wishes to credit P.Allen Smith for this front yard raised bed inspiration and to link to his website which provides helpful advice to anyone else interested in building raised beds.

Happy November!