lass, My secret is that I tell everyone that I leave the dead heads on the plants for the birds and for seed collecting for next year. The birds actually do enjoy it, but I have a shoe box full of old seed and have never successfully planted any of it. Bev, I'm old and our parents always were conservationists, burying all the kitchen scraps and yard stuff in the gardens. Whar veggies and flowers - Wow! kitten, I know about the "sleep, creep and leap" trilogy, but can never really believe my hostas will begin to be as large as they say. Need to start moving some, ugh! gramma jan

Gurley, your gardens look so lush! What variety of zucc/squash do you grow? Wondering if there is a variety that doesn't get large, for my small potager? Wish we had a Squash Fairy here. It is such a pleasure having a potager cottage garden with aromatic edibles at ones fingertips, isn't it!. A feast for the senses as well as the stomach! Wish I had started potager gardening years ago... As far as recipes go, well, I've been collecting them since I was a little girl. My late father started me on this hobby. He enjoyed fine foods; we clipped gourmet recipes from Life Magazine (if I remember the title of the publication correctly). But he would rather take the family out for a gourmet dinner than cook one, lol. He was a wonderful baker (and so was my German grandmother---Mom was a pretty good cook, but little baking for her). I was often underfoot in the kitchen and learned alot especially of the 'old ways'. Potager type recipes in my collection include Zucchini Crescent Pie, Zucchini Gremolata, & Chocolate Zucchini Cake. There are also recipes for Lavender Lemonade, Rose Geranium Bread, Strawberry Bread, etc. The list goes on and on. Hope you take a gander at my collection. Here is the link (I've posted this link once before, so hope you don't mind me posting it again): Here is a link that might be useful: Becky's recipes ('Recipezaar' link)

pelicanhead, I love seeing pictures of other people's gardens, too! Thanks for posting "full garden view" photos and giving us a glimpse into your garden paradise. I really like that you have designed so distinctive garden rooms! Everything looks great. Your front yard is especially appealing to me. I like the clipped green shrubs as a backdrop for the roses quite a bit. What kind of shrubs are they?

Penny! What do you mean not really???? a Garden Secret? And a bunch at that. I think those are truly Great Ideas that I would never have thought of and I'm sure there's others out there like me. Between you and gottagarden I'm going to have to go on a tomato cage expedition this spring when the house and garden cleaner's get busy. I really like the bird one the best. I started a small Butterfly Garden last year and I'm going to use your Secret and put it to use for an above ground sand and mud drink and licking post for those little beauties even though I'll have clean and check on the wetness more often. Now if I can only remember. I have "What was I here for syndrom" and there doesn't seem to be a pill for that. Jim