Planning My Cottage Garden at Hidden Bluff

January 5, 2022. Our previous two homes both had lovely cottage gardens. They took a good bit of time, money, and effort, but the results far outweighed the costs. Cottage gardens take a few years to really get going. Admittedly, I have always gardened like most people garden- planting what I liked where I liked and moving it if it didn’t work. However, with a lot more experience under my belt there are going to be some changes this year. Hidden Bluff is what I refer to as our “grown up house” because the kids are grown up and we can have grown up decor. It is here that my gardening is taking it up a few notches. To clarify, this year the garden will be planned. And when I say planned, I mean planned. So, what does planning a cottage garden at Hidden Bluff look like? Keep reading.

Planning My Cottage Garden at Hidden Bluff

What Type of Garden Do You Want?

The first thing to do is get a vision. What type of garden do you lean towards because there are lots of different types? Of course, our choice of garden style is always a cottage garden because it includes three different garden types we love: flower, herb, and vegetables. The romantic-style cottage garden is a loosely defined mix of these three types. They are rather a jumble of lovely things in one place that works. Cottage gardens are friendly gardens!

Herb gardens are long been a hobby of mine and this year a medicinal section is going to be added along with the commonly known favorites such as lavender and rosemary. Lesser known medicinal herbs such as Marshmallow, plantain, hyssop, burdock, anise, etc. are going into the mix. Many herbs are shade tolerant which is nice for partial shade gardening. They are also important to the essence of the cottage garden. There is nothing that says “English countryside living” quite like growing and drying your own chamomile (learn to do this here) or mint teas.

With the benefit of a full sun area at Hidden Bluff the vegetable garden is getting a boost. So, pumpkins and corn are on the seed order! One thing I love about growing vegetables is the heirloom varieties. There are so many beautiful and colorful veggies such as Carnival Carrots, Burgundy Broccoli, Dazzling Blue Kale, and more! My favorite seed place in Botanical Interests because they carry such a large variety of heirloom seeds.

Flower gardens are a lifelong passion for me. Usually, I just buy what looks good at the nursery. However, for the first time ever I am researching and choosing flowers ahead of time in order to plant a cutting garden. Bouquet arranging is something I would like to dabble in more and growing my own flowers is much cheaper. So, I have been carefully looking through my flower arranging books and making a list.

Determine Your Sunny Areas

The first thing I was doing when we moved in was keeping an eye on the sun patterns in our yard. It was during the heart of summer, so it gave me a good idea of what I could probably plant where. Our backyard had sun most of the day, so I mentally labeled that for vegetables such as zucchini needing full sun. My Secret Garden area is part sun and part shade, so herbs and shade tolerant vegetables such as lettuce will go there. We have not been here a full year yet, so I am still monitoring our sun patterns to see how they behave. Finding out your sunny areas and how much sun they get is critical to garden success.

Determine Your Garden Zone

Garden zones are what tell you your regions plant hardiness. Some plants cannot grow in certain regions because they need certain conditions to thrive. Knowing your zone will save you from wasting money on plants that likely won’t survive in your garden. It is easy enough to look up online and is essential to helping choose things that will grow in your yard.

Decide What to Grow

The reason I am deciding what to grow now is because many of the items chosen will be grown from seed. Growing from seed requires more time. The nurseries in our area have great plant selections; however, I have a specific list of things to grow and they likely won’t have everything. Now is the time to order seeds. And if you are going to start them indoors to get a head start then yes, buy seeds now. Planting cool season crops in our gardening zone (8B) starts as early as next month.

Get a Notebook

For planning my cottage garden, I will be using a gardening notebook for the first time. A gardening notebook is a wonderful way to organize everything. For starters you can draw garden maps that are extremely helpful for sorting out what goes where. It took me a few maps before I settled on the main template. Then there will also be several scaled maps which detail which plants go where. Colored pencils are helpful for coloring the various areas to see what the color scheme will look like. Colored pencils also make garden maps more fun. Additionally, every seed packet is given its own page with a pocket taped to the page to hold the seed packet. I also jot down the basic info on the page for quick referencing along with a space for notes should I need to remember something for next year or make changes.

Preparing the Area

Soil prep is typically done in the fall. However, things happen, and I had to table that. So, I will be prepping the area as I plant this year. Typically, you would add compost to soil in the fall to give it time to break down. Likely, I will bypass that step this Spring, but again, the best time to prep the soil is in the fall. This is also a good opportunity to determine your soil type which also has a great affect on plants. See if your soil needs to be amended for the plants you are growing.

And that is where I am at in planning my cottage garden currently! Over the next few months I will post my progress along with some exciting new things I am trying like planting a chamomile lawn!

Have a beautiful day!

*No monies received from affiliates. All opinions are my own.