Share Your Cup Thursday #93

Hello and welcome to Share Your Cup (SYC for short).  The party where you come to share the things in life that bring you happiness.

I truly feel that by sharing we help to bring happiness to others.  I know that I enjoy your posts each week and always come away feeling inspired!

Oh my, it has been a bit of heaven on earth here the last few days.  60 degree weather and I have been digging in the dirt and loving every minute of it.  Yesterday I came in totally exhausted and felt rejuvenated at the same time.  Is that even possible? lol!

I know that many of you are still getting snow.  Hang in there my friends.  Spring WILL come!

Next week I am going to be off on a fun retreat with some of my gal pals.  So there will be no SYC.  I have asked my daughter, Kylee if she will share a wonderful post with you next Weds.  Her and her hubby took some amazing pictures of their month long stay in Ethiopia.

Now let’s see what caught my eye from last weeks party:

Mary Alice from Chateau Chic shared her collection of ironstone.  You must visit to see it all!  I loved how she displayed her sweet pitchers on a plant stand.

Poppy from With a Dash of Color shared a beautiful tablescape with her collection of Blue Willow.

Pennys Treasures draped her chairs with vintage tablecloths and tucked in some pretty blooms.  What a wonderful idea for Spring!

Oh my, Kris from Junk Chic Cottage never ceases to amaze me.  She used the drawer fronts from an old dresser to skirt her farmhouse table, clever!

How cute are these Spring mason jar Dioramas made by Maria Elena from Our Home Away From Home?

 

I love fruit and this Pavlova dessert made by Bothayna from Pretty Scraps looks absolutely delicious!

Thanks so much for sharing and please grab my button if you were featured.

Please check out my fb page to see who is featured there.

Now let’s Party! A few rules and then let the fun begin!

1. I would love for you to be a follower of Have a Daily Cup of Mrs. Olson.
2. Link up a particular post and not your entire blog. Please limit your links to no more than three and please do not link up the same thing you linked up last week.
3. Please have a link back to this post. That way others will know where the party is. Feel free to grab my button on the sidebar if you’d like. Only those with a link back will be featured.
4. Please find time to visit at least two other participants. It’s a great way to find new friends.

After you link up please come back and leave a comment. They help to fill my cup

*Don’t forget to pin from their site and not my blog.

How to Obtain a Weed Free Cottage Garden

O.k. now my friends, I am not a professional gardener, so this advice is just what I have found works for me.

I am happy to say however that at our previous home our garden was featured in local garden tours three different times.  Once it was the main article in a local paper about one of the tours.

Many times friends and family ask, “do you ever have a weed in your garden?”  lol!  Of course I do, every now and then.  But these tips will help give your garden the appearance that you don’t.

My gardens are still young and will evolve over time.

Now, I know what you are thinking, “Oh she probably never did have any weeds and she doesn’t work so of course it’s easy to maintain”.

Now about the weeds.  Our home was built in ‘2007’.  We purchased it in ‘2009’.  The owners had put the rock wall in, but no yard.  The entire area was full of weeds.  In fact two of my friends came and helped me pull out the puncture weeds.  They were everywhere and they were kind enough to want to help me stop the spread.

It was work getting rid of all of the weeds at first.  My hubby said, “let’s just Round up the entire area.  I said, “No, let me pull a little at a time”.  That’s what I did, I would water a section the night before and then get out and pull.  This was where we were going to have flower beds.  I didn’t worry about where there would be grass.

I no longer work, but did for many years.  Yet, in all three of my homes I have been able to maintain a lovely garden.  Although I must admit, gardening is therapy for me.  When I came home from work I found that if I spent a half an hour in the garden.  Even if it was just deadheading I felt rejuvenated.

Now for those tips:

1.  Get Out.

It’s VERY important that you get out early and pull any small weeds that might have survived the Winter.  You want to get them out before they have time to germinate and for the seeds to spread.

Because I have been doing this for a few years, I rarely even have any weeds.

I might mention that I have never used Preen.  Bought a large container once, thinking that I might need it here.  Never did use it and ended up giving it to my oldest son.

Get out as soon as the ground can be worked.  It has been nice here the last few days and I spent 2-3 hrs.  Sat. and Monday.  I’ll be back out there this afternoon.  This is still doable even if you only have the weekends.

2.  Clean Out

Clean out all of that Winter debris.  Weeds like to hide underneath.  Often people will say, “what if it snows again?”  Believe me, here in UT it’s a guarantee that it will snow again!  They are perennials and it won’t hurt them a bit.  Just gives them a well needed drink before the sprinklers are turned on.

3.  Plant heavily.

I plant my perennials quite close.  It’s nice if you follow the rule of planting them in three’s.  Sometimes I want a plant to be a pop of color and just plant one.  Also, if it’s too expensive and you can’t afford three.  Leave some of the seed heads and you will have three (probably more) before you know it.

An empty area is an area that says, “welcome weeds”.

4. Use groundcovers.

Take advantage of these great plants that fill a space in quickly.  I always chuckle when someone talks about a ground cover ‘taking over’.  Well, after all; they aren’t called ground covers for nothing. lol!

Don’t worry when the ground cover spreads.  Your perennials will still pop up through them.

This is that same area early Spring.  I cut everything way back.  I always think it looks like I have too much yard art in the Spring.  As soon as the flowers start popping up I love how it looks!

4.  Save seeds to spread for extra pops of color and take advantage of self sowing annuals.

  I always let my Morning Glory vine winter over and then I pull the vine and crush the seed pods during Spring clean up.  I sprinkle both Zinnias and Marigold seeds that I save from year to year.

5.  Use mulch.  Notice that my rose garden is fairly new.  A layer of mulch keeps the weeds down until the roses reach maturity.

Every person is different, but I don’t care for weed guard or wood chips.  I hate how the weed guard breaks apart, pulls up and shows.  Also, I find that weeds are still able to push through.  My youngest son used it in one area and loves it.

Wood chips are pretty when they are new, plus they smell nice.  But I hate how they look when they become faded

6.  Create garden rooms.

By doing this you can add fun yard art to help fill up the space.  Also, it’s important to not have more flower beds than you are able to maintain.  Less pretty beds is much nicer than a lot of weedy beds.

*If you find that you really don’t have the time to get out and do Spring clean up.  I suggest you hire someone to do it for you.  Really, it will make such a difference!

Although it’s a lot of work for me in the Spring, while others are fighting weeds all summer long, I just sit back and enjoy the view.

I do suggest you strolling the garden weekly, dead heading, cutting back spent perennials. (unless you want them to spread), and pulling that occasional weed.

I actually do this every morning.  That is, when I am not gallivanting or have something on the agenda.  Remember, it’s therapy for me.

It always amazes me that in just a couple of months this: (picture of my shade and herb garden taken after clean up on Sat.)

becomes this!

I hope that I have given you some good advice.  I know that many of you are fabulous gardeners. 

I’d love to hear any great garden tips you might have.

hugs,

Jann

I want to thank Linda from Coastal Charm for featuring My New Hang Up at her Nifty Thrifty Tuesday Party!

I will be sharing with these lovely parties:

Savvy Southern Style for WOW

Lavender Garden Cottage for Cottage Style Party

A Delightsome Life for Home and Garden Thursday

Common Ground for Be Inspired

The Charm of Home for Home Sweet Home

Rooted in Thyme for Simple and Sweet Fridays

Shabby Art Boutique for Shabbilicious Friday

French Country Cottage for Feathered Nest Friday

The Dedicated House for Anything Blue Friday

How Sweet the Sound for Pink Saturday

Natasha in Oz for g'day Saturday

Dishing Out Spring. . .

As the seasons change, one of my favorite things to look forward to is the swapping out of my dishes.  The last couple of days I have been, dishing out Spring.

This tiered stand was the inspiration as to what colors I would use on my table.  I started tossing out anything that shared the same colors as the roses.  Well, not really tossing, wouldn’t want to break any of my pretties. lol!

What is it about polka dots and stripes that makes us love them so?

And of course I had to throw in a bit of red. . .see it there in those roses?

Even my vintage pitcher is a bit dotty.  At first I had a cute turquoise scalloped plate underneath the small saucer.  It rattled every time I walked by the table so it had to go.  Don’t you worry your pretty little heads, I found a place for it.

Went grocery shopping today, so of course I had to pick up some pretty pink tulips.

My sweet little bird S&P shakers were the perfect shade of yellow and blue!

When I bought the tiered stand I also picked up a set of snack dishes.  I passed up the large plates and bowls.  I have so many dishes, and I was trying to be a ‘good girl’.  There’s been many times I’ve wished I had bought more.

Love this sweet terrarium I found at T.J. Maxx last year.  My red jar and faux sedum found a new home inside.

I have lots more pretty Spring dishes that I had planned on sharing.  I’ll save them for another post.  But I must show you what I found today.

Oh my gosh!  Is this not the sweetest salad bowl set for Spring?

Perfect colors!  Too bad I will be listing it in my etsy.  Just can’t keep everything!

The softest shades of pastels.

One more glance. . .I knew you wanted it!  Hee-hee!

Have you started dishing out Spring yet?

hugs,

Jann

I want to thank Deb at Lavender Garden Cottage for featuring my Thoughts of Spring post.  And Dawn from We Call it Junkin for adding my New Hang Up to her  Pinterest Featured Board.

I will be joining these lovely parties:

How Sweet the Sound for Pink Saturday

Pieced Past Times for Saturday Sparks

The Scoop

Kathe with an e for You're Gonna Love it Tuesday

Our Home Away from Home for Tuesdays at Our Home

Spring Countdown. . .

Well my friends, right about now is when I start counting the days (the hours, and the minutes) until Spring.

According to Google, right now it is 27 days 11 hours and 30 minutes until Spring officially arrives.

March 20th can’t come fast enough for me!  Like I told one of my blog friends recently “I can’t wait until my body aches from working out in the garden”

Although I never wait for the official start of Spring.  Once March arrives I’m all over Spring clean up!

‘Spring Time’ just seemed a perfect theme for my latest mantle décor.

Old clocks are mingling with new.

My friend, Joyce had picked up some of this darling clock fabric at a local quilt shop.  When I saw it I loved it and asked her if she minded if I copied and made a mantle scarf like hers.

 

This mantle is a work in progress.  I’m sure it will change slightly in the next little while.

I just finished this clock stitching.  Waiting for my friend, Amanda to come home from AZ.  Her hubby makes the greatest frames.

See, there’s a bare spot waiting for it.

I love how this scarf drapes over the edge and sides of the mantle.

I remembered that I had this framed print I brought home from the Tulip Festival in Washington.  I went there with four friends in ‘2000’.  Can’t believe it’s been 14 years!  I would love to go again sometime.  Have you ever been?  It’s really something to see!

This print screams ‘Spring’ to me!  I love the tulips in the blue bottles as well as the bulbs in the French pots!

What do you think?  Do you like it better with the framed print or without?

I switched my rustic pegboard up a little and added a hanging clock.

The hearth got a touch of Spring ‘Time’.

And look, it’s even starting to look like Spring outdoors!

Maybe I’ll curl up, read a good book, and wait for Spring!

hugs,

Jann

I will be joining these lovely parties:

Common Ground for Be Inspired

The Charm of Home for Home Sweet Home

Rooted in Thyme for Simple and Sweet Fridays

Shabby Art Boutique for Shabilicious Friday

Elizabeth and Co. for Be Inspired

Pieced Past Times for Saturday Sparks

Coastal Charm for Nifty Thrifty Tuesday

The Scoop

Our Home Away from Home for Tuesdays at Our Home