The heat has been on here in Southern California with temps in the high 90's and low 100's for pretty much the entire month of July and the garden is definitely showing the stress of it.  

I have been in defensive mode out there just trying to keep up with the watering and deadheading without giving a thought to putting in any new flowers or preparing the side lot for my fall/winter edible garden.


As much as I swore i wouldn't, I have decided to tuck in a veggie garden along the western side of our property.  In order to best prepare the area, including amending soil, building a series of raised beds and wired arbors for both climbing and shade cloth support, I have decided to remove every living thing from the soil and start from scratch.


(I will leave the grapevines against the sunroom because they have finally started producing but will be building new support for them when they go dormant this winter.)


I am finding that while Northern gardens have those long, cold winter months to plan and dream as their gardens sleep under a blanket of snow, we Western gardeners tend to go into planning mode when the heat keeps us inside from 9:00 a.m. on, during the peak summer months of July and August.


So plan I do.  I have started a seed list, nothing crazy or long because my space is limited just a few different varieties of things we love to eat and cook with including greens, carrots, radishes, beets and broccoli for fall/winter harvest.


Am I forgetting any of your cool season favorites?  Please share them in the comments along with how you like to consume them.  Because I want to eat healthier, I am determined to make this years veggie plot a success or die trying!

xo, Patty

If you haven't seen our backyard renovation, I've included the link to July's garden tour which includes the perennial flower beds.  The rest can be found on my gardening playlist over on YouTube.  While you're there, I'd love to have you subscribe.

I have found the key to getting and staying organized lies in writing stuff down.  Sounds simple enough, right?  

I have kept just about every kind of planner or calendar system out there over the years and they have all worked fine...if I kept them up.  I have found for me, the simpler the better, if it's too complicated I tend to skip using them when I'm in a hurry and before I know it, I get discouraged and just give up.

Another way we can over complicate an easy task is by wanting to make our daily planners into works of art (which I love to keep, just not for my everyday scheduling).

So now I keep it simple by keeping three hand written planners, one electronic planner and two notebooks.  Whew!  What's so simple about that?  To start with, I don't write in all those planners every day and I don't write much at all when I do write in them.  Let me break them down for you.

A basic daily planner - This is where I keep what needs to be done each day.  I divide it into two sections, household and errands.  On Monday I might have written under household - clean bathroom and do laundry.  Under errands I might have written - pick up tomatoes, return library books.

I purposely don't put times on my daily planner (unless it's an appointment), just stuff that needs to get done that day.  Simple enough, right?


I also keep a work daily planner - This is where I keep an exact list of what area of my business I work on each day of the week and what in particular needs to be accomplished.  Again, no time frames just tasks.

The third planner I keep is more of a journal and it is work related as well and includes what needs to be done for video footage each week and by what day it needs to be done, so that I can finish my editing in time to publish on schedule.

If you don't work from home, you may not need those last two planners.


The biggest help and the one I resisted the most has been my electronic Google Calendar.  This took a few hours to set up but now that it is, it doesn't require any time at all because I rarely make any changes to it.  This is where my day is broken down in chunks of time.  This is what keeps me on track.  I watched this video by Amy Landino to learn how to set up my schedule.  I highly recommend watching the video and setting yourself up.  This one has been a game changer for me.

I also keep a work notebook that I use for class homework, creative ideas and stats for my business.  If you'd like to see that one, just let me know and I will do a blog post devoted to it.

And the last notebook I keep is my household journal which is where I track my household expenses/budget, quarterly cleaning schedules, appliance maintenance and home improvement wish list.  Again, this notebook requires it's own post as well and I will be sharing it soon.


So there you have it, a quick over view of my planners, calendars and notebooks.  I plan the activities on my calendar on Sunday afternoon for the entire week.  Let me know if you'd like me to go into more details on any of the planners and I will put together a blog or video to share in more detail.

Next week I will have a free planner insert with my basic cleaning schedule on it for those of you who are newsletter subscribers. so if you aren't signed up yet be sure you do that here.

Have a wonderfully productive week my friends!

xo, Patty

You might enjoy this video that highlights how I set up my desk space to be as organized and productive as possible even if you have a small space.

People often ask me how I can get so much done each day? How I can juggle the housework, keep up a flower garden, entertain friends, enjoy my time in the craft room, run an Etsy shop and still make YouTube videos?  Let me tell you, this wasn't always the case.

When I went from full time employee to full time wife and home-keeper I thought I would automatically have all the time in the world to keep my house clean, put healthy meals on the table and still have time for lunch with friends and a little shopping.

Boy was I in for a rude awakening when I quickly discovered that having more unstructured time does not accomplish any of those things on its own.  In fact, I seemed to get so much more done when I was working 40 hours a week.

But how could this be?  I now had an additional 40+ hours in my week to be the perfect wife and friend so why was I rushing at the last minute to get things done and feeling overwhelmed by the disorder in my life?

What I discovered was that when I worked outside the home, I valued those hours I was inside the home and planned what I would need to get done and when I would do it.  

In a nutshell, we use wisely what we have most scarcely.  

Our cottage is roughly 1200 square feet and was built in 1954 as part of a subdivision called The Storybook Cottages.  I love what the name brings to mind and have run with the idea of a small home furnished lovingly with happy colors and comfortable places to sit with a cup of tea and a good book to read.


Everything that comes into our home must add to this feeling before it finds it's place amongst the well loved quilts, colorful plate walls and handmade objects.


To some this colorful and collected look would send them running for cover but for me it sings of simple times with family and friends.  Never too fussy to say come on in and rest while I put on a pot of coffee or a brew a cup of tea.
Have you found your decorating sweet spot yet?  If you haven't grab yourself a few magazines or an hour or two on pinterest and just start saving anything that makes you happy.  Don't over think it just dog ear, clip or pin to your hearts content.  Soon enough you'll find yourself drawn to similar colors and styles.  Then you can start narrowing down your favorites a bit further until you're left with a clear idea of what you love.


And there you'll have it, your decorating sweet spot.  Use this new found knowledge and walk around your home editing what doesn't fit your style and make a list of what needs to be replaced that you can carry in your phone or purse so that when you find yourself in a place to shop you can be smart and selective.  And slowly your home will evolve into the place you want most to be.

Soon you'll be loving your life no matter what season you're in.

xo, Patty

I've attached the full YouTube tour of our Summer Cottage Home if you'd like to take a peek.


Shop the look of Life on Lemon Lane on Amazon here.