Garden Gals of Georgia

07/23/2026

Before You Throw That Away...

Not everyone has room for a compost pile.

Maybe you live in an apartment. Maybe you only have a small patio with a few pots. Maybe you're just getting started with a couple of raised beds.

The good news?

You can still give your plants a little love with things that would normally end up in the trash.

🥔 Potato Peels & Banana Peels

I like to save potato peels, banana peels, and other fruit and vegetable scraps. Sometimes I'll toss them into a jug of water and let them soak for several days.

Once they've had time to sit, I'll use that water around my flowers and vegetables. It's a simple way to put kitchen scraps to good use before they ever make it to the compost pile.

☕ Don't Throw Away Your Coffee Grounds

Coffee grounds don't have to go in the trash either.

I add mine to my compost, but if you don't compost, you can mix small amounts into the soil in pots or raised beds. Just don't overdo it—a little goes a long way.

🥚 Eggshells Are Garden Gold

Eggshells never go to waste at my house.

Some go into my compost, and some I crush up and sprinkle around my roses and other plants. They slowly break down over time, adding calcium back into the soil.

🥔🍝 Don't Pour That Water Down the Drain!

One of my favorite gardening habits is saving the water after I boil vegetables, potatoes, or pasta.

As long as I didn't add salt and I let it cool completely, I use it to water my plants instead of pouring it down the drain.

It's such an easy way to recycle something you'd normally throw away.

Little Things Add Up

I don't do these things because they're complicated.

I do them because they're simple.

One banana peel.

A handful of coffee grounds.

Yesterday's eggshells.

The water from tonight's dinner.

None of these things cost extra, and they all help me waste a little less while caring for my garden.

You don't need a huge backyard to garden sustainably.

You just need to start looking at your kitchen scraps a little differently.

🌱 Bailey's Garden Tip:
Before you throw something in the trash, ask yourself, "Could my garden use this first?" You might be surprised how many everyday kitchen scraps can have a second life.

06/27/2026

🌿 Welcome to my garden... where I garden with nature, not against it. 🌸🐝

People often ask me what my gardening style is, and the best way I can describe it is this:

I don't garden for perfection—I garden for life.

I love the look of an old-fashioned cottage garden where flowers spill into one another, butterflies dance from bloom to bloom, and every season brings something new to enjoy. Instead of planting everything in neat little rows, I let my gardens grow together naturally while still giving each plant the space it needs to thrive.

Many of the flowers you'll see here are Georgia natives or pollinator favorites like purple coneflowers, black-eyed Susans, salvia, swamp hibiscus and other wildflowers. I choose plants that provide nectar and pollen throughout the growing season so my yard stays busy with bees, butterflies, hummingbirds, and beneficial insects.

I also garden as naturally as I can. I build my own compost from kitchen scraps, recycle cardboard to suppress weeds, save seeds whenever possible, and avoid unnecessary chemicals. My goal isn't just beautiful flowers—it's healthy soil, healthy plants, and a healthy ecosystem.

One of my favorite things is seeing the garden change throughout the year. Spring bulbs fade into summer blooms. Coneflowers become food for goldfinches. Bees work from sunrise to sunset, butterflies drift through the flowers, and hummingbirds stop by for a quick meal. Every season tells a different story.

To me, a successful garden isn't the one with the fewest weeds or the straightest lines. It's the one that's buzzing with bees, fluttering with butterflies, singing with birds, and full of life.

This is the kind of gardening I love, and it's the heart behind Garden Gals of Georgia. 💚

I'd love to know—what's blooming in your garden right now? Share a picture in the comments! 🌼

06/27/2026

Composting Doesn't Have to Be Complicated 🌱

Every time I post a picture of my garden, someone asks me about my compost.

The funny thing is...people often think composting is difficult, expensive, or takes a lot of time.

I promise it doesn't.

If you've been wanting to start composting but weren't sure where to begin, I hope this encourages you to just start.

One of the unexpected perks of owning Garden Gals of Georgia is that I'm always coming home with extra soil after installing garden beds. Every garden I build gets amended with compost, so I usually end up with a few buckets of leftover dirt that would otherwise go to waste.

That's actually how my raised compost bed got started.

I simply filled it with that leftover soil and began adding my kitchen scraps.

Don't have buckets of extra dirt sitting around?

Don't worry!

The cheapest bags of topsoil from your local garden center work just fine. You don't need expensive garden soil to make compost. I use inexpensive topsoil to cover fresh kitchen scraps whenever I need extra dirt. The worms and microorganisms will do the hard work of turning it all into rich compost.

My compost bed is pretty simple.

When I have fruit and vegetable scraps from the kitchen, coffee grounds, eggshells, grass clippings, or dried leaves, I add a layer to the compost and then cover everything with dirt or other "brown" materials like dried leaves, untreated wood chips, or shredded cardboard.

That layer helps reduce odors, discourages flies, and creates the perfect environment for everything to break down.

Because my compost bed is enclosed, I added Red Wiggler worms. My kids love to fish, so whenever they came home with extra bait worms, they knew exactly where they were going—straight into Mom's compost bed!

Red Wigglers are incredible little workers. They tolerate the warmth of an enclosed compost bed and break down kitchen scraps surprisingly fast.

If you're composting directly on the ground, though, you don't need to buy worms at all. Your native earthworms will naturally find the compost pile, and I actually prefer letting them move in on their own rather than introducing non-native worms into the soil.

People also ask me how often I turn my compost.

Honestly...not very often.

About every week or two, I'll gently fluff it with a little hand rake. I use the small rake because I don't want to accidentally hurt the worms that are doing all the hard work for me.

I also keep my compost moist. Whenever I'm watering my vegetable garden, my compost gets a drink too. Healthy worms need moisture, and keeping the pile damp helps everything break down much faster.

If your compost suddenly has ants, don't panic. That's usually your compost's way of telling you it's getting too dry. A little water is often all it needs.

One thing I hope these pictures show is that composting doesn't have to look perfect.

My compost isn't hidden away behind a fence. It sits right in the middle of my vegetable garden, surrounded by tomatoes, peppers, cucumbers, squash, watermelons, cantaloupe, grapes, blueberries, herbs, and whatever else decides to grow that season.

It isn't fancy.

It isn't expensive.

But it works.

Nature has been making compost for millions of years. We're just giving it a little helping hand.

So if you've been thinking about starting a compost pile, don't wait until everything is perfect.

Grab a bucket, save those kitchen scraps, find a little corner of your yard, and let nature take it from there.

🌱 Bailey's Garden Tip:
Don't let perfection keep you from getting started. Worms don't care if your compost bin is expensive—they just need food, moisture, and a little patience.

Next time, I'll share exactly what I put in my compost, what I leave out, and a few other ways I use kitchen scraps before they ever make it to the compost pile!

06/22/2026

🐥🦃🦆 Life at the Price homestead

One of the things I'm learning on our little half-acre homestead is that families come in all shapes and sizes.

Last year, my duck lost his partner. My turkey never had one. They were kind of the oddballs of the farm—the two that didn't quite fit in anywhere else. Before long, they became inseparable.

Recently, they decided they wanted to start a family of their own. Together they gathered a nest and faithfully sat on eggs. That's when I learned something new: after doing some research, I discovered that turkeys and ducks cannot actually produce offspring together.

I just couldn't bear to see their hard work go unrewarded.

So yesterday I brought home four little Americana pullets. Last night, under the cover of darkness, I carefully swapped out the eggs and tucked the tiny chicks beneath their waiting parents. I was nervous all night wondering if they would accept them.

This morning I woke up to the sweetest sight.

Two very proud parents and four very happy babies.

I've moved Mama Turkey and the chicks into a brooder area today to keep them safe from the rest of the flock. Dad Duck didn't get to move in, but he's standing guard outside the enclosure and refuses to leave her side.

Sometimes nature writes the sweetest stories. This little blended family may not look traditional, but they're absolutely perfect to me.

And honestly, I think they're pretty happy with their adopted babies too. ❤️

06/11/2026

Some beauty from my yard this morning

06/01/2026

🌿 Plant Crush of the Month: Salvia 🌿

Oh Salvia… you little attention seeker.
Bright colors, nonstop blooms, drought tolerant and irresistible to hummingbirds? Honestly, if plants had dating profiles, Salvia would be the one holding a fish in the picture and somehow still getting all the attention.

This month’s Plant Crush belongs to one of my favorite garden show-offs — Salvia. And lucky for us here in Georgia, we’ve got some beautiful native species that thrive in our heat, survive our dramatic weather mood swings, and still manage to look good doing it.

Around here, Salvia is basically the “pretty girl with work ethic” of the garden world.

💋 Why I’m Crushing on Salvia

Salvias are part of the mint family, which explains why deer usually turn their nose up at them. (Finally… a plant with boundaries.) Their fragrant foliage and tubular flowers make them absolute magnets for hummingbirds, butterflies, bees, and every other little pollinator working overtime in a Georgia summer.

And once established?
These beauties are impressively drought tolerant. Meaning they can survive July in Georgia without acting personally offended every time it skips a rain shower.

❤️ Scarlet Sage (Salvia coccinea)

This native Georgia beauty is the flirty redhead of the bunch.

Scarlet Sage throws out brilliant scarlet tubular blooms from summer all the way until frost, and hummingbirds absolutely lose their minds over it.

It naturally grows in South Georgia but does well all over the state in sunny spots with decent drainage. It reseeds easily too — which means once you plant it, it tends to keep showing back up like an ex who suddenly “just wanted to check on you.” Except Salvia is actually welcome.

Bonus points:

Deer resistant

Heat tolerant

Pollinator heaven

Blooms for months

Not dramatic

Honestly… that last one alone makes it worth planting.

💜 Lyre-Leaf Sage (Salvia lyrata)

Now this one is more of a laid-back country girl.

Low growing with beautiful purple-tinted foliage and soft lavender blooms, Lyre-Leaf Sage can handle poor soils, dry spots, part shade, and even being stepped on a little. Which honestly feels very relatable some days.

It’s one of those native plants that quietly does its job without begging for attention — while still feeding pollinators early in the season.

A true Southern woman.

ALSO...... 💜💜Lyre-Leaf Sage (Salvia lyrata) isn’t just a pretty face either. This native little wildflower has been used for generations as both a food and folk remedy. The young leaves have a mild, slightly minty flavor and can be tossed into salads, brewed into teas, or cooked like greens. According to a University of Florida IFAS article, “the leaves, blooms, and stems are edible” and were often brewed into tea for sore throats. The plant also picked up the colorful nickname “cancer weed” because folk tradition involved using it as a poultice on “warts, sores, wounds, and skin cancers.” The article is careful to note, however, that it is not recognized by modern medicine as a cancer treatment.

A fun little piece of Southern plant history is that Native American communities and early settlers used Lyre-Leaf Sage much like other sages in the mint family — for teas, minor ailments, and as a useful edible herb. Young leaves are best harvested before summer heat kicks in, when they still have that fresh, mild flavor. Once the weather turns hot, they can get a little bitter and sassy… kind of like me when somebody asks if I can "just pull a few weeds real quick."

One thing I love about Lyre-Leaf Sage is that it proves a plant doesn't have to be fussy to be useful. It's feeding pollinators, covering bare ground, surviving Georgia weather, and apparently offering itself up for tea too. That's what I call carrying your weight in the garden. 🌿💜

💙 Azure Sage (Salvia azurea)

Tall, airy, and covered in dreamy sky-blue blooms, Azure Sage is what happens when wildflowers decide to become elegant.

This native salvia thrives in dry sunny spaces and blooms late summer into fall — right when most gardens start looking tired and sweaty. Bees and monarch butterflies absolutely adore it.

And can we talk about blue flowers for a second?
Because real blue in the garden is rare. Like “a contractor calling you back the first time” rare.

💜 Mealy Blue Sage (Salvia farinacea)

This one may not be Georgia native, but whew… it earns its keep.

Mealy Blue Sage pumps out gorgeous violet-blue flower spikes through brutal heat like it was built specifically for Southern summers. It handles poor soil, dry weather, and neglect suspiciously well.

Basically the plant equivalent of: “I got it handled, sugar.”

🌿 Garden Gals Tip

If you want salvias to stay fuller and bloom longer, don’t be scared to give them a little haircut midseason. Deadheading and light trimming keep them bushy, blooming, and from getting leggy. Think of it as a summer refresh instead of a crisis.

And if you’re planting for pollinators?
Salvias are one of the best investments you can make. Hummingbirds especially are drawn to those nectar-filled tubular blooms.

So here’s to Salvia —
beautiful, tough, low maintenance, and feeding everybody around her.

Honestly… goals. 🌿💋

Sources:
• University of Florida IFAS Extension Blog — “Weekly ‘What is it?’: Lyreleaf Sage”
[UF IFAS Lyreleaf Sage Article](https://blogs.ifas.ufl.edu/escambiaco/2021/04/14/weekly-what-is-it-lyreleaf-sage/?utm_source=chatgpt.com)

• [Georgia Department of Natural Resources – Pollinator & Native Plant Resources](https://georgiawildlife.com/OutMyBackDoor/Native-Plants-for-Georgia-Part-I-Trees-Shrubs-and-Woody-Vines?utm_source=chatgpt.com)

• [Cottage Garden Natives – Native Salvias Guide](https://cottagegardennatives.com/native-salvias/?utm_source=chatgpt.com)

• [The Plant Native – Salvia Species Information](https://theplantnative.com/plant/salvias/?utm_source=chatgpt.com)

• [Birds & Blooms – Why Hummingbirds Love Salvias](https://www.birdsandblooms.com/gardening/plants-and-flowers-to-attract-hummingbirds/salvias-hummingbirds/?utm_source=chatgpt.com)

• [Sarah’s Conservatory & Art Garden – Lyre-Leaf Sage Edibility & Traditional Uses](https://sarcraft.squarespace.com/news/2018/5/9/wildediblewednesday-59-lyre-leaf-sage?utm_source=chatgpt.com)

06/01/2026

🌿 Looking for someone who actually knows plants?
Garden Gals of Georgia combines landscape design, native plant expertise, and hands-on installation to create beautiful, easy-care gardens.

⭐ "It's like having your own personal gardener." ⭐ "She listens and works magic." ⭐ "Hardworking and very knowledgeable."

Before & after transformations, pollinator gardens, native landscapes, mulching, planting, and garden renovations.

📞 Bailey Price 478-442-4148
Serving Middle Georgia

🌸 Let's create something beautiful together. 🌸

06/01/2026

🌿 Garden Gals of Georgia 🌿

Your Garden Should Feel Like Your Favorite Place
Whether you need a complete landscape makeover, native plant design, garden clean-up, mulching, planting, or help bringing your vision to life, Garden Gals of Georgia is here to help.

⭐ "Bailey is so knowledgeable! I love the vision she had for my beds." – Cheryl M.
⭐ "It's like having your own personal gardener and not just a landscaper." – Cintia O.
⭐ "She listens to what you are looking for and will work magic." – Jenna M.
⭐ "Hardworking and very knowledgeable about native plants." – Beth C.

We specialize in:
🌼 Georgia Native & Pollinator Gardens
🌿 Landscape Design & Installation
🌸 Garden Bed Renovations
🍂 Mulching & Clean-Ups
🪨 Rock Gardens & Pathways
🌳 Shrubs, Trees & Perennials
🐝 Wildlife-Friendly Landscapes

Serving Middle Georgia

📞 Bailey Price 478-442-4148
Message us today for a free consultation!

05/26/2026

05/11/2026

Shout out to my hunny, who is always down to help with big installs.... Supporting me 100% while I build this business..... Chasing dreams and doing what I LOVE!

Priceless Renovations Handyman service LLC