Girl, you've been all over the place with this, lol. Just can't seem to make up your mind what to do, huh? Well, I guess you still have a number of months to dream and plan.

You've seen my kitchen garden. It has veggies, flowers, and herbs. Right now it's mostly lettuce, arugula, chard, herbs, and a few flowers. I need to start going through catalogs and decide what seeds to order this year.

Here are some pictures from a Springfield, MO park demonstration garden. Click to enlarge.

My garden is lots of rooms. I never really intended it; it just happened. My potager is fenced in; an area 24' X 16'. It is like another room or roomlets of its own. I have compost there and spots for perennials (purple asparagus, camassia, horseradish, strawberries and some herbs. I have raised beds for most veggies. They are 2 concrete blocks X 3 concrete blocks. The sides are wide enough to sit on. It is low enough for a six year old to gather his tomatoes. :) The beans and squash are on the ground. Cucumbers are in big pots to keep safe from slugs. But is is all arranged artistically with lots of high things (pole beans, asparagus and sunflowers). I think those heights give it charm. Charms me. :)

I have been getting lots of gift certificate deals on line! I found some 50% deals on Cyber Monday. This is going to be a busy spring.

Mickie

Sorry I forgot. If you view the slideshow, you can also see some herbs and little fruit trees toward the end.

I have a picket fence all around the potager and an arbor at the entrance. I grow grapes and clematis around the arbor. I love ducking under bunches of grapes. Also a peach tree at the entrance. I think I have a picture of the entrance. Let me see if I can find it and get it posted....

Mickie- Your garden sounds lovely! I hope you'll post some pictures :)

Helen- Wonderful photos! I miss all the colors of the garden. I like the way you have your flowers mixed in with the vegetables. I'll have to watch the slideshow.

Natal- I DID have a great plan for the garden...at least I thought it was great. I was going to turn that area into a rose garden and put a vegetable garden behind it, which is further from the house. My nephew talked to me last week and said how excited he was to have a garden this year. He wants all kinds of vegetables and flowers and there's no garden at his house...so, roses are out and veggies are back! I went into more detail on the potager forum, but you get the idea. How can you say no to a 10 year-old wanting vegetables???

I have a new plan for the roses! I'm going to plant some old-fashioned roses and a few David Austins in front of the lilac hedge, with some peonies, phlox, geraniums, herbs etc. I probably won't be able to start that garden until later in the summer, but I think it will be pretty. I still hope to do a grape arbor, but for now, I don't have the money. Eventually I'd love to add one to the bigger garden area behind the potager...with more vegetables and flowers. Maybe a bit of provence...something to think about :)

Lavender, I can't think anything could be more useful than beauty mixed with function.
Why not sow lettuces in green and red under your roses?
Who says chives aren't stunning on their own?
How about tomatoes with a beautiful carpet of edible nasturtiums at their feet?
Orange "ditch lilies" in a bed of sweet violets (all totally edible!)
Jerusalem artichokes in a bed of chrysanthemums...

The possibilities are endless!

Girlgroupgirl- You're right, the possibilities are endless :) I'm trying to come up with clever ideas, to keep the kids interested, as I'm ordering seeds.

I'm planning a perennial bed of green and purple asparagus with alpine strawberries along the front. This bed will be along the fence. On the outside, I'm hoping to put purple raspberries, which are not supposed to take over the garden, as long as you keep the tops trimmed back to about 5 feet.

The other perimeter beds will probably be put in later this spring, with the middle beds going in last. These will be planted with vegetables that can't go out until early June. Hopefully it looks as good in the yard as it does in my head (LOL)

If you go to see the Meryl Streep movie, It's Complicated, you'll fall in love with the kitchen garden! It's too perfect, but hey, one can dream (I can't remember the conversation going on in the movie as I was gawking at the garden).

Cameron

It's too perfect

That's because it's not real, lol.

Here is a link that might be useful: tomatoes wired to the vine ;)

Lavender, I've tried to mix veggies in with my perennials but the woodchucks really seem to enjoy them!! Someday I should work a fenced-in veggie garden into my garden plans. For now I use window boxes and pots up on my deck where the critters don't seem to venture.

Mickie, it would be great to see some pictures of your garden. I'm very interested to see exactly how you have the concrete blocks set up and the pots and high stuff intermingled. It sounds beautiful!

Wow, it may not be real, but that's a nice garden. Now, I'm going to have to see the movie, just to get ideas on garden deasign :)

Thyme- Do you have any outdoor kitties? Ours are here mainly for the field mice, but they do a great job keeping the moles, gophers and woodchucks out of the yard and garden, too. Of course, there's all kinds of food in the fields and pastures, where there are no cats, so it's easy for the critters to avoid the garden (LOL)

Mickie, I would love to see pictures of your garden.

What does everyone use for vertical planting. Wooden oblelisks are nice, but don't hold up as well with all the snow. Does anyone have metal obelisks that are tall enough for beans, climbing peas, mini-pumpkins, etc.?

I have metal oblisks which are 5' tall and can handle short peas (and I think ours probably grow a bit shorter here, as they don't like the heat). They were expensive (I still get heavy discounts from my old job, so I was able to swing them). My favorite items are garden arches to grow items on. I have been finding them inexpensively: Craig's list, mail orders, etc - all under $50 for good sturdy ones. I also purchased some from Big Lots a few years ago that are very (too light weight for winter where you are) so I can take them down and store them for the winter when I don't grow climbing vegetables. One of the great uses of the arches is to have them span over the walkways between the wooden raised beds. I stick the feet in the beds and plant there, and those veggies only take up a foot of the bed space. I've done very tall tomatoes like this, climbing beans, peas, bitter gourds, cucumbers, malabar spinach. It is fun to be working in and out of them, and it looks fantastic!
This year, I'm working on a new garden area that will feature flowers and mostly fruits. The arches will span the walkways and feature alternating roses then a fruit, roses then a fruit...all the way around. I'm hoping to eventually gain a a more tunnel like effect in the long run. For those arches I have rebar to bend and then will tie some heavy wire mesh (hog or cow panel material) to them with bailing wires. I have this already happening in several areas and I really like it. Very rustic looking and cheap!

Natal, my husband just sent me that same link, so I came back here to post it, but see that you saw it. Not humanly possible, even for Martha Stewart per the article - it is staged scenery.

Cameron

girlgroupgirl, I would love to see pictures of your garden. it sounds wonderful.
Tammy

Well, too late to change anything now :) I just ordered seeds! This latest garden is going to be the one, since there's no way I have anywhere else to put all these seeds (LOL) I also ordered some asparagus and purple raspberries, so as soon as the snow melts, I've got to be out there measuring beds and digging up grass. Luckily, I have some help, since anyone who wants to eat the food has to help with the garden.

I told my mom about the garden in the movie. Now, I think we both may be going to see it, just to see the garden. She is thinking about redesigning her vegetable garden into more of a potager/kitchen garden style. She likes the paths and better access to the vegetables. She also has three metal arches that she's planting with climbing beans and flowers. She calls it her allee...very french.

LL - that's funny about the movie, my sister and I are going to see it just for the garden also!

I have never posted pictures on here. It can't be as hard as it seems it is... I can post on FB and other places. I have searched through some pictures and WILL post them today. This is a huge ordeal, good time it is too cold outside to do anything else or it would never get done. I figure if I don't post something soon, you'll all think I have an imaginary garden! (Well, I have one of those, too!)

Mickie

Mickie- I have too many imaginary gardens...that's why I keep changing my plans :) Let me know if posting pictures works, because I have to figure that out this spring!

Girlgroupgirl- I would love to see pictures of your rustic arches with the hog wire...that's my type of building (LOL) Most of my fences start out with metal posts (for electric fence) and either have wire, plastic lattice or reed fencing rolls attached. It turned out cuter than it sounds...Mom's whole yard is fenced in with white lattice (front) and reed fencing (back) and it's perfect with her white lattice front arbor and black metal arches in the garden.

I don't have great photos of everything...I never took photos of the arches over beds from bed to bed.
However, I have photos of some of the more rustic arches.
This was made for me from rebar in barter for plants.
{{gwi:648030}}

Here's the series of arches with roses that is moving (evergreens going in to mask the crack dealers next door...)

The last is one you can't see the top of. It's simply a pole in the ground with old bicycle spokes nailed into it. From the top to the ground are wires for climbing vines. To make the wires on the ground sturdy you can wrap them around a rock, or you can attach them to the huge long nails used for pounding in landscape timbers and hammer those in the ground (doesn't work well in sandy soil).

Girlgroupgirl- Crack dealers next door? Sounds like my friend's place in town. He had some "undesirable" neighbors behind his place and ended up putting trees and shrubs against the chainlink fence and then flowers in front of that. They also have chickens and a big veggie garden. Those neighbors finally moved when the housing prices went up (renters) but the yard still looks great!

I love the look of your arches grouped together that way. Are those arches with the roses (middle picture) rebar or metal ones you bought at a store? They look like some arches I got last summer, but I wasn't sure they were sturdy enough for roses. I'd love to put roses in the garden like that...what a beautiful garden ! :)

I hope this is 4 shots of the entrance to my potager. Not sure why the photos didn't post here. I followed all 41, 000 steps of this simple process.....

Here is a link that might be useful:

Potager in background; tulips in the rose garden

Here is a link that might be useful:

Mickie's pictures... I particularly like the snow one - snow does pretty things in the garden! None here yet...

Woodyoak - how did you DO that? I have tried for 3 hours and you just come on and zip zap! Thank-you! I've really got to study this thing...lol

Mickie

Mickie- What a beautiful garden! I love the arbor and all the wonderful flowers.

Woodyoak- I'm going to need your help this spring when I try to post pics :)

Mickie, I love your garden! Those tulips are breath-taking! Their color is the perfect compliment to those flowering shrubs and trees in the background. And Woody's right ... snow is magic on everything it touches in the garden. What does the sign say in the second pic?

Mickie - if you go to your album on photobucket, on the left side you should see 'Share this album'. Underneath that it says URL: and below that is a line that you can copy and paste into the Optional Link URL at the bottom of the GW page where you type your post. Give it a name in the Name of the Link, and that will link your whole album. To include a specific picture, scroll over the picture and you should see four lines appear, one of which says HTML Code. Copy that one and paste that into your post to put the picture directly into the post. I have a photobucket account but rarely use it. I prefer Picturetrail as I find it easier to work with - but that's probably because it was the first one I used. Different people prefer different photo sites...

Thanks for kind words, friends! The pictures are a little grainy, but my originals are better quality. Do you really have to make them 60 KB to post?

Natal - the sign says, "Speak to the earth and it shall teach thee..."

I'm going to work hard at this and get some more pics up!

Thanks, again .. you have all inspired me, too.

Mickie

MIcki, those photos are fantastic!

Lavender, my camera won't catch really tight detail (old, low pixels) but those are rebar trellises. I think Micki's are the store purchased type which are nice and sturdy. The rebar are sturdy but not quite as nice. I really needed cheap. The rebar costs me about a dollar or two a piece and then I find the "hog wire" stuff or my contractor friend finds it for me.
If my BIL comes this spring-summer he plans to weld the rebar with other rebar to look more like a well rusted version of Micki's arches. And hopefully give me a welding lesson or two!!

girlgroupgirl, love your photos. Especially the first one.My husband used to be a certified welder with an oil and gas company. Now he just tends wells. But I have seen him weld. Doesnt look too difficult to learn.Just gotta have the tools.One of these days, I will put him to work in the garden welding,lol.
Tammy

GGG, LOVE those arches! I had never thought of using rebar before until this summer when I was at Chanticleer in PA. They used rebar and wood to make arches. I'm so glad to see them in a residential garden to get perspective on how they look. They look great in your beautiful garden! When you move the arches to put in evergreens are you going to keep them and try the same repetition somewhere else in your garden?

Mickie, I'm so glad you posted pictures. How lush everything looks! The tulip photo is incredible....the brick, the pond, the shrubs and those beautiful tulips! In that same photo, what is the tree in the background by the arbor just starting to bud?

The "real" potagers posted here are so beautiful! :-)

Cameron

thyme - it's a flowering peach. I can't remember the cv; has red leaves and huge, hot pinky fuschia flowers. It started producing fruit after just a few years, but they aren't as good as my old Red Haven; but its a beauty to look at!

Mickie

thyme2dig, the whole kit and kaboodle will move, as I love the roses on these, and the thyme. The stones won't move with this however since we have HUGE slabs of concrete now for a much larger, wider walk. The arches may also get widened with either more of the mesh in between each piece or more arches together in succession. When I move these I suspect the roses will get MUCH much bigger.
Tammy, that first arch was one I swapped for plants. I have two like this, one at each entrance and I absolutely adore them. I had wanted my others just like it but the man who made them retired and his kids wanted $200 a piece for them! ACK! No thanks!!