Design is not at all my strength. But I would tend to agree with your friend. You should enter. That is beautiful!

George
Tahlequah, OK

wbonesteel,

Honestly? Why is this even under discussion? This is a big no-brainer. To quote Nike, "just do it". : )

Absolutely enter! What is the worst thing that happens? You don't win? OK, so if you don't, then you console yourself with the knowledge that your garden is only halfway finished. Who knows? Maybe you'll win or place in the money, and then you'll have some prizes to enjoy....and bragging rights too.

Think of the good that you will do. You may inspire other people who would like to have a front yard garden in a city or in the suburbs and who think they "can't" because all the neighbors and passers-by believe an edible garden doesn't belong in a front yard or side yard. I pity people who have a rabid homeowners association that makes rules against edible row gardening in front yards....and we all know that some HOAs like that exist. Honestly, now, who wouldn't love to have a formal garden like yours in their neighborhood? Maybe by showing what is possible in a real front yard in a real neighborhood, you might change the minds of some of those anti-edible gardening HOA types? What a service that would be. Maybe your garden will inspire people right here in Oklahoma who always have wanted a formal veggie garden, whether in their front yard, back yard or wherever and who just haven't taken the plunge.

Perhaps you are the next Rosalind Creasy? I first started mixing flowers with veggies in my garden after reading her first book on edible landscaping, which was published a couple of decades ago (or maybe three decades ago, but who's counting?). Her books on edible landscaping inspired me then and still inspire me today. I wish more people would make their landscape an edible one. For some reason, we in this country insist upon spending tons of time and money maintaining a monoculture lawn that feeds nothing and no one. I wish we as a nation were more like France or Italy, where residents often garden biointensively on every little piece of land they have....front yard, side yard, back yard and with containers on porches, terraces and decks. Who knows? You and your garden design may make some people rethink their own front yards. Isn't that a good thing? I believe if more people tried edible landscaping and edible gardening, they would get hooked on having fresh veggies, fruits, herbs and flowers from their own yards. Those of us who grow our own already know how awesome it is to prepare meals using fresh fruit straight from the garden, but so many other people don't know....yet. Maybe seeing your garden causes someone else to want to give it a try, and entering your garden in a contest might mean more people will see it.

So, my vote is to enter, enter, enter.

My garden style is definitely not formal. It is very informal and casual and I am happy with it, but that doesn't mean that I do not enjoy seeing photos of your formal garden. So, one more time....enter the contest!!!!!

Dawn

I agree enter. It is beautiful!

Well, if I were living in the country, I'd be planting stuff everwhere, and there wouldn't be anything formal about any of it.

This is in the front yard (on the edge of town), and outta simple self-respect, I had to make it look kinda nice.

Talked it over and thunk it over again, last night after I posted this, and I concluded that it isn't really gonna hurt anything if I do enter. If we lose, well, the only hit is to my pride, mebbe once it's finished and up to my own 'standards' it might win something in a contest, somewhere.

Its so pretty! You should just do it! You only live once and don't know if you would get the chance again.

Now, comes the 'written' part of the contest. iow, they wanted a description of what and why and such like.

Mebbe some of you folks will find some use out of it, as well.

=====

Second draft:

Formally, Informal English Garden.

Before the design process began we re-examined many types of traditional designs, including French box gardens, English cottage gardens, Renaissance gardens and meditation gardens from around the world. We have incorporated many aspects of these traditional gardens into our edible landscape. In our opinion, we have successfully captured the feel of certain types of meditation gardens, as well. When fully mature, the plants in this garden will also be 'bio-intensive', as is often seen in traditional European and English cottage gardens. Our primary goal is to transform every square inch of the front yard into an edible landscape. In time, the sod will be replaced with edible ground covers. Other than concerns for soil compatibility, and allowances for available sunlight, we are planting annual herbs and vegetables in concert with all of the edible perennials. The different nutrients provided by each edible plant has been taken into consideration in the planning and installation of this garden. As an outcome of the design and installation, the garden will be as maintenance free as possible.

The design includes a labyrinth, which is more complex than it might seem at first glance. We also incorporated a simplified rectangular mandala into the design. A Celtic Cross, or Solar Cross, can be also be seen in the pathway, depending on your frame of mind. Some have asked why we chose persimmons as the centerpiece of our garden instead of the more traditional water feature. Persimmons are known as the 'fruit/food of the gods'. This concept fits with the imagery of the solar and Celtic cross(es). This idea also fits well within the overall themes and histories of labyrinths and mandalas. The longest part of the pathway lines up almost directly east/west, lining up -more or less- with the fall equinox. That was a matter of happenstance, not of planning, but it was incorporated into the design. These concepts were part of the original design and were a part of every consideration during the design process.

Philosophically? (Offered as questions, of course.) Why do the green-ways in the garden narrow around the tree beds? Why did we bother with all of the straight lines, when everything will be so overgrown, even crowded, at maturity? Many of the mature plants will -eventually- constrain your walk through the garden. You'll have to dodge branches and step around plants and bushes as you 'dance the labyrinth' of this garden. Why did we design it that way? How will the rise and fall (remember: grade and level mentioned above) of your path through the garden also reveal your path through life?

The garden is not flat or level in our design and installation. The outer edges of the garden are almost level, allowing only enough grade to maintain the original drainage on the property. Each of the four 'rooms' of the garden tilts towards the center of the garden. This part of the design will hold and retain water in the garden and prevent excessive run-off during normal rain showers for the region. The plans include eight raised beds which provide five hundred square feet of space for 'square foot' vegetable gardening. The boxes around the raised beds will be leveled and plumbed. The four short raised beds (fourteen feet in length) are each on the same level. The four beds that are twenty-two feet in length will sit approximately two to three inches lower than the shorter beds. In this fashion, by merely using straight lines and by manipulating the grade and level, the garden has become a three dimensional geometric sculpture. We kept the traditional circular tree beds in order to provide some relief from (and contrast with) the straight lines in the rest of the garden.

Most of the major plantings will add contrast and beauty to that geometric sculpture with their naturally occurring 'fractal' growth habits. Although the fruit trees will be well pruned and purposely shaped, they, too, will form a part of this fractal contrast and beauty. We are pruning our young fruit trees using a combination of vase shape and espalier techniques. The exception will be the persimmon trees, which we will maintain in a semi-open shape. We have double planted our fruit trees in order to provide a greater variety of fruits, vitamins and minerals in our diet. Double planting our trees ensures cross pollination, with more and better fruit than might otherwise be found in such a design. The competition for resources will help to further reduce the size of the trees when they reach maturity.

Budget and other considerations:

This particular design is not a project for a complete novice. I fully recommend that a novice gardener use a professional gardener and/or a landscape designer to install this type of garden. It will be pricey, though. The "OMG!" kinds of pricey. So far, we've invested $2,300 in this garden over a two year time frame. With our current budget and schedule, we plan to spend an additional $1,500 to $2,000 over the next year and a half to two years. The overall costs include soil amendments, compost, peat moss, edging, stakes, sand, mulch, plants and seeds. In keeping with the idea of not breaking too many shoestrings, we provided our own labor and we used nothing but readily available hand tools to install this garden.

Most of the one thousand flower bulbs currently installed in beds around the property lines, were gifts. We saved money on the gravel for the walkways by re-grading and leveling the driveway, which was considerably above grade when we bought this property. We've also used over two tons of homemade compost in our beds, saving even more on our installation. ROI? Last year we filled two freezers with fresh fruits and vegetables and had dozens of meals of fresh produce from our garden. In short, over the last year and a half, the garden has fully returned our current investment and has paid for itself. In addition, in a few short years, this garden will be valued at several tens of thousands of dollars.

Wow - yes! Do it! Good job!
(What more can be said?) :-)

Sharon

I've gotten everything about as ready as I can get it.

The contest opens on the first. We're entering our little garden in it. Let's see how it goes.

The final draft of the 'story' part of the contest has been finished. Tightened up, cleaned up, passive voice removed and changed, all that sorta stuff. Throw in a few pics, a list of current plantings, and we're good to go.

You should enter and your garden is beautiful.
GOOD LUCK!!!

I look back on the work I've done to get it this far...and I think I was nuts, doing it all myself and with hand tools. Of course, at this point, most of the hard labor is finished. The rest of the installation is just a matter of normal gardening.

otoh, it really looks good, this year. The reality is finally starting to match what I saw in my mind all along. Plus, we get good food out of it!