I have seen some beautiful fenced vegetable beds. Gorgeous. Some very creatively fenced, some just using home store fencing.

I just "enclosed" my potager area with mulch to keep down weeds and grass. We used rolls of the weed blocking black landscape cloth (the stretchy kind), and the staples that go with it to hold it down. I laid the raised frames right on top of this and hammered them in. Today I used the metal edging to make a frame to keep the bark chips in, and filled the entire area around the raised beds with bark chips. It's not super beautifully ornamental or anything, but it will do the job until I can have a REAL walled potager made. Someday, in my dreams...

You could consider doing that too. Pour a footing around your area and build yourself a block wall a few feet high to keep out the bunnies. Eventually I would like a 6' walled and stuccoed potager with a gate on all four sides. I want a very quiet, private and serene place to do my vegetable gardening.

GGG

Here are a few pictures from last year. I'm quite a bit behind in both planting and picture taking this spring, but I still hope to make some improvements over last year. More flowers, more vegetables, move the corn out of the potager to rows up on the hill, build a water feature, build an arbor, etc. etc. For now I'd be happy to get all the crops in on time!

-Diggity

Diggity - I love your potager . . . that outhouse is to die for. Thank you for sharing pictures.

Edna

What a lovely setting! You're fortunate to have so much space. Having the compost bins in the garden must be really convenient.

What did you use to outline your beds?

Harper

Diggity,

That is beautiful!! What are the dimensions of your potager? It is just what I would like, but I am afraid it might be a little more than I could handle. Did you design/build it yourself? I am wondering if it would be a task I should contract out. Also, do you have a watering system? Keep us updated with new photos! Thanks for sharing.

Thanks everyone. The dimensions are just about 36 x 40. I would have loved to make it even bigger, but what the picture doesn't adequately show is that the potager sits in the flat area in the middle of a hill. Big incline behind it (to the left in the picture) and a big dropoff with a stone wall in front of it. And as it is, it's only a few feet from the neighbor's property line, so it really can't grow even an inch bigger than it currently is. That's why this year I'm developing 2nd and 3rd garden areas in other places in the yard - to handle the overflow. The potager will be strictly for "tame" plants and flowers.

The beds are made from pavers turned on edge. This worked out to be fairly economical ($1 each), and I like the look. It took quite a while to install them, but it went a lot faster once I made a lumber template. Paths are 3/8 inch round brown stone. No watering system, but it's pretty easy to cover it all by hand.

-Diggity

Not much of a "potager." Some day I'd like to create a "real" one where our lawn is now, but the hill side will do for now.

looking down into the yard

Diggity - LOVE the outhouse. Another idea to go in my wish book.

Hello mfliegner!

I've been gardening for about 15 years now but my "potager" is only going into its second year. I don't have a lot of experience growing vegetables, flowers I know pretty well but veggies are a whole new world to me.I thought for my first year at really trying to grow edibles, I was rather successful.

Well, my soil has had one more year of improving, I've had one more year of reading up on what the heck it is that I am trying to accomplish so I am very hopeful for this growing season in my edible garden area. I do grow flowers there too but for the most part everything planted in there (including most of the flowers) is with the idea that it will eventually end up on the dinner plate.

We have two dogs so shortly after we bought our house we put up a 5 ft chain link fence. I personally hate chainlink but we couldn't afford a privacy fence as large as we needed and we do live in hurricane alley. I'd be highly upset if one came through and took down a $6000 wooden fence! We still have neighbors missing pieces to their wood fence from Hurricane Isabell back in '03! So the chainlink went in with the idea that I can grow things next to and up it to help hide it. (My gourds LOVED the chainlink!)

We fenced off the back right corner of the lot with heavy wire purchased from Lowes. I had my husband build me 6 boxes which I filled with bags of soil from Lowes(ugh), compost, leaves, coffee grounds and whatever else I could get my hands on. I did not Round-up the area that we placed the boxes. My husband weed wacked to soil then I put down several layers of newspaper and paper bags then filled the boxes. I expected to have some weeds come through but so far everything has been do-able.

Around the inside perimeter of the fenced in area I layed down organic materials (not made compost), then newspaper and then a thick layer of mulch. I had weeds last year but nothing that was too daunting to deal with. Again, I didn't Round-up the area.

All these tasks were done in the fall of '04. Last year I had the best tomato plants I have ever grown. I had cucumbers, lettuce, canteloup, flowers, herbs, roses, some success with peppers and great gourds. Oh and in the fall of '05 I grew some awesome broccoli that I bought from Walmart!

I hand watered with a hose last season but this year I am going to try soaker hoses. I figure I can hook up the soaker hose, set a timer and while that is going on, I can be weeding. I actually like to weed most times, sometimes I think I like weeding better than the actual gardening! I know, weird but it's me:)

In the fall of '05 I put down another layer of paper and more mulch. So far this spring I have less weeds at this point (actually I hardly have any)than I did last spring. This fall I plan on giving a cover crop a try instead of the paper and mulch. We'll see what happens!

I still haven't figured out how to post pics directly to Gardenweb so please forgive the cut and paste links.

http://s7.photobucket.com/albums/y294/shellva/?action=viewt=IMG_0036.jpg

http://s7.photobucket.com/albums/y294/shellva/?action=view¤t=IMG0001.jpg

http://s7.photobucket.com/albums/y294/shellva/?action=view¤t=IMG_0274.jpg

I hope I haven't bored you to tears, that you are able to view the links I've posted and I hope you enjoy. I'll probably post more pics on the webpage later in summer when it's too hot to be outside anyway! lol

Take care,
Michelle

PS The garlic I planted last fall looks wonderful so far. I'm sorry I'm giving you such a detailed message but I guess I am trying to let you to know it is possible to have good results with little time (a lot of work though) and little experience:) Good luck!

Soggy 6, what nice pictures! I love the rock retaining wall and the variety of plants and rocks. My kids would love the rest of your backyard as well!

Shellva, no, you didn't bore me at all! It was what I was looking for. I have better idea of what I need to do, and I now realize it is not going to happen this year. If I could get the area dug out and fenced this year, I would be thrilled. I think you are being modest - I think it looks great! I agree with not using Roundup - yuck, in an area for veggies. I was thinking of a soaker hose, too, since it would free up your hands and you could weed, like you said.

Thanks to everyone again for being so helpful and for sharing. Keep thoses pictures coming!

Thanks gurley, I built it with leftover lumber that I had when we built a shed. It's very handy for storing tools, fertilizer, etc. and it only takes up a grand total of 9 square feet of garden real estate!

-Diggity

Diggity,
Very nice potager and cute outhouse tool shed. I designed one for my dad's yard and he built it. I wanted him to build me one too. (darn it!)
Soggy, I love your rock wall. I love rocks. Hope to build a rock wall on my lower west side of my garden. My yard slopes very fast so my potager has four terraces. This area was all contoured during the Dust Bowl days to stop erosion on sloping farmland. Prior to that there were also train tracks through here as this was an important cotton gin town & hub back in the day.
I just have field fence around mine,. I grow my cantelopes and small gourds on it, along with flowering annual vines and sometimes peas. I rotate my crops every year so that it is at least fouor years before I plant the same vegetables in a given place. The herbs are permanent, except the potted ones, of course. I would like to put up a short, white picket fence, but my chickens can easily go over that, so that is not doable right now. The chicken-guinea house and run adjoins my kitchen garden and the greenhouse-toolshed.
I long to have one like yours Diggity.
Thanks everyone for your fabulous photos and excellent ideas.
Annie

This is my new potager..........
I Just put it in a couple weeks ago. I'm still waiting for
the weather to warm up to plant in it. I have a few onions
in, and some flowers started and some herbs.
The field behind us is peonies. I'll have to post a picture of it when it's in bloom.

{{gwi:1152836}}

Michele,

How to post a photo in your PhotoBucket.

Under each photo in PhotoBucket there are three addresses or LINK options to that photo. They are:

URL
TAG
Img

To post it as a picture within your text, copy the TAG address and then paste it into your message where you want your photo to appear. Click on preview to see if it is how you like it. Then post it.
That's it!

If you want to make a direct link to view just the one photo, write your text, then Click on the Preview Message. Down below you will now see the "Optional Link URL" and "Name of the Link". Go to your PhotoBucket and copy the URL address or LINK under the photo in your PhotoBucket and paste it where it says "Optional Link URL". Then give your LINK a name and type that in where it says, "Name of the Link".
Click to preview to make sure it is okay, then post!
Voila! That's all there is to it!

If you need any further help, just send me an e-mail. I'll be happy to assist.

~ SweetAnnie4u

Thanks Annie for explaining that to me. I have printed out your instructions so now all I can say is that everyone on Gardenweb better look out!

When it comes to my gardens and showing pics of them, I'm worse than a new grandparent! lol

BTW, I LOVE your photobucket site. Thanks for sharing all those photos...beautiful:)

Michelle

Ahhh, shucks, Michelle! Tweren't nothin'! Just being neighborly over the garden wall.

Annie

Mine's kinda rustic, but I really like it. I'll be adding more pretties this year amid the veggies. But I must admit, healthy veggies are a delight to my eye.

Happy

Happy,
My dad used to put planks in his garden to walk on in the spring when it was wet and muddy. Looks like you have really good soil. Did you add peat or is it just naturally dark like that? Mine is that Oklahoma rust-colored dirt unless I add leaf mold, compost and peat.

You have a nice big garden and your veggies do look nice and healthy. Do you live on a ranch?

Is that Broccoli or cabbage or what? Do I see peas and mustard greens? Corn?
Whatcha got planted? I see little seed packet markers. I do that too. :)

I use hay for thick mulch in my garden to keep the ground cool and moist in the hot summer and smother out unwanted weeds and grass. When it decays, it adds nutrients and minerals to the soil and tilth.

Keep us posted as it grows.
~ SweettAnnie4u

Here's mine. It's about 5 yrs. old now. Dh and I made it all from scratch, including all the pickets. We will be building an arbor for the entrance this summer and putting in a cobblestone path which will be connected to a larger cobblestone area with a water feature.

We recently made a new bed in the middle of the potager, shaped like home plate. : ) I have a small pond and a birdhouse on a post for it, plus various herbs and flowers. Most of the pics are from last year. I'll take new ones soon, I hope. We are in the middle of major indoor renovations - new wood floors, new kitchen - so the gardens are fending for themselves. Good thing most everything is well established and on auto watering.

Diana

Everyone, your potagers are so inspirational!

I'm going to steal the outhouse idea and the water tank.

Diana, how big is that water tank? It's just what I'm looking for in the center of my circular potager.

Annie,
We have terrible black clay. What you see in that area is soil that has been amended, amended, and amended. Then we added expanded shale to help with further drainage. Unfortunately, if we get a 5 inch rain (it happens from time to time) or even if we get three inches in a day, our property gets wet and stays swampy for days. I finally gave up and added the raised beds to aid drainage. Don't ya know the very spring I did that ushered in a terrible drought.

The soil in the raised beds is native with expanded shale, bagged topsoil, cow manure, and home-made compost.

The planks are huge beams that my husband (a ranch-raised fella) inherited from an about to move friend. We place them on small log chunks to keep them up and out of the dirt. When they go, I'll do bark mulch paths. It is nice to go out there and not get muddy. What you see is broccoli, red cabbage, cauliflower, onions and blackberry plants. The white 'tags' are pieces of vinyl plantation blinds as tomato labels. Although when I took this it was too early to see, we also have okra, green beans, yellow squash, melons, pumpkins, cucumbers, and peppers. We have a variety of herbs and are adding more as often as possible. Basil and Rosemary are my favorites. Flower seeds are going in next.

We live on a acre. It is nice to be able to see over the fences for a longer view.

I love straw as a mulch. Cheap and easy to store. I buy several bales for fall outdoor decor and add a few more to surround the nativity scene at Christmas. Then we stack them and let them age until spring. This year's batch was full of seeds. Not hard to hoe up, but a nuisance never the less.

Happy

Diana, I dream of a cottage fence just like that around my potager. Neighborhood issues with the HOA make me reluctant to change anything about my fencing. When that settles, the picket fence is going in.

I have a picket fence headboard with unusual pickets. It would be fun to copy that design for the garden area. My husband is probably going to regret that you got me thinking like that. lol

Happy

The tank is about 45 inches across and 2 feet deep. My DH bought it at a feed store. I used it as a pond in the potager for awhile, but it seemed too big for the space. So now it's been moved to another spot in the back, and a smaller pond with a pump put in its place in the new center bed.

Mini pond for new potager bed:
{{gwi:1152839}}

Lewis likes it better empty ; )
{{gwi:1152841}}

Is that a catfish in your pond?

:)

Happy

I just discovered this forum a couple of weeks age and I just love it. I believe it is my new favorite. I have always had a cottage garden, but wanted a veggie garden also. We live in the suburbs, and I knew that a garden planted in the middle of my corner lot would probably not fly with the neighbors (goofy neighborhood by-laws). So my DH built me a potager. These pics are from last year. I haven't had a chance to take some of this Spring's plantings. So far I've planted beans, peppers, tomatoes, radishes, swiss chard, sunflowers, zinnias, & nasturtiums.

angelcub, I really like your pump and washtub. How did you get them to be that awesome color? I like Lewis too, he looks like a pretty cool cat.

ThinMan

Hello there Love2Weed!

Oh, I just love your potager. It is just perfect. A lovely combining of herbs & flowers & veggies. The beautiful nasty-urtiums spilling over out of the bed down into the path is quite cottage-like and I love bright, feathery cosmos anywhere, adding height and color. The coriander (Cilantro) flowers are very pretty with the cosmos. Just lovely. Very clever and inspiring.

Thanks for posting.
I learn so much from every one!
~ SweetAnnie4u

ThinMan, the pump and tub came like that. My DH surprised me with the pond last year. But from looking at it, I can tell it was done with paint. It looks like it's a very light green/blue rubbed randomly over a darker rusty brown color. I'm fairly certain Michael's sells kits to do this type of technique. At least I hope so because I'm planning to do the same thing to my big stock tank - some day. Hope that helps.

As for Lewis, he's not lived up to his namesake Meriwether, but he is a sweetie when he wants to be. He whines like a sissy, though. His sisters who are half his size are tougher than he is and give him a smack or two a day just to prove it. ; )

I'm loving everyone's pics! Soon we'll have new ones and fresh veggies for our dining delights. C'mon summer squash sautéed in butter and fresh herbs. Yum!

Di

Di - our Home Depot up here carry kits for the paint techniques, too.

I must say, I am inspired by all of the wonderful designs!! I currently have an English garden, but am planning a move, and I think the potager will suit my new place very well.

Thanks to all for the ideas and inspiration!!

Nancy.

Now that I know how to post pics (Thanks Sweetannie!) .....All pics taken this morning.....
There are a bunch of seeds in there waiting to come up, at least I hope so!

Love your potager, Shellva! Glad you learned how to post pics. I'll be looking forward to more.

Nancy, thanks for the tip. I found the patina kits at Lowes, too. I'll post on another thread, as this one's getting slow to load for ThinMan.

Di

Okay, here goes:

Now, I know you are thinking: 8'x8' beds?! Is she crazy?! It is a little inconvenient, but I was seduced by the aesthetics of it all. In hindsight, I could've achieved something similar with (6) 4'x8' beds and (2) 4'x4' diamond shaped beds, but, what's done is done. At least until I need to replace the wood, and then I'll do something that is easier to stretch across. I also still need to fence it in (I caught a deer *just* before he stuck his nose in my lettuce last week - so far he hasn't told any of his friends. And I also want to rip up the grass paths and lay down gravel. I love how that looks. My husband curses me every time he has to mow in there.

I love what you did!
Your Arbor is just beautiful!!

I don't have mine fenced yet either. I decided to go with natural things to fence it. So I planted a lot of tall things around it, leaving open spaces to enter from all sides... I don't have to keep anyone...kids or animals out...They all know the rules!!hahaha

I love my gravel....no mowing..no weeds.........but it sure does get hot!

I'll post a new pic later this summer when things start to fill in more. I hope others will too.

Haziemoon

Rather than dig up grass and do alot of unnessisary work, We go to a rug store, grab some used carpet and put the gravel over the carpet.
It works and it's free. It has worked for several years in one area of my yard. We are expanding it for all our paths.

Great idea! I've been dreading pulling up the grass. My husband will think I'm nuts (I guess he already does, though!) Is one type of carpet better than another - for instance, should I search for the really flat kind, rather than a thick shag? Or doesn't it matter? And will I need to replace it - will it get mushy and gross under the gravel? I'm guessing it goes right side down so maybe it doesn't matter?
Thanks!

What has worked best has been the really tightly woven and short office type carpet.
\ It does tend to break down over a couple of years (but my SIL was lifting it to find fishing worms!) Alot of it is still intact after about 3-4 years!

More great potager pics! I get so many good ideas, when I look at what other people have done in their gardens :)

Very nice luvboceli, especially the crabapple in bloom. How big are your beds and walkways?
Everyone's potagers all look so nice. Love the pics.
Tammy

I have 6 3X8 beds in the center with 2 square beds...along the permiter all the beds are probably about 18-20 wide...use these for flowers and herbs. The walkways are all mulched and are probably about 4 feet wide. This season will be my year where I throw myself into my garden. I lost my mother last August and I couldn't tend to my garden in the way I had hoped last summer. This year will be in honor of her as she was so proud of my accomplishment. I'm hoping my hubby will build the arbor this year at the entrance..we will see. Thank you very much for the compliment!

Sorry for your loss. A sort of Memorial garden. What a beautiful way to honor her memory.
I understand how the garden can get sorely neglected during times of family crisis. Last summer I finally got to start working on mine again after 2 years of upheaval. So best wishes to you for a fantastic gardening season.I would love to see updated pics when you get them.
Tammy

That last pic really helped to visualize the size better. I thought the paths looked huge before, but in the two above, it loks just right after you have plants spilling over. I see you live in the country, are deer a problem? My husband is planning a wood fence around ours, and I wondered if they would jump into a small area.
Tammy

I do have deer, but they have never gone into the garden. They tend to stay out in the field. I have a very intimidating Akita so maybe they can smell him. They do however bother my flower beds in other parts of the property.

How do you all water your gardens? Drip system going under the paths? overhead? I live in an area with minimal summer rain and have place soaker hoses in my beds and it doesn't seem like enough water. I had sour cucumbers and poor pepper crops last year. I plan on mulching with well rotted manure this year to try to keep it more evenly moist. Should I string a few more hoses? do any of you have any tricks when it comes to watering a potager? what about planting seed and keeping them moist for germination? the soaker hose doesn't do that very well. your gardens look great, bytheway.

I hand water every night when I get home from work....one of my favorite things to do.... it has seemed to work out fine for me.

I have soaker hoses on the perimter with quick disconnects so I can drag my 250 feet plus hose to each. While its being watered, I like to weed or deadhead. Then, I hand water the interior. One day (on the to-do list), I'd love to trench in some pvc-type piping underground from the faucet. Then there'll be no more near misses with running over my hose with the lawn mower.

My mom always shakes her head and says, "Isn't a kitchen garden supposed to be by the kitchen?" Well, yes, but the sunniest spots were either where the garden is now or smack in the middle of the lawn the kids play on. And, so, I get to hose wrestle when its time to mow.