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What makes up your potager?

16 years ago

After adding several shrubs to the potager this weekend, I have a question? How much of your potager is made up of vegetables? Herbs? Fruit? Flowers? Other shrubs/plants?

I would guess that blueberries, raspberries and strawberries probably make up about 35% of the garden, vegetables probably about 30%, flowers and non-fruiting shrubs (including roses) probably 30% and herbs about 5%. While that's still a lot of tomatoes, cabbage, beans, etc...I see now why I need another vegetable garden for big vegetables! LOL

While I could grow all vegetables in the space, I love the way the flowers, herbs, vegetables and fruit look, all growing together. Pretty, functional and so nice to sit under the arbor and relax in the evening :)

Comments (11)

  • 16 years ago

    Hmmmm....I'm guessing strawberries 10%, vegetables 20%, shrubs 20%, herbs 10%, perennials 35% (do peonies count as perennials?), and annuals 5%.

    Last year was very different :: heavy on the perennials and herbs and much lighter on the veggies. I'm thinking it will change a little each year until I find my potager garden groove :)

    Here is a link that might be useful: Our home and garden

  • 16 years ago

    Let's see....I have 48% veg, 15% perennial and flowers, 12% fruit, 9% herbs, 16% hops. (I rounded so it might be a bit off).

    Great question! I'm always interested to know "What's in your potager?"

    BTW, hubby perused the garden Sunday morning without me knowing. He said that he was speechless over how much was growing in the garden. I'm still beaming over that one.

    Lavender, he specifically mentioned that he liked the center circle with the mini-roses. Thanks for the advice on that one.

  • 16 years ago

    My potager is mostly veggies. That was my main reason for having it built.I would guess its about 75% veggies, 10% fruit,5% herbs,and about 10% flowers.Mine is mostly tomatoes and green beans. Our favorites. I will probably plant less tomatoes next yr, but there were so many varieties I wanted to try out now that I have somewhere to put them. I actually had a couple of nasturtium blooms for the first time yesterday.
    Tammy

  • 16 years ago

    Ali-b: I'm curious about your center circle with mini roses. How are they being supported in the center of your garden? I'm sure they look so pretty there!

  • 16 years ago

    While my potager is still incomplete, I guesstimate the current mix is probably 40% veg, 25% flower, 25% fruit and 10% herb. The veggies include some asparagus but are mostly those that are harvested on a more or less continuous basis once they start producing (spinach, radish, lettuce, cauliflower, broccoli, scallion, pea, carrot, bean, melon, tomato, etc.). We have a community garden plot for the space intensive or single harvest veggies (cabbage, sweet corn, potato, onion, pumpkin, winter squash, dried bean, paste tomato, etc.). The potager flowers are heavily weighted towards Wisconsin native perennials with a few traditional garden annuals thrown in. The fruit is a mixture of dwarf apple, pear and cherry trees, 3 raspberry beds, 3 rhubarb plants and several gooseberry and currant bushes. The strawberries and blueberries are located beyond the boundaries of the potager space so technically "outsiders" and not part of the potager.

  • 16 years ago

    ladybug - the roses are only about 6 inches high right now, but I don't think they'll need support when they get a bit bigger. Here's a pic I took a about 2 weeks ago. I was still getting things settled in so please ignore the messy stuff.

    {{gwi:1154225}}

  • 16 years ago

    Ali-b that looks so nice! Love the circle of roses! What kind of wood did you use for your raised beds? Did you use an untreated wood for your veggies?

  • 16 years ago

    Ali-b, Great picture of your garden. Your roses look so nice in the center :)

    The arches are for the hops, right? What's growing in the gray boxes? Those are cool!

  • 16 years ago

    Thanks! I used plain old 2x6 pine wood for my raised beds. I added some new ones this year, but the originals are 3 years old and doing fine.

    The arches have hops on them. You should see them now. They're all at the top and starting to work done the other side.

    The gray boxes are my tomato trellises. I have 1 tomato at on each side so 16 altogether plus 3 I snuck in on the empty sides of the hop arches. (shh, don't tell hubby) They're the same as from the Gertley's The Art of the Kitchen Garden. I had to have them so I bought their book, Classic Garden Structures for the plans and made them.

  • 16 years ago

    Ali-b, just out of curiosity, did you use treated or untreated wood? I've read so many opinions about whether or not to use treated wood.

    I like your gray tomato trellises as well! Did you use a blueprint of some sort to make those?

  • 16 years ago

    Ladybug -- I used plain untreated wood. Same for the tomato trellises which I painted gray. The book, Classic Garden Structures, by Jan and Michael Gertley have the complete directions to make them (plus a lot of other neat projects.)

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