T-bird, My potager started out to be all about vegetables and herbs, with some flowers and a little fruit. Sounded great in theory, but with a three month frost free season...and very long winters...it didn't look at all like the beautiful potagers, in the books.

So, while I like the layout, it has turned into a fruit, shrub and perennial garden, with a few annuals tucked in. The fruit is still pretty small, but in the next few years, it should make a nice border around the garden. I've decided that the annuals and 'deer candy' plants, will go in a smaller, fenced area...when I get the time to build it :)

Meanwhile, my (well, I call it a kitchen garden now) has grown into this very large garden, with arches, arbors, vines etc. and it's beautiful...it just isn't vegetables, anymore.

So, maybe what would work for you is a combination...eaiser maintenance fruits, shrubs, perennials on the border and a few small beds of vegetables in the middle. Maybe the classic four beds with a birdbath in the middle? Then the border could also have a little seating area tucked in, perhaps a bench under an arbor or a table with a couple of chairs.

While it's smart to not get too big, I think it's just as important to have higer and lower maintenance. A garden that's too small can be just as frustrating. And remember...those perennial borders will bring all the good bugs into your garden...and it will be much prettier, too :)

Oh, here's some of the arches and arbors. I think they're all clearance items from Fred Meyer...so don't forget to look for great deals, at the end of the season! {{gwi:1155436}}From Lavender's Garden
{{gwi:1155438}}From Lavender's Garden
{{gwi:1155440}}From Lavender's Garden

And a few pictures of the plants... {{gwi:1155442}}From Lavender's Garden
{{gwi:1155444}}From Lavender's Garden

I always recommend starting small and adding to it as you achieve the look you're going for. Instead of planning and executing the whole thing in a season, plan it in stages. First year the first bed and paths around it. Prep and amend the soil in the bed, fill it up with the things you want to grow in it and maintain it through one season. The following season add another bed, more paths, and maybe an arbor or gate to the path.

The first bed should be less maintenance since it was so carefully prepped the previous season. The new bed will be the same initial level of prep and amending, planting and maintaining. Follow this schedule for the next two years, adding a little at a time until you have the size and look of potager you really want.

Gardening is growing things, including your own confidence and understanding of the plants. Some beautiful gardens are created in a season by dozens of landscape architects and hoards of sweaty guys working all summer to weed, trim, water, etc. I kinda like that idea and would love for my yard full of sweaty guys all summer here just to do my bidding, but I'm not that rich. On the other hand, thousands of beautiful gardens are created by a single person over a period of seasons persuing her own vision of utility and beauty. And that's my favorite kind of garden.

Cheryl

For me, part of the solace of gardening is the process. So set yourself a reachable goal for this season and try to reach it. What I have learned about my potager through time and money constraints is I have to accept the reality of my situation and work within that reality. There are a lot of wonderful ideas on the ideal way of doing things but often, the ideal way ends up costing a lot of money.

I had read square foot gardening and I wanted to incorporate that into a potager design. Hubby and I made a design on graph paper. Each 4 x 8 bed (and there were 10 of them) would have cost $25 in lumber alone and then they would have needed to be filled. We scrapped the wood idea and now we get rocks. One wheelbarrow full at a time, it is slow and tedious but free. Because we cannot afford to fill them with an ideal planting medium, we double dig the beds and amend the best we can. Again, this is not easy but it is my reality. This will be my 3rd season with my potager and not all of the beds are built yet, my I do see definite structure. Also, you have to deal with the changing nature of things. Our first 4 years in this house, the deer stayed away. Last year, they came with a vengance so bed building was put on hold for fence building. The first year I planted some trees and they died from lack of water because DD was in the hospital. Guess what though, this year I should be harvesting asparagus well. Do what you can do and enjoy the process, the whole thing will come together eventually.

Thank you all! Lovely, sensible, inspiring advice!

You know, I found some old pictures the other day of a birthday party for DD in the yard from perhaps 6 years ago...I got very depressed and tearful. The yard looked perfectly nice, and now after trying to garden for years, it looks terrible!

Going forward, I'm going to take your advice to heart and work slowly over a period of years and just enjoy the process. And just make sure things are looking reasonably nice in the unattended areas during the transition.

I've bought a whole slew of flower seeds, mostly annuals. I'm just going to plant a bunch of flowers to stick all over into the areas I don't know what to do with yet or can't execute "the master plan" this year. They are all pinks, whites, salmons, and peaches, so tone on tone and I won't need to worry about what color is where - it'll all go however it lands....

Thanks again!