Love that arbor! A lot of construction coming here for me, but, I am hoping for an herb garden next spring....I figure I can plan it out while it's cold and snowy. I live in New England.

Thank you for the response! I think planning an herb garden is one of the best ways to spend a snowy winter :)

Oh, that is going to be nice!

When we lived in the city, in a 600 sq ft house on a small city lot, I had raised beds covering half the backyard and both sides of the house. I actually grew enough vegetables (tomatoes, green beans, carrots, peppers, kale/collards/turnip greens, and other stuff to can and freeze enough for 2 for the entire year. It was all clay, but I mulched heavily over the 12 years we lived there and by the time we moved, the dirt was nice and soft. All gone now.

Oasis- What a great garden to grow so much in a limited space! The soil does improve over time....I'm so sorry it's all gone, now. Are you gardening in your new space?

My mom is a HUGE fan of raised beds! She's going to have some in 'her' garden. We're calling that the "pantry garden" since we'll be raising veggies like you were describing above. Lots of the vegetables and fruits that we want to freeze or can for the winter.

This is the "kitchen garden" since it will be mostly herbs, fruit, some veggies for immediate use and flowers. The fence will not be tall, since the best views are beyond this garden. This one is more of the pretty garden, but there is always a beauty to a well-laid out vegetable garden, too. More rustic and lots of raised beds/lasagna garden style. That will have a taller fence to keep the deer out, too.

With my mom moving down with us this fall/winter, it's going to be so much fun to share the gardens! She loves to weed and I love to water. Apart, we're a bit of a mess, but together....we have wonderful gardens :)

Well, we've been busy! Had some help the last week digging out beds and here's a new plan of the garden with some progress pics : )

OH WOW Lass that is a whole lot of digging. Looks great. Also looks like you have some amendments added in already.I KNOW how hard it is to do all that digging. I have some I have been working on myself but nothing on this scale.

My veggies are grown in the big old horse/cow water tanks now my raised beds. I just moved an old wheelbarrow and two more garbage cans into the area to plant. I was too busy vetting a kitty today and way too windy to work out there but maybe tomorrow. I hope to do some herbs in the wheelbarrow and zucchini in the garbage cans. I had squash bugs that killed my zucchini last year so I am planting them away from that area.

So are you doing veggies in all the dug out beds or flowers too? I do have some flowers in my ,what I call, pottager garden containers. Not all of them are planted to veggies.

So good to see you posting.

Thanks, Shades : )

We finally got some help....and the weather is perfect for digging. The soil is still damp enough to dig, but not so wet it's clumpy. Clay is a challenge, but it makes a great garden, especially with the horses! LOL

We'll be putting perennials on the outer beds. Mostly raspberries (red and purple) blueberries a grape a few blackberries...as well as some roses and other flowers and some herbs. My mom wants one big outer bed for aparagus and rhubarb and a LOT of strawberries.

The four inside beds are 8' x 8' and will be for annual vegetables and flowers. The beds on either side of the arbor are for vines (to cover it) and some peonies and bulbs.

We're really excited to get started! We've been planning this for years, but with mom moved in, we finally have time to begin!!!

Lass it is so good to hear you are finally able to work on some projects that have been long time plans for you. It is always good to feel the motivation of accomplishment. Everything looks to good!!!. Right now I am physically out of gas but hope to be pulled back together in a few days. Joe said we are supposed to get SNOW tomorrow. Shocked. Skies are just as black as can be though so some thing is going to happen.

Please take photos along the way.

Good to see you posting again LL. look forward to lots of pics soon!

shades, sorry to hear you might have snow or other bad weather. you and Joe stay safe! let us know what comes from the sky.

Thanks, Steph!

Shades- We're getting rain today, but it's supposed to clear up tomorrow and be 70 by Sunday! Hopefully some of that nicer weather will get to your place, just about the time you get your energy back : )

Very envious, LL.

No snow today yet. It is cold and very windy dark skies. Just a good day to rest in the house with tea and a good book. All is well.

days like that are great for a book and tea! enjoy it!

I am also baking raisin bread for hubby and later a cake or half a cake. The warmth from the oven is good. Not cold in here but baking bread just smells so good and warm. I can not eat it but hubby loves it. I just a simple batter bread recipe.

I like your plan and love to garden. I think a lot of it is experimentation. You will have to let us know how it goes this year.

I think herbs are the easiest thing in the world to grow. They need sunshine and watering. Pests tend to avoid them. My entire garden was eaten by voles last year, except for the parsley I planted.

handmethehammer. PARSLEY. Great idea I was trying to think what to add to my little wheelbarrow herb planter. Parsley is not only edible it is pretty.

LL I did get out in the yard yesterday for some serious work. Still looks a mess. but I know I have to be making progress as much as my body is hurting this morning. LOL

LL good to see you here.

I'm getting enthusiastic about my garden this year. There are three graduate students with no access to a garden who want to come play. It's likely they'll drop out later due to time restrictions, but if I get it set up and the watering set up I will be more likely to continue. I told them no pressure. I have plans for a lot of raised beds...got about 1/4 of them in last year. There is room in the center of my garden for a shelter of some sort and I am looking at geodesic dome hardware. Just add 2 by 4s. Then I'll fill in the top and west and south sides with lath, stain it all and let vining plants add shade. That would make a shelter 11 feet across and 8 feet high. I'll put in a table and chairs for dining and shelling peas and such. I can move my grill over there. Spring is really busy, so the shelter may go up in the fall.

When the garden is all done it would produce more than enough veggies and small fruits for me for a year and plenty more to share.

I want to get rid of as much grass as I can. Much of the rest of the yard can go in shrubs for the birds...currents, service berry, elderberry and the like.

LOVE your Cabbage description! That's what I have, may I borrow the term?

I also work on many projects at once. Too many to ever make much progress on any given one. It's the way I am, so that's the way it is. And eventually, I do get to tick off a finished item.

sbkh I am a many project person too. Your mini is darling. Would you be insulted if I said Nice Legs! LOL Our neighbor has two of them Mom and her now adult baby.

I love the way you are naming the areas of your yard. I do that too as the areas build upon their names.

I started totally from scratch here so I only have myself to blame for all the messes I have made of the yard. Mostly going at it with no plan. Now I am trying to clean it up some. A lot actually. I have been ripping and tearing like a maniac here. Really hoping this is the year to bring this place back under control. I LOVE my yard but I do not want to be a slave to it. I want to play with my neighbors minis. Some times they get to be in a small pasture right across the fence from us.

stringweaver -- Absolutely, you may borrow the term, The Cabbage (just give me credit...just kidding).

Shades_of_Idaho -- I'm far from insulted! That's one of the nicest things you can say about a mini. Of course, I'm the one who regaled our old neighborhood by telling one of the neighbors that our stallion had sexy legs! How great that you have minis next door to play with -- they are so addicting. I always say, they're not miniatures, they're concentrates!