This vegetable garden is laid out on rectilinear lines with paths creating a cross-axis. The main path is flanked by raised beds and ornamented by a gateway at each end.

These beds are raised using stone tread stock set on edge and then back filled with an amended soil mix. Raising the beds makes turning the soil and working in the beds easier. The soil of the raised beds also warms up faster in early spring, allowing the beds to be planted a little earlier in the...

Zinnias, dahlias and purple ageratum at the gate….

A purple hyacinth bean vine (Lablab purpureus) drapes one of the gateways. Planted as an annual in Pennsylvania it will grow up to 20’ in a season, producing purple/pink flowers and fabulous purple pods all summer long. The leaves, flowers and pods look beautiful both clambering on the fence and in...

Espaliered apple trees were used as a living fence for this garden space. The raised planting beds are built of cedar planking for extra height in the raised beds.

Antique granite cobbles with a mill wheel to mark the intersecting pathways create the floor of this vegetable garden. Recycled granite curbing pulled up from city streets was used in creating the steps seen in the background.

In the late summer heat the tomatoes and peppers are harvested on an almost daily basis as are their companion herbs of basil, parsley and thyme. The zucchini squash in its own bed needs the extra space given its large (and very decorative) leaves.

The espaliered apple fence has become a dense wall of leaves, hiding a multitude of ripening fruit.

As the leaves fall with the turning season, the red apples covering the living fence are better seen.

At the close of the year the framework of the espalier fence is revealed.