No matter how finished I think my garden is or how many years I've been doing it, I am always looking for inspiration to make it work better or look better. These are some of the gardens I reference for inspiration all the time.
Dear Diary,
Today is April 23rd and I'm worried I've left planning this year's vegetable garden too late. At this rate I might never catch up. What if May 14th rolls around and I'm not ready to plant anything and I have a nervous breakdown and I don't grow any tomatoes and then I have another nervous breakdown?
Also Jimmy was standing near my locker after school today AND he waved at me in the cafeteria!
karen
This beauty of a photo is of my first full sized plot at my community garden. It measured 20' x 20'. A couple of years after this photo was taken, I took over the garden plot beside me to create a 40' x 40' plot.
Combining these two plots, levelling them, redoing the fence and raised beds was the equivalent of 1,792 Crossfit workouts smashed into the space of one month. Only by the end of it I had accomplished something other than barfing on a rubber gym mat while everyone cheered for me.
My original plan for my 40' x 40' garden was this:
scale: 1 sq per sq foot.
I really like how it looks but for some reason I didn't go with this plan. I never implemented it. Probably because even though it looks good, using a more straightforward layout would gain me more planting space. And more room for doing kartwheels.
The vegetable garden design I went with was this:
A standard straight row layout bordered by a raised bed that goes around the entire perimeter of the garden. The front row of plants in that perimeter raised bed is my asparagus, which is a perennial. The asparagus acts as a wind block when it grows and adds a bit of privacy. Not enough privacy that I can do kartwheels undetected, but I can definitely get away with somersaults.
In real life, the garden ended up looking like this:
The beds in the main area of the garden are 16' long by 4' wide. But because the frameless raised beds slope at the sides, I have a workable space of 15' by 3' in each bed.
However, after working in this garden for a few years I've decided that there's a bit too much wasted space at the back and also it was a pain to wiggle around my workbench at the back. It's the brown rectangular block at the back left of the garden.
By last summer I had increased the number of compost bins in my plot to 4 separate bins, which wasn't an efficient way to compost.
So THIS year I've changed things again.
You're always going to change things in the garden. If you aren't changing things chances are you aren't learning.
You can now take a gander at the plan for my 2021 garden which I'm working on right now.
The compost bins have been consolidated into one HUGE loose pile and my work bench is opposite it.
To achieve this I had to move my strawberry beds with the mesh triangular covers on them to the back left of my garden. Which meant I had to redo the raised beds to make them deeper back there.
This area is where the big compost pile now sits.
Having the compost bin in one huge pile with space all around it it means my compost will activate more quickly (bigger compost piles work faster than smaller ones) and it's 174 million times easier to work with. In the garden plan it looks like there's a wood crib around the compost pile, but I've decided not to build it for now. I'll just keep a loose pile.
I've spent the past few weeks looking at vegetable gardening inspiration shots that I've saved over the years. Sometimes for beauty inspiration sometimes for functionality. The French have valued the beauty of a well designed vegetable garden for centuries and their Potager gardens are something to aspire to. And by aspire I mean they make you think of packing up your belongings and moving to the French countryside. So those are usually my first choices for inspiration.
What's a French Potager?
A French Potager is just a vegetable garden that's aesthetically pleasing, symmetrical and usually has some sort of architectural elements to it as well.
A French Country vegetable garden on the other hand is looser, less concerned about symmetry and incorporates flowers like an English cottage garden.
Ready to be inspired? And a bit envious? And motivated? And kartwheel? Here we go.
My most recent inspiration came last year when I harvested rye from the Dundurn Castle Historic Kitchen garden.
This is a small portion of the Dundurn Castle kitchen garden. Granted. I can do NOTHING that you see in this 1.5 acre garden on the land of the castle's historic site. But it's the feeeelllllll that I like. It feels magnificent and humble all at the same time.
I'm hoping it will get to open up this year (last year was a bit of a bust) so I can go back and take really good shots of it for you to see.
If I had all the land to work with and all of the resources (cash, cash and more cash), this is the garden I would replicate for myself.
Now, in no particular order these are all gardens I find myself referring to every year at this time.
Ready to move to France yet? A lot of these French Potager gardens have wattle fencing which I love, but will never be doing in a million years. The other thing they have is some type of mulch between the beds whether it's pea gravel, bark or wood chips.
These next inspiration shots are mainly "real" gardens of real people and they're all exceptional.
click to see more of this garden
Click to see more of this garden
These tents are something along the lines of the tents I built over my strawberry beds.
Unable to find original source for image. Claim it if it's yours!
THIS is the illegal front yard vegetable garden that caused an uproar and protest in Quebec, Canada in 2012, the same year I built my Front Yard Vegetable Garden.
Guess what. No source again. (this is the problem with Pinterest ... too many photos not enough original sources) And this one is one of my favourites. It doesn't even look real, it looks like an artist's rendering of a zoo display that holds the rare Silverback Vegetable Gardener.
This one HAD a source, but it led to what's known as a site "scraper" which basically steals content which i refuse to link to. Claim it if it's yours.
It's almost impossible to find photos of regular bed gardens anymore. Everything is raised beds or square foot gardening. I honestly love the look and feel of row beds and my own garden is probably most similar to this, only my beds are raised soil (with no wood frames around them.)
Sadly no source for this great fence. Claim it if it's yours.
The photo below is a perfect example of an English Country garden. It's free flowing, not perfectly symmetrical and has bursts of flowers in with the vegetables. It's kind of my ideal garden. Structured and tidy but not rigid. It's the garden equivalent of a house that isn't too fussy and looks comfortable and lived in.
Click to see more of this garden
This weekend I'll be making 2 big changes to my garden which you'll find out about next week. Neither of the changes will impede any of my kartwheeling. Or somersaults for that matter.
Have a good weekend!
(yup, this is a repost, but it's been entirely rewritten in April, 2021 with new photos added in)
Steve Rahn
:-) Love to look at the pics of your garden, and they should inspire me to Gardening Greatness...but I just have too much other "Stuff" to do. So my version of a garden this year will be three Tomato Plants, two Lettuce plants, two regular Zucchini, two 8-Ball Zucchini, and two Corn plants - all in containers in the gravel bed along the west side of the house, and all taking advantage of the lawn irrigation system I installed last year.
BTW, RE: the pic with comment "Great Fence"...Fuggedabout the fence! I'm looking wistfully at the manicured lawn and the Roses, around the perimeter and between the beds!
Your next Post must include pictures and video of you doing Cartwheels among the veggies!
Steve
GrowInFlorida
Hello from North Miami! ☀️ Because we're in Florida and raised bed wood gets eaten by termites and fungus and other creatures within 2 years, we decided to build our new raised bed garden from charred wood. We bought square woods similar to the 2nd from the end photo, a torch and torched it ourselves using propane tank. Charred and oiled wood is supposed to live for 80 years, have to divide by 4 for Florida but even then it's not so bad in comparison with the 2 years our previous beds lasted 😝 Have you ever tried working with charred wood?
Karen
I haven't done it myself, no. I considered doing it when I built my chicken coop about 8 years ago but thought, no, that's a LOT of wood charring, lol. But a neighbour up at my community garden plot did a few of his raised beds with wood he charred with a torch last year! It's only been a year so I can't report on how well they hold up, but they sure look good! ~ karen
GrowInFlorida
I also thought charring is difficult and prepared to spend a long time on this project but saw one video done with a weed killer Torch (with a wide mouth) and it seemed super fast, so i bought one :) we had fun! Finished 2 tall beds in less than 2 hours. Then scrubbing wood is also pretty fast if the brush is good, and raw linseed oil application takes no time at all! My friend did it with a tiny welding torch and it took him two weekends 😹
Mary W
How is the wood holding up? As a fellow Floridian, charring seems like a good idea but would love to hear how it really holds.
GrowInFlorida
They’ve done great over the first year, we made the one-year update video: https://youtu.be/osnzI-bBiCw
Mary Tognazzini
WE USE RAILROAD TIES.
GrowInFlorida
Those have tons of toxic chemicals, not recommended for growing food...
Dr. James McCleary
Thanks a lot for responding
Dr. James McCleary
Really enjoyed this information. I wish there was a way I could print out what you're saying because I have trouble reading from a computer. But if I try to print out all the advertisement shows up. Is there a way I can do this. Keep up your work because it's enjoyed.
Karen
Hi James! Hmm. I'm not sure about that. Let me look into it if there's a way to print only the main text. ~ karen!
marissa
dr james- if you copy+paste with NO FORMATTING, it should leave the ads and extras out of printing.
alternatively, you can copy+paste to a google or word doc and then edit/delete what you want!
hope this helps :-)
Kimberly
By any chance does your computer have an "Ease of Access" in the settings? If so, you can change the size of the font,change your setting to a high contrast setting which is supposed to make the text show up more, or even turn on the narrator which will read the article to you(you can usually select between different voices as some are less annoying than others)which is something I frequently do because my work involves long hours typing documents and by the time I get home and want to read fun, informative articles my eyes are too dry and tired to look at the screen anymore. Or maybe I misunderstood the intent of your question. It wouldn't be the 1st time.
Julie
Have you had good luck using the Mother Earth News Garden Planner? I was thinking about trying the iPad app for it, but the reviews were horrible! I tend to be on the tight fisted side (read: cheap ass) and thought the $7.99 one time app purchase sounded better than the annual $29 fee. That being said, you get what you pay for. Wondering which option you used?
Thanks,
Julie
Erin
I've moved from 4' to 30" bed widths. So much easier for the aging me to work in and harvest from. A number of market gardening supplies are geared towards this size, so it is easy to get standardized tools, fabric and supports now.
We are trying to make the homestead a little prettier as we are planning to have a day of farm gate sales once a week. Lots of great inspiration in those photos. Thanks!
Karen
Yeah, I'm leaning towards under 4'. And just plain raised beds for most things with the odd raised bed with wood around it when I need support for a hoop house. ~ karen!
Nicole
I think we share the same pinterest boards :) I have made a pinterest account for our community garden and we have been collecting the same pictures it seems. We are expanding the garden as we speak. Our original half has the basic 4'x12' or 4'x16' raised beds. The new half will be set up in the Potager style garden with a variety of shaped beds and path ways. We are planing the planting to be a mix of perennial and annual fruits and vegetables, herbs and flowers and shrubs. All the produce we will be growing in the expansion will go to our charities in Hamilton. I will be following you closing this summer for sure!!
Kellie
I like you think a garden should look good. I think my garden board on Pinterest is almost exactly like yours LOL. Although I get the concept of designing it, I end up just free wheeling it so I'm not sure I can offer suggestions because I end up throwing out my plans at the end and just going with my gut. I do have to say that the garden at Dundrun Castle is probably the most efficent and beautiful gardens I've seen around our area yet.
I am looking forward to seeing what you come up with as you are a great thinker.
Kimberly Miner
I'm planning my first ever garden this year. I'm building my own raised beds and trying to figure out the best way to do that too. I am basically a total idiot when it comes to growing things, I usually kill everything. BUT this year I am determined to be very diligent and attempt to grow some stuff that I will actually use and eat. We just bought a house last summer with ample space in the backyard for me to have an actual garden and I'm beyond excited! Wish me luck!
Stephanie Hobson
Will you be able to keep your double allotment space in the future? Or will you need to keep your perennials in the same half?
TONI
WHAT DO YOU PLANT MAY 14 TH ... ? YOUR COMMENT STRUCK ME AS HERE IN "BANANA BELT" SARNIA, WE DON'T PLANT TILL MAY 24 TH. AND WE'RE NOT 'THAT' FAR APART FROM EACH OTHER. DAUGHTER & HER 5 YEAR OLD ARE PLANNING A GARDEN AGAIN THIS YEAR ...... SIMPLE STUFF ( BUSH BEANS, PEAS, CUC, CARROTS & CORN) WITH SUN FLOWERS FOR POLLINATION & NASTURTIUMS FOR DRAWING PESTS. RAISED BEDS ARE ONLY 4 X 4 & 4 X 6 OR 8 ( NEW ONE) .... WONDERED WHERE TO GET A COUPLE OF WOODEN HALF CIDER BARRELS FOR THE CORN. THOUGHT OF USING TWO OLD GALVANIZED WASH TUBS WHICH ARE CURRENTLY IN MY GARDEN SHED .... BUT WAS CONCERNED ABOUT THE POSSIBLE HEAT FROM THE METAL. ANY WORDS OF WISDOM ???
Karen
Hi Toni! I was hoping I could ask you to not comment in all caps if at all possible. :) It makes it difficult to read your comments. I plant everything at different times. May 14th is what the frost free date is in my are of Zone 6b. Other things that aren't frost intolerant like beans, peas, potatoes, can all be planted much earlier. In April. Galvanized tubs are fine for planting but she'll have to drill drainage holes into the bottom of them. :) ~ karen!
Christine
The unsourced garden, "the rare Silverback Vegetable Gardener", might be by Deborah Silver, author of blog , "Dirt Simple".
Karin Sorensen
hpw did you know that a site scraper was used? was it in the source code? or do you have some sort of scanning tool?
Karin needs to know
Karin Sorensen
wattle fencing! i need it! its stunning!
Kristina
Oh, that a-frame row cover is genius on its simplicity! We put in raised beds very like the second to last photo, and it's so nice not to have to bend over to weed, plus it doubles as extra seating for parties. I have a larger plot elsewhere on the property for space hogs like pumpkins and melons, though.
J-in-Chatham
" ...they make you think of packing up your belongings and moving to the French countryside."
I did just that albeit I was much younger, and much closer to France at the time (Scotland). Spent the best 5 years of my life there: worked as a nanny, learned how to collect hen eggs, taught English, skied in the Pyrenees, picked grapes (sometimes worked in the kitchen) during harvest, had my own radio show ..... I wouldn't change a thing, and would go back in a flash!
Madeleine
Having read your list of "to do" stuff that I started reading with great enthusiasm, I have to tell you that by the time I finished reading, I decided to have you come and do it all for me instead.
Instructions will follow!!! :))
Kristen
Compared to these pictures and Pinterest my non-raised bed garden with the rows planted close together so that the only weeds that grow are the pesky creeping jenny & charlie would be put to shame. We do have an anti-bunny fence crafted out of desperation that I swing myself and our now-4-year-old over in order to get inside. I'm getting seeds started this week with hopes to plant after the first of May. With any luck the hail and wind will leave it alone and we'll have produce.
Good luck, Karen!
Sharon
I am so jealous to hear you talk about moving dormant plants in March! And building garden stuff in March and April. Because it's March already, and my garden is covered in snow and will be for a good while yet. Snowed again here last night...
Karen
Well actually it's snowing here too right now, lol. But this has been an unseasonably warm and unusual winter so I can actually dig and move plants in March would wouldn't normally be the case. :) ~ karen
Linda in Illinois
Congrats Kat !!! you deserve the prize.. God bless
Now Karen, woman of my dreams. All those gardens are soooo beautiful. I would move to France to have such beauty but since I cannot at this time, I have to do my own. Working on mine to be that nice though much smaller, and I cannot build very well, nor do I have the space, I can still dream and with you for inspiration, it cannot go wrong.
Margaret K.
I realize you said you had no space, but in case you have even a small corner:
You can make raised from stacked concrete blocks and even put cap blocks on top to give yourself a nice flat surface to sit or stand on. It doesn't look as rustic except where the plants hang down over it, but it is pretty easy compared to making wood beds [which is what I have]. My sister has about 40 of them, 4 ft x 15 ft each that she has built over the years for her annual vegetables, perennial vegetables and fruit and roses. Lowe's has an Internet article on how to do it and I am sure there are many others.