Loved hearing about your plans, and seeing your vegetable bed. Very nice!

Last year was my first year at growing vegetables. I got some meals out of it, and even canned some hot sauce, so I deemed it a success.

Here's a picture of last year's garden. It was just three 4x4 raised beds. I fenced around it to keep the cats out.

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Since I have a little more confidence, I have enlarged the bed somewhat. Now it is in a U shape. The picture shows the legs of the U, with the top part being the same length (12x12x12 - 4 ft wide).

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I put the little concrete rooster in there just for fun. Next to it is a post with a hanging basket for annual flowers, to help attract the bees. We just got finished putting in the dirt. My biggest problem is trying to keep the bermuda grass out. I'm hoping to shade it out with cardboard and a thick layer of pine straw. Still have work to do there. That's why you see the cardboard box in the picture.

CMK, I do the same ... "mix some colorful/ornamental veggies and herbs" in with everything else.

This time of year it's herbs, Bright Lights Swiss chard, Red Sails lettuce, arugula, daikon, English peas, Dianthus, Violas, and larkspur. Helped dh put the cold frame together today (that's it in the middle of the garden), so next week I'll start some flower seeds. Then in a couple more weeks tomato and pepper seeds.

During the summer I have some salvia, echinacea, milkweed, and firecracker vines growing in the garden along with the veggies & herbs.

St. Francis shares the space along with a couple obelisks. Last fall I replaced the arbor's Sweet Autumn clematis with Climbing Pinkie roses.

The lighted deer will stay up for another month or so. I like seeing them out there at night.

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I was trying to mix flowers in with the veggies more, but the flowers take up too much space! With that in mind, I work hard organizing the veggies so that they themselves are pretty.
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another view:

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here's some bounty:
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In winter things are not so pretty:
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Here's what will happen in a few weeks:
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Everyone has such nice vegetable gardens! I'm so jealous of all the tomatoes, peppers, squash, etc. My garden frosts so early, I'm still trying to find ways to get more success with my warm weather veggies :)

My vegetable garden is what I call my kitchen garden (or potager) and it's a mixture of fruit, herbs, flowers and vegetables. I would have a lot more roses, if it weren't for the deer, but I do have a few and other perennials on the perimeter beds.

I'm planning to put a fence around it this year, and plant perennials around the outside and annuals with a few perennials on the inside. The beds around the big arbor are for roses, clematis and herbs. This spring, I'm adding four small beds around the birdbath, for mini-veggies and some edible flowers.

Here's a picture from last summer, to give an idea of the overall layout.

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Here's a picture from last fall, to show the roses and herbs around the arbor.

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Finally, here's a picture of the garden, in the winter.

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WOW!!! What fantastic veg gardens guys!

-holleygarden, like what you have done with the raised beds. Ha ha! That always happens with me too. I make a bed and then decide it isn't big enough!

-natal, what a fantastic space! Bright Lights chard IS lovely. Too bad I don't like the taste, LOL. I grew arugula for the first time last year (Came in a mix. Didn't know what it was until I looked it up). Such pretty flowers, but didn't care for the taste! The neighbors have some pet bunny rabbits, so at least it didn't go to waste! ;-)

-GGG, I am in love with your veggie garden. Hopefully some day I will be able to get mine laid out as nicely as yours. That raised bed with the rocks is especially nice. What is that lovely purple leaf vegetable in the basket? Mizuna?

Did you make the hoop houses yourself, or buy them? I've been thinking about trying one out over my bed to get some early crops going.
CMK

I love lavender's double bench with arbor. I have never seen another one like it!

CMK, I like the "rock" bed too, it's chunks of cement and has strawberries and some blueberries in it right now. I may do more of these, I love the cement chunks as garden rocks, but I never know when I can get more...and then they are coming in unmanageable sizes (with a lot of junk) when people just unload their driveways on me (and one day I will have my own driveway, which needs to be replaced. The wood of course rots, but it takes awhile.
The hoop houses are so simple. They cost about $10 a bed. I buy long plastic sheeting in the contractor department and make sure it's a heavier weight. Under that is a layer of the new heavy weight remay which can now hold temps at least a minimum of 10 off of the low end...and they are working better than that for me.
The frames are simply 1/2" PVC "hoops" which get inserted into pipe clamps. Then one long piece goes over top and it simply bolts together with a very long narrow bolt. I purchased pipe clamps on the internet.
Each hoop is completely assembled in less than 1/2hr. and when I disassemble them I just tie each with twine and put hte hardware in a baggie and tie that on. I made "rafters" in the crawl space under the house and they fit between the floor boards under there. Plastic and remay get washed, dried and put in a water proof bin and under that goes. So easy to do. And so worth it for me. Even after that terrible ice we just ate a wonderful spinach pizza (also with frozen roasted onion and garlic from Spring), and had Daikon radish, carrot and swiss chard soup with garlic and sweet potatoes stored from the summer. I rarely ever buy a vegetable. The store clerks must wonder about us, and think we only eat fruit and cheese!

Lavender Lass, nice winter picture! Love those horses.
I see you are in eastern Wa. I used to live just north of Spokane (Mead area) in the 50's and early 60's. Seattle area now and a completely different climate west of the Cascade Mountains. I loved that area when I was growing up.
We always had a large veggie garden on the farm. Eastern Washington has a very good climate for growing veggies. We could even grow Cantaloupe! That's where I learned to grow a garden. I'm into ornamental gardening now. See below.
Mike

Here is a link that might be useful: My garden.....and travels.

Mike- Thank you for sharing your photos. You have such a different climate than our side of the state, but beautiful gardens! :)

I am in eastern Washington and I live about 30 minutes southeast of Spokane. We have a colder climate and a shorter growing season. It's always about 10 degrees cooler in the evenings and we have a much earlier frost.

CMK lives in Spokane, which explains her wonderful warm weather veggies. I wish we could grow melons and squash, but I'm still hoping to find a way to get a better micro climate, maybe against a building or in a protected area.

I would really love to grow Cinderella pumpkins for the nieces and nephews (not to mention tomatoes, squash and melon) but it's hard to grow them in three months...but I'm still trying. This year, I'm going to start the seeds early and plant them right out in the garden. Last year, the birds kept eating my pumpkin seeds!

Red Perilla would be nice there. Resembles coleus but it's a
herb. You can use it in salads. It has a curry flavor. I've never
tried it, but I just ordered seeds.

You've asked, you got it. Sorry, so many pics but I'm so proud of my garden - first year gardening, everything from seeds!
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Loved the pictures of everyones gardens. Adamark, you should be very proud of your gardens, they look lovely! It is even more impressive knowing you are a first time gardener growing from seed too.

freezengirl - thank you, now, when I'm looking at those pictures, I have to make a correction - lantanas, sweet potatoes vines and some of those petunias were not from seeds. The funnest thing what happened to that burgundy sweet potatoe vine. I don't know where it came from. When I was planting my containers I found in some old soil a piece of tuber, so I stucked it in and voila!

-LL, what a fantastic idea to have mini veggies!! Your nieces and nephews would love them I bet! You should maybe check out Tomato 'Tiny Tim'- I saw a picture of it recently and it was quite short and compact. Plus Carrot 'Thumbelina' which is small and round- and the name is cute too ;-)

-GGG, thanks for the info on making the hoop houses. I think I may try doing something similar, though I seriously doubt it will turn out as nice looking as yours! Would be great to have one, especially if we have a late frost again like last year ;-P

-roper, didn't know about perilla! It looks beautiful. Some sites say it may be invasive...may need to check up on it first since one thing I do NOT need is more plants that need pulling etc.

-adamark, don't be sorry! I absolutely adore your garden! That is exactly what I hope my new front veg area will look like. Such colorful beds- and tidy too! Never even thought of sweet potato vines. May have to pick some up in spring to cascade over my raised bed. What is the pretty blue (almost has metalic sheen) vegetable in your first and second pics? Some kind of cabbage or collard?? Your picket fence with the containers of annuals is a nice touch. What is the mesh around the bottom of the fence for? Very glad you posted so many pics ;-) Thanks!
CMK

Adamark, WOW! You did a fantastic job!! I love the fence with the flower boxes on it. I'm kind of jealous of that because I just can't get things to carry on all season in a flower box here! I'm also loving your runner beans! They are my favorite bean and wouldn't you know, they don't do well here for me at all!

Beautiful job!

CMK - thanks, actually, the garden is in the back. That's my "private" space. No one can imagine that that garden even exsist. As a matter of fact there are two fenced spaces. One with raised beds, the original garden. The ather is my "container" garden. I just wanted to cover those ugly AC compressors or whatewer those noisy things are. I had those huge containers and my DH conected them with arches of fence wires. I had peas, cucambers and beans there. This year I'm planning to plant grape tomatoes there. This "blue" veggie is a red cabbage. Didn't grow very big but I've got a few decent heads. Mesh arround bottom - metal fence agains bunnies. That's the main reason why everything is fenced. We have a lot of "cute bunnies".
girlgroupgirl - this running bean is not only very beautiful. It is tasty too. Today, I'm making a bean soup from these beans.
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I will trade your rabbits for my moose! Everything else in Alaska I know I can adapt or manage, but those moose are public enemy #1 for any gardener.

Wow! Beautiful pictures of gorgeous gardens.

Am I the only one who has planted vegetables in my flower gardens to dress them up? I think zucchini plants are spectacular.

My humble little patch hardly compares to the other big beautiful veggie gardens posted. I plant mostly lettuces. This a photo from last summer. Not in the photo are the 8' tomato plants on the far left and the double row of ground cherries on the far right. The Painted Lady beans haven't started to climb the trellis yet.

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Ohhhhh, great pictures of some lovely veggie gardens. I haven't really taken any pictures of my veggies as they are scattered around, I'll see if I can remedy that this year. The only thing I have pictures of is my raspberry bed, I took these to show someone my method of growing raspberries confined to a small raised bed.

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In late winter, this is the second raspberry bed grown in the same bed, I changed the variety I was growing to Tulameen, second year this lot was in.

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Closeup of how the canes are woven along the wire.

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Showing the T-Bar and spreader bar.

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Taken in the fall after the old canes have been removed and what the new canes look like after woven around the wire.

I'll have to take a picture when they're loaded with berries and the new canes are contained behind the wire.

Using this method you don't have to shorten the canes, they are at easy picking height, the new canes produced are kept out of the way by keeping them in the middle behind the wire. In the fall after the old canes are cut out and when the new canes are mature enough to bend without snapping they're woven along the wire using the french braid method.
Even in a smallish garden one can have a raspberry patch grown this way.

Annette

Annette: That's exactly how I would love to grow rasberries and blackberries. I hear it is very productive.

Schoolhouse I LOVE your veggie plot! How I wish I could grow lettuce all year around!

Beautiful veggies, peeps!

Here is my humble offering. I grow many herbs and veggies in pots. Will get more pics this year, I hope.

This is my side garden in the backyard---very informal. I tuck in various herbs, and whatever else will grow in there in a very haphazard manner. More coming this year...

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Here are my Lemon Cucumbers in a container, along with scented purple sweet peas! May 2010

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Lemon Cucumbers

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Celebrity Tomatoes

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More Celebrity Tomatoes June 2010

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Cinderella Pumpkin, before it died.:(

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Pineapple Sage growing in ground against the dside of the house.
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Thompson Seedless Grapes
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Lemon Verbena in a pot

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Harvest 2010 (basil, lemon cucs, celebrity tomatoes and juliet grape tomatoes).

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GGG, very productive, growing the canes horizontally you get more fruit and so easy to pick. I've been growing them this way ever since I saw this method on a Victory Garden Wisely segment many moons ago.

Becer, OMG I want to snatch that tomato right off that plate, it's a good job it's not within my hand's reach:).

Annette

Great veggie gardens everyone. The most I do is some lettuce in flower boxes and maybe a tomato plant or two. Still haven't found quite the spot in the yard yet for a veggie garden but hope to figure it out some day.

Adamark, I just have to comment on your garden. I would have much rather seen your "real" and beautiful garden in the movie It's Complicated as opposed to the fussed-over, hot-house grown, pretty much fake garden where tomatoes were wired to the plants. Your garden is so beautiful.

-adamark, I second that the runner beans are wonderful! My favorite in fact, since they have almost no "strings" and are so tender if picked young enough. Yum.

-Christine, how in the world do you get such nice looking lettuce?? Do you have bird netting to keep the feathered beasties away? It is a real race for me to get mesh over my potted greens before the birds go and nip them to the ground!

-Annette, that is sure a nifty way of growing raspberries. You wouldn't want to see my tangled patch, lol! I am green with envy seeing your lovely greenhouse! Sigh...what fun to curl up there on a cold day with coffee and a book- surrounded by plants ;-)

-Becky, oh la la! Those tomatoes look so nice! Is lemon verbena a perennial in your zone? Tried a lemon verbena plant for the first time this year and liked it so well that I brought it indoors to try and overwinter. Some aphids hitch-hiked on it and came indoors too, LOL. -By the way, I LOVED the lemon verbena and mint iced tea recipe you posted in the conversation side over summer. It is a keeper! ;-)
CMK

Hi Christine, Yes Lemon Verbena is a perennial where I live. It (usually) does go dormant in my climate. And, then it is quite slow to start to leaf out again in the spring.I have another LV plant in the ground, and it is nowhere as lush as the one in the pot--go figure! Probably too much shade. Lemon Verbena is my favorite lemony herb. I hope yours winters over--have you considered taking a cutting and see if it roots in a vase of water?

I didn't know LV could root so easily! Cut mine back to the woody stem since the new growth was infested with aphids ;-( Next sprout off of it I will stick in water to try that out- thanks for mentioning it.

Awesome that it is perennial for you! That would be so much fun having it grow to be a big shrub. My plant was wonderfully lush n' large living in a pot too. Really took off in the heat of summer. Not looking forward to repotting that big bear in spring though. Ugg.
CMK

Hi Christine, I hope the Lemon Verbena cutting roots for you in water. Just a suggestion, as I have not tried that, yet. But, nothing to lose, right? Please let me know if it works! :) Becky

What fun to see all your vegetable gardens. Vegetables can be really quite beautiful. I really like the idea of growing our own and the whole organic thing.

My story begins with a vegetable garden that my son grew and tended until he graduated from high school. I really was much more interested in flowers, but I took it over. I hated it. The weeds were hard to control and the edge hard to keep neat. After a few years I finally decided to embrace it. I analyzed why I didn't like veggie gardening and decided that if it was pretty and less labor intensive that it might appeal to me more. So I created a Potager. Just the name sounded interesting to me. I lined the whole garden with old bricks and made it symmetrical with a large urn for a centerpiece. I later added the arbor. I began to look for unusual vegetables and now like to try new things each year. I have also added flowers and herbs. In fact one of the quadrants is a small cutting garden. Since its just hubby and I, we don't really need such a large one. Here are a few pictures of my Potager.
This first one is early spring and showes the bones of the garden. Basically a rectangle with a semi-circle on each end. The back end holds the asparagus patch.
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Michelle, that is absolutely gorgeous!

Oh Michelle! I just about gasped out loud when your pics came up. Love the way you laid out the bricks. What do you plant in those little spaces by the large diamond in the center? Is that bloody sorrel you have growing with your Nasturtiums? Sure has beautiful foliage- do you find it invasive at all?
Fantastic set up! Thanks for sharing
CMK

Thanks for the sweet compliments. It is bloody sorrel (awful name) In the triangles around the urn is the sorrel, nasturtiums and then around the outside of the square is the parsley that went to seed. This is my first year with the sorrel so we will find out.

Michelle

Michelle; gorgeous garden! A real potager. I really like your bloody sorrel. Now I have a good reason to order some more seeds. Since, it is not worth to order just one pack, other goodies will have to be order as well. I�m sure, I can wintersow that sorrel. I did it with a "regular" sorrel. In the last picture, there is some kind of purple kale?

Michelle, your garden makes me think there is a brick cottage nearby. Very nice.

As far as keeping birds out of my lettuce, I never have noticed trouble with birds. Mostly groundhogs will taste the new leaves but really don't do much damage after that. The one green they will eat right down though is Romaine, so normally I cage the new plants until they grow bigger and not so tasty. And unless I grow peas on a trellis, the groundhog will eat the entire row just when the plants are near to blossom.