It is always good to know what zone you will be gardening in as that does make a difference in recommending plants. What type of gardens do you envision? Are you thinking of more landscaping/hardscaping and shrubs or flower gardening? High maintenance/low maintenance?

Pictures of the area(s) are always helpful.:-) Once we get an idea of what you may want, we can offer better suggestions.

I think you will find this forum very helpful and friendly!

Hi, Mtnrdredux...are you planning to put flowers, vegetables, or both in your raised beds? Any idea what kind of fence you're planning to use? How big is your space?

If you're planning to put in vegetables, you might check out the Potager forum, too. Not quite as active, but they have some great posts to read through, with some nice pictures :)

Hi everyone, thanks!

I am in zone 6A. For now, there are two areas of concern:

1. I need some shrubs around the front of my house, and I'd like a flower bed to the one side of the front porch entry (its basically dirt from construction). The walkway there is being constructed so I don't have a current photo. I will try to post one tomorrow, along with that the landscape architect's rendering of that area.

2. We have a fenced potager (?) style garden with irrigation. I would like some vegetables, cukes, lettuces, carrots, herbs at the least .... and cutting flowers. Right now it has been cleared and cleaned up and mulched, only thing remaining are some hydrangeas outside the beds).

High maintenance is ok. The only reason we bought this house and moved was for the grounds. We have help ... and they have been taking care of the property for 15+ years! The prior owners have already done a lot here, as I am discovering as the blooms comes up. Lilacs, tulips, daffodils, apple trees, pussy willows, forsythia, hyacinth, azalea. And from last summer I remember roses, hydrangea, rhododendron and lots of hostas.

My last home was very formal and I liked the landscaping that way, for the most part. Boxwood hedges, stonework. Partly because it was brick, our old house looked a little like a bank! I liked mostly white and green in the garden. I actively dislike red (especially) and not crazy about orange and yellow. I have come to dislike poor little impatiens ... i think because it is so overused here!

I think the style of my new house is more English cottage garden, and I would like a looser, more romantic style.

Anyway, here are some photos of the fenced garden, from last year. They are pretty much empty and ready to go now. If i had to guess, extrapolating from the fence posts, I would say it is about 32' x 24'?

Thanks very much for your help. I really am a total neophyte, and this season I will have to rely a lot on others. But,with this property, I hope one day to be a gardener!

Exterior shot of garden:
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Another exterior shot (this side is deer fence only)
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A shot from inside{{gwi:675385}}

I'm a little confused. Are you looking for veggie & flower suggestions for the kitchen garden? How many beds are there?

Someone who posts on the potager forum has a garden you might like to see. I think she lives a little south of your area.

Here is a link that might be useful: Lulabelle's potager

Since you need layout advice, you might want to start with the landscape design forum on GW. Professional landscape designers answer questions there and will help review your plans and give advice on what your best approach is based on your input. Warning - they are not always as nice as the folks here, but if you persist you will get good professional advice.

I've put the link below.

Here is a link that might be useful: Design Forum

Natal, I was looking for help in two areas, but the pictures related only to the one area, which is, i believe a potager garden.

Rock Oak Deer, Thanks, Rock, the Kitchen Forum directed me here but that does sound preferable.

Ps Hi Lavender

Natal, I was looking for help in two areas, but the pictures related only to the one area, which is, i believe a potager garden.

Rock Oak Deer, Thanks, Rock, the Kitchen Forum directed me here but that does sound preferable.

Ps Hi Lavender

Hi!

Lulabelle has such a beautiful potager, but Natal's is very pretty, too! There are lots of very nice pictures on the potager forum.

Since you came here for help, I would suggest the soft, romantic colors of a cottage garden. Lots of blues, pinks, lavenders, white and maybe some very soft yellows. They really make the lavenders and blues pop!

Do you have any small children, who help in the garden? If so, you might want to stay away from foxglove and lily of the valley (poisonous) but if not...then those, along with delphiniums (white and blue) pink, fluffy roses, your hydrangea, maybe some white cleome (love those little flowers) and daisies would be a nice combination. I really like stock (lots of white and lavender/purples) or maybe cosmos, but it all depends on whether you want a more informal, cottage garden...or a slightly more formal layout. Both work very well :)

For the potager, mixing up herbs and flowers, with your vegetables will make a very interesting space and bring in lots of beneficial bugs. If you plant enough things together, you shouldn't have to spray any pesticides (which most people don't want to do around vegetables). You probably know all this, but just in case...thought I'd mention it.

You might want to take a look at Jennifer Bartley's book about the American Potager...something about redesigning the kitchen garden. She also has a new book out, which is supposed to be very good, too. Best tip I've had so far (and you probably already know this, too) is to plant annuals with annuals and perennials with perennials. This way, you're not trying to dig around your perennial herbs to add your annual vegetables.

Have fun with your gardens...it looks like you have a wonderful start with your potager :)

Rock oak deer is probably right ... if it's professional advice you're looking for (and it sounds like it is) ... the Landscape Design forum might be a better fit. We tend to be a more casual group here. Good luck!

Thanks again, I took a photo today and will post over there. I don't think I necessarily need professionals, though ... i really know absolutely nothing!

Thanks again.

Stay and play a while! We don't mean to chase you away! I know for myself, your pictures blew me away! I thought...what is he/she asking us for help for? You already have such a very lovely area to work with. So much of the hardscaping is already in place for you. Some of us would die to have the area and that layout! Wow!

As LL said, depending on what you want, a mixture of edibles as well as flowers would be great. You can mix in perennials as well as annuals for flowers, as well as cutting flowers if that is something you would want. Are you thinking of changing what is already within the fenced area? The layout? The raised beds?

It does look like there are quite a few plants already in place. Is this your first season with this yard? If so, I am thinking that perhaps you might want to wait and see what is planted/grows there and then decide what to leave and what else you might plant.

Do you have pictures of the other area that you would care to post? I am in a colder zone than you, but would be happy to answer any questions you have.

Sorry, I wasn't chasing you away, just echoing Rock's words regarding professional advice. I just peeked at your other thread. That's an amazing space for a kitchen garden! Why do you want to grow tomatoes in containers vs. in the ground? Looks like you have plenty of space within the garden itself.

Definitely not chasing you away! Please check back with any and all questions about the details of planting your gardens. You have a beautiful setting to work with and we'd love to see the progress.

I just thought your specific question about reviewing the plan and how set up the work in phases based on your current "reno fatigue" might be better answered in the other forum.

Rock - No worries, I didn't think anyone was chasing me away!
Should I post in both places, or is that not done?

Natal - Thank you, I am very excited, as this is our first season here, and I love the kitchen garden. The only reason I was going to put tomatoes elsewhere is that I noticed the PO did. And I vaguely recalled hearing that tomatoes worked well in containers?

MaryLu - Thank you. We bought this home because we fell in love with the setting, gardens, terraces etc. As far as the potager, I originally wanted to get rid of the plastic and put in stone. But in the winter once the plant material was gone I realized the plastic "GardenGrid" was an irrigation system of some sort. So I am keeping it. The beds are now prepared and the area is mulched, we just need to pick out plant material (see current photo below). That is my main question. In zone 6a, what should i plant? What can i plant? How should I divide it up? Those kinds of things. Right now the only thing left from last year is some raddichio and scallions. What types of flowers are good cutting flowers in my zone?

LL - I want an informal garden. Good ideas for flowers. I have to look up cleome, though!

Here is how the space looks today:
{{gwi:30915}}

Both places are fine, multiple forum posts typically are noted with "xpost" in case we want to be nosy and see what they're saying on the other thread.

I lived in Z6 and found tomatoes did better in the ground than containers. One summer I planted the same variety in both the garden and containers and the ones in the ground won easily with better, faster yield. Container experts might have a good result, but it didn't work for me.

what should I plant?

What vegetables do you like to eat? Seems like I remember reading you're in CT. Check out the link below for starters.

Here is a link that might be useful: this might help

Perfect, natal, thank you!

Here's a list of tomatoes for your area.

I second Sun Gold cherries. They're the first to produce and the flavor is fruity sweet. One of the best-tasting tomatoes out there! Cherokee Purple is another favorite ... has a rich, slightly smokey flavor.

Here is a link that might be useful: tomatoes for NE