I live in NoVA, on a typical suburban lot. I work p/t in a garden center, which enables me to buy lots of things for my yard. My kids are on spring break next week, which means I'll be taking a week off from work.

Things are just starting to wake up in the yard, the only things I've started from seed are snow peas (no sign of life yet)& a few perennials in containers (agastache, salvia).

I did get a few things accomplished today-planted 2 pluots (now I have 2 apricots & 2 pluots on a N/E Fence). I also planted 2 containers w/ euphorbia, lithiodora, sm. dahlias, fragaria 'Pink Panda', & lots of violas 'Coconut Sorbet'.

My roses have been pruned, I just need to get a few more things in the ground-daylilies, potted plants I've bought-stachys, cerastium, as well as pot up a bunch of dahlias & elephant ears...

I plan on growing veggies in earthboxes, as well as in the ground-I buy started plants & put them in where ever I can fit them. I also like to mix herbs in w/ all my other plants-my favorite for roses is purple fennel...Linda

Hello! I live about 30 min from Savannah, GA. Hot and Humid is the name of the game around here. We do have great dark sandy soil.

We moved in two years ago to a bare weed infested yard. Most of the lot is woodland that was covered in thick under growth.

My hubby loves to start new projects; howerver, he takes a loooong time to finish them. Often changing his mind half way through.

I did manage to get four 4x8 foot boxes made for my portager. I still have about 6 more mounds of dirt that looks like graves. Maybe one day...

I have zuchs, squash, beans, cucks, tomatoes, strawberry, corn, okra, leeks, watermelon, cantol., onions, lettus, turnips, radish, egg plants, peppers, and sweet peas planted currently. I also have some gourds. Sounds like a lot but I only plant 3-5 plants of most of them. Just enough to look neat. I have planted some boxwoods around two sides. It doesn't look like much currently but I have high hopes for a few years from now.

I have created a great tropical garden, mini moon garden, pink memorial garden (Mom recently passed from breast cancer), and a few non-impressive front yard gardens.

I live in Western NY (zone 4-5-6 alternatively!)
The only things up in my potager so far are tulips, thyme and oregano and some leftover carrots from last year. This year I'm going crazy on eggplants. I just ordered 3 more varieties to add to my usual 4. I am anxiously waiting on my grow light so I can start a flat of heirloom tomatoes and eggplants instead of putting them in the office window.
This past week felt like May not March and made me think I ought to be planting something. At least I can plant peas next week.

I got my large row garden rottotilled yesterday and I must confess I enlarged it. We are sharing with the next door neighbors, and the entire garden is now 57 x 80 to accomodate sweet corn, potatoes, 5 varieties of squash and a pumpkin patch. I kept stopping the tractor to guage the mood of my husband... he hates gardening... and he kept saying "keep going if that's what you want"... so I did.

kaye,you must have done so much work to get all that gardening in in the past 2 years. whats in the pink garden? I am currently working on a "peppermint" (pink, white, red) bed - 48 foot long side bed along our west fence. I am doing it simply b/c I am tired of all the xeriscape beds I see that are all yellow and gold. Cant we do cottage style xeriscapic beds instead?

Farmer, what kind of eggplants are you puttin' in? I found Kermit, a round Thai variety, at a local garden shop - had to take it home and give it a try!

and thistle,I am envious - I want pluots! of course, I want to work in a garden center too - but that would be deadly cuz I would never bring my paycheck home!

Kermit looks like a fun little eggplant!

Last year I had Burpee Hybrid, Fairy Tale, Crescent Moon and Blue Marble which was a Burpee variety they aren't selling this year. I still have seeds though, and I am repeating those varieties. I LOVED the Blue Marble.
I just added Rosa Bianca, Prosperosa and Round Mauve from the Tomato Growers website.

I live on one of the barrier islands between Savannah, GA and Tybee Island (Savannah's beach). I have a very shady yard, so I don't actually have a potager - but I want one! Does that count? I have ferns, and hydrangeas, and azealeas and more ferns, but no vegetables...I have managed to squeeze in a couple of shade tolerant herbs.

farmer, I have been lookin at Rosa Bianca. You are going hafta post an update and tell us how all those eggplants do.

Coastal, get u some pots and start joining the fun. Peppers just love living in pots, and they have tiny root systems. And they will do fine with morning sun and evening shade.

Don't know how deep your shade is, but you could probably put strawberries in some of the bright shade areas. Anyone have other suggestions?

They say Kolrabi likes filtered light. I'm trying that this year. Celery. Are your trees conifers or deciduous?
If you get spring sun how about peas?

I've been away from this forum for awhile, because I've been cleaning up in the yard. We had a few killer frosts this winter in Southern California, and it looks like we're heading into a draught this summer, so there has been a ton of dead leaves and debris to rake up. Way more than usual.

Anyway, DH suggested that I call myself Boondoggle because I've had a few cost overruns in my garden, and five years later, the project still isn't finished yet. ; )

I have a cottage/potager behind my detached garage, and it's bordered by block wall, dog-eared fencing, and a white picket fence. The beds are not square or symetrical, but sort-of lobed, like a map of the Great Lakes. It looks more like a cottage garden than a potager, but I consider my emphasis to be herbs and vegetables, so I call it a potager. We just got our first decent digital camera last month, so pretty soon, when I get up the nerve, I'll post a picture.

I'm Nancy in No CA, 50 miles No of San Francisco.
I'ev been gardening about 6 yrs since DH and I quit smoking:)
At this point, I only have 1 8X8 ft garden, but I get alot out of it!
I have 2 4x8 beds ready to go as soon as we can get some muscle to move some RR Ties.
I'm not sure if I'm going to let the main bed go to sleep for the winter and plant in the other 2 beds, I want 1 to be an asparagus bed, the other winter beds.
Right now I have grass and leaves sitting in the beds to be. Haven't decided if I want to "Lasagne" these beds or dump a mess of the compost I have ready as I plant.
Any suggestions? NT

Nancy, we have no soil here, just a couple of inches of clay over caliche, so I use the lasagana method to build beds. if u put do a search for lasagna in the soil forum, you can get lots and lots of good info.

boondoggle - we are waiting for those photos!!!

I'm south of Boston on the south shore, hence the screen name. Not a native though. I'm from Virginia Beach and so I have had to educate myself about living and gardening in zone 6. My potager is a labor of love from my husband. He put in the fence (cursing at every rock he encountered) and built my raised beds. I am anxiously awaiting for my asparagus to arrive. It's been so cold here that I haven't even transplanted the lettuce, broccoli and cabbage that I have growing under lights. Maybe this weekend. I planted peas on St Pats day but nothing is coming up. D#@%$!d New England weather!!! But, we are relocating this summer (DH's job) to Long Island so at least I get to zone 7! I will miss my potager but hopefully will create a new one to fit in with my new Tudor home. Suggestions are greatly appreciated.

I'm in Central Oklahoma, zone 6b/7a where the two zones intersect. The past two years our weather has been warmer than normal in the winter and spring came earlier, but we still have the normal April late freezes that kills everything blooming just in time for Easter! :(
I have two almost perfectly square acres situated on a high ridge where the tall grass prairies and deciduous forests meet, so I have some of both. One acre is the "Yard" around the house. The other acre is my "Meadow". It is located high on the hill above the house. There is a wood lot up on the south side of the meadow. I call it the Big Wood. There is another wooded area behind the back yard. I call that the Little Wood. (Clever, eh?) A dry creek runs through the property right about where the two acres connect. I call it "Plum Creek". (Original, hum?). Along its sandy banks that flow only when there is heavy rain, grows a thicket of heavily thorned wild Plums, called Sand Plums (hence the name of my creek). There is also a bigger thicket up on the highest ridge on the hill. Cottontail rabbits planted that thicket and burrow underneath it in the sandy bank. In Spring the thickets are covered in white fragrant blooms that fills the whole yard below with its wonderful perfume. I enjoy making Sand Plum Jam in the summer.

My Potager is situated just below Plum Creek and about 100 feet above my house. It is fenced with 1-inch chicken wire to keep Petter Rabbit and Benjamin Bunny out of it, and neighbor's dogs, rancher's horses & cows and their ocassional bighorn sheep! :)

I have two guineas, two chickens, a rabbit, a herd of cats and two big dogs - one big collie like Lassie and one big black dog who is Boarder Collie and Irish Wolfhound mixed. I like big sweet dogs. Oh, and some Shibunkin fish in an aquarium, waiting to go back into the koi pond when I get a new liner installed.

Today, I pulled out gobs of Silver King Artemesia roots from the Potager. Got to find way to contain that stuff to one area! Aaaah! It is invasive as heck. If it wasn't so pretty, I'd spray it with Round-up! But, it comes out easily and the soil in the Potager is good and loose. I am so ready to start planting! I have a nice row of green Italian parsley, and I've been harvesting aspargus since March. The Dianthus are blooming and the herbs looks terrific already. Even my French Taragon made it through the severe drought and has returned! Spring is surely here, but I wish she would make old man winter go away!

I hope to have one of the nicest gardens ever this year with all the rain we are finally getting. I might even have corn as high as an elephant's eye!

BTW, southshoregardener,
I understand from friends and relatives who live there that it gets really hot on Long Island in the summer (like even in the 100s). You can grow a really good garden there, if you can take the heat! You can grow herbs, flowers, fruits and vegetables galore. Talk to local gardeners where you will be living. They'll tell you how to garden successfully there and what to do to beat the heat.
Best Wishes.

~ Annie

I live in Southwestern Pennsylvania, right in the city of Pittsburgh, in a tiny old house on a tiny little lot. I have some apples espaliered to the garage, some peach trees in pots, and one peach tree in the yard.

The potager is two raised beds on the south end of the yard, hard against the parking area. Thus the raised beds, completely filled with potting mix. Each is 3x4, with a 3 ft path between them. I grow peas, beans and melons on the fence, and fight the neighbor's interloping (!) hops vine. I have strawberries underplanted amongst the roses and perennials. Mostly, they feed the robins, but I get a few!

It looks like the last two weeks killed all the fruit tree blossoms.

Wolfe15136, I was born and raised in Pittsburgh! (Greentree area) It's great to read of a potager in the old home town, and I can picture it in my mind. Speaking of pictures, do you have any you care to share?

I've been out west now for 22 years, but I try to visit family at least once a year. Even though I really love where I live (San Fernando Vallley, near LA), I often fantasize about moving back there and getting an old farmhouse in Beaver or some such place, and having a little mini hobby farm (about an acre). I know, I must be nuts because of the weather, but there are just some things I miss about western Pennsylvania.

Anyway, it made my day to see your post.

Hi Boondoggle! I live in Dormont! Just down the block from the Eat n' Park on West Liberty! We're nearly neighbors, except for 20 years. I got here 21 years ago! My camera bought it at the Philadelphia Flower Show this year, and I haven't replaced it yet, but I might have a few older pictures around!

I need to figure out how to imbed them here.

Hello everyone! I live near Savannah, GA. I have just started a portager garden this year. I was able to get my hubby to build me 4 4'x8' boxes this year. The rest of my beds look like oversized fresh graves. I have planted some baby boxwoods around three sides. I wanted the back to be open so we could enjoy our view of our wetland woods.

Now, if mother nature would stop sending us these cold fronts maybe my plants can take off.

Dormont! That is just around the corner!

I feel sorry for all of you guys in the deep freeze right now. But I suspect Southern California is going to be in for it this summer, draught-wise. I'm wondering if the veggies I put in this past week will be doomed, if we have the kind of heat we had last year.

Hi! I live a little North East of Philly in Levittown PA. I have one potager right now in my back yard. It is 4ft by 8 ft and it is empty right now while I am trying to decide what to plant in it for this year. I am also thinking of having several more built but that is just in the dreaming stage right now. Last year my potager had my tomatoes in it but this year I may put in herbs and flowers and just one tomato plant. I am still planning it out in my mind. Today it is cool and it poured rain! I hope it is nicer tomorrow.

better watch out ghoghunter!

I started with a 4 x 4 bed in 97, moved to a 4x8 bed in 98, and then fenced off a 30x30 space in 01! course, my hubby is still looking at me a bit cross-eyed, trying to figure out how he got talked into loosing a chunk of the backyard!

I live in downtown Atlanta, and have had a potager for 2 years (this is the 2nd). It started with three beds 6x3 and now it is 5 beds and 6 black plastic pots (which I should paint with krylon). My potager is a 12 month a year garden, most of the cooler months we have salad and greens, in warm months I grow beans, southern peas, tomatoes, herbs and am trying asian veggie from Thailand that take hot, humid weather to have greens in the summer. One bed is completely filled with onions, garlics leeks.
I am practicing to eventually have a very large potager so that we do not have to buy food. I would like to grow all our own food!

GGG

Hello! I'm in Missouri, as you can tell, and am gardening for the first "real" time this year. I've waited five years to get a garden in but we finally did it this weekend! I can't say I have an actual potager, but I now have a lovely 4'x8' raised bed next to the patio with beans, cantaloupe, tomatoes, peppers, lettuce, spinich, turnips, carrots, basil, rosemary, oregano, zucchini, onions and marigolds. I'd love to have more room for flowers in it, we'll see where I can stick them later. I also have what a consider my "front-step potager" almost done. It consists of two large planters, stuffed with flowers and veggies - petunias, bright-lights swiss chard, black beans and cucumbers, the petunias and cukes trailing down the walls, hopefully, when all is mature.

I love this forum! I keep telling my husband we should chop down all those pesky trees in the back so I can put in the kind of garden I see in you fine folks photos! Pity the trees all belong to the neighbors!

GGG, growing our own food is a dream of mine, too.

alys, that's a lot of stuff in a 4 x 8 bed. Are you going vertical?

boondoggle (love your name) We're trying square foot gardening. It's funny, because I've come to realize how much that sounds like, until you realize I've only planted a few of everything. I have a trellis (or will have) for the beans and cantaloupe. The tomatoes will be in triangular cages and the peppers staked. Here's a picure of the layout.

I was going to center my garden around an existing clothesline pole, but hubby decided it would be better next to the patio, so we put it there instead...and the pole instead has hanging planters on it.

alys- You may want to space your marigolds all throughout the garden, rather than all in one spot.
They are great for getting rid of bugs!
HTH Nancy

boondoggle,
your comment about growing our own food made me think. Yes, I would be perfectly happy (in theory) being an old fashioned farmer's wife whose duties included tending the garden and putting up food for the winter. I don't do too badly, my husband finally donated all our canned veggies to the local food pantry since I've kept us in green beans, peas and carrots now for two years. However, I reassured him (in the parking lot of Tractor Supply as he loaded $250 of new heavy gauge woven fencing in the truck) that I realize my growing our own food is on no way cost effective. In fact, one of my favorite books is "The $64 Tomato: How One Man Nearly Lost his Sanity, Spent a Fortune, and Endured an Existential Crisis in the Quest for the Perfect Garden". Anyone else read this book?
It helps to explain why I am never happier than when I am out digging in the dirt until I am so dirty that only two days of showers and a final bubble bath will get all the dirt out from under my finger nails.

I am, however, considering cutting down the size of my garden next year so that it all fits inside the $250 fence. Perhaps that will help the overhead just a bit. I think at the point your garden goes from being 4x8 with two ornamental pots near the front steps, to half an acre in the side yard that requires a Kubota tractor and 7 yards of mulch to maintain is he point where it stops being "cost effective", and starts being an "expensive hobby". At least you can eat squash where as Hubby will never be able to eat his classic car.... unless I get one more lecture on how much work this is going to be!!!

I read this book, too, & loved it! I don't have dedicated vegetable garden yet, because my husband is reluctant to give up any inch of lawn. Instead, I put herbs & veggies in the perimeter beds, mixed in w/ other plantings. I also have quite a few containers, including 3 earthboxes, & a number of fruit trees (figs, jujubes, apricots, pluots, quince). Everything has to do double duty as an ornamental & an edible. I have thornless blackberries growing along the fence, beside the roses.

I just have to keep working with what I have now...

Hi all...I live in southwest Michigan. We just moved to our first house last fall, and I plan on making a potager in one of the former horse pastures next to the barn. At the moment I am still contemplating ideas...until I researched combining vegetable and flower gardening I'd never heard of a potager. I want to spend this summer getting the area ready and figureing out a plan. I'm really hoping not to have to put up deer fencing, but in this area that is probably just wishful thinking. Thank you all for your tips and answers...it is really helpful reading!

I'm Chris. I live in La Mesa, CA (San Diego suburb). We just bought our first house in November. We're doing a lot of yard work right now, and at this point, we've taken a lot of the yard down to the bare earth and are just working on hardscaping.

We're going for a "SoCal cottage garden" effect, and want to mix succulents and low-water plants into our borders.

It seems like a potager is the best way to handle our vegetable-growing needs, as the mix of veggies and flora will fit right in with our eclectic garden style.

Hi, I'm Diana! Nice to "meet" all of you. I've been away from this forum for awhile, just too busy remodeling the kitchen to get much time for all the places on GW I like to visit. But I'm happy to see this forum is still active.

I garden on the northern slopes of the San Gabriel mtns. in So.Ca. We have 5 acres but I limit my gardening to about 1/2 acre and let the rest remain in its natural state for the wildlife. Plus, the property is hilly and would be prohibitive to water much more than I already do.

My potager is about 7 yrs. old. My DH built it and I painted it. I must say, I really love it. It's not huge but I manage to grow all I want in it, although this year I am growing some tomatoes and peppers behind in a new bed. Tomato plants just get so big and I am so bad about keeping them tied up that I decided to just grow them in this new bed along a portion of fence. The peppers are there to keep them company. : )

The rest of my garden beds are cottage style, with lots of roses and perennials dominating and evergreens for winter interest. We have some fruit trees, too - apple, apricot, plum, pluot, nectarine, and blueberry shrubs. The blueberries are starting to come in now. Oh, it is such a delight to walk out to the potager and pick them fresh. Most of them never make it into the house because I can't resist eating them as soon as I pick them. lol!

I'm going to try and get back over here more often. I loved reading all your potager stories and descriptions!

Diana

Here is a link that might be useful: potager pics from 2006

oh Diana, that is too funny! my strawberries are coming into season here and so far none of them have made it back to the house! well ok, fession time - none of the green beans have made it back to the house either - they just taste too good freshly picked! (guess I am in real trouble when my blackberry and blueberries are settled in enough to produce, huh?)

Hi!
I didn't know what it was called, but I'm trying one of these potager gardens this year for the first time. It's small. I don't have a clue what I'm doing. Glad I found this forum! I think I'll need a fence to keep out the deer!

Diana's property sounds similar to mine, except I'm a ways north - the Cascade Foothills, overlooking the Columbia River Gorge, and the hillside is well wooded in many areas, and has a lot of herbaceous cover in others. This year for example, the whole slope is carpeted in wild iris!

Our 5 acre slope faces south; I'm on the Washington side. We have a considerable population of deer in the area, since we are part of a small strip of land between two large state/federal parks, and there's a lot of paper company owned land hereabouts, too, that's lying dormant for at least another decade.

Should be an interesting summer! I've been a back-east city girl my whole life, until a few years ago when I moved out here. Only just started this gardening thing, but so far, it's fun!

Amy

I'm Mindy. I live in Golden, CO. We moved into our house a year and a half ago, and converted the side yard into a potager. My husband has been a good sport, building a fence with a trellis and a brick paver walk. I have tomatoes, cucs, bell and chili peppers, broccoli, peas, beans, lettuce, carrots, herbs and various flower seeds scattered throughout (cosmos, nasturtiums, zinnias). Lettuce is already being harvested and peas are starting to flower. Nice to find this forum! I look forward to learning a lot from you all.

Hi Mindy, Welcome! Please post some pictures of your Potager!

Good Day All!

I'm Jennifer and I finally have the start of a potager garden in Madison WI. It's located behind my detached garage. I have a picket fence lining one side, with rabbit fencing attached to it so I can keep those pesky rabbits out and grow some viney things along the fence line. The other two sides are just rabbit fencing, not just because of those pesky rabbits, but because I have two devil westies who think all vegetables and plants are snacks. I have one 4 x 11 raised bed and one 4 x 8 raised bed. There is room for an additional bed of each, but not enough room in the budget! So far I have planted are Snow peas, egg plant, tomatoes and peppers. Waiting in the wings are lettuce, cabbage, broccoli, cauliflower, brussel sprouts, kohlrobi, marigolds, nastrurium, melons, beans. I guess I should get crackin!

My name is Katie. I live in Indianapolis in a historical neighborhood. I've lived here for 3 years. I've built my garden from scratch. I have a small backyard. I have been lurking in the Potager Forum for about a week.

I love gardening, but I have been primarily a flower gardener. However, I love to cook. Last week, I was helping my neighbor, a landscape designer, install a neighborhood children's garden near some local businesses. One of the restaurants wanted a small portion of the garden to grow some veggies and herbs. My neighbor was a little disgusted because they just put everything in boring rows. She's been looking for a new focus for her business so we started talking about potager gardens for local restaurants.

Well, that conversation got my mind reeling. I LOVE cooking and I really like to use the freshest ingredients. I usually grow tomatoes and herbs, but I never thought that I wanted to sacrifice flower border for an unattractive veggie garden. I never thought about making an ornamental veggie garden. After our conversation, I have done quite a bit of Internet research on potager gardens. I'm soooooooo excited. I have gotten a lot of pictures for inspiration. I have a whole computer folder full of them. PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE post more inspirational pictures on this forum so that I can get more ideas.

Thanks for posting all your ideas, successes, and challenges. I am learning so much. I can't wait until next year when I really start my potager garden. The south side of my garden is coming along nicely as a perennial border, but the north side has never really come together like I want it to be. I think that I will start with the north side of my garden and I have a sneaking suspicion that the south side will also evolve to include produce.