Welcome! Thanks for giving us a peek at your fun in the sun. Looks like it's growing well & you've had some summer heat for those squash to flower. I'm jealous as western WA has had a unusually cool spring & summer so far. Today was a lovely day in the garden & I'll probably have some freckles now to prove it not just mosquito bites from all the rain.

You've obviously given it a lot of thought & hard work! Was that your little guy outside the fence? How fun that you included the sand box in the middle & it helps you keep an eye on them while you're working, too. Do the kids help work in the garden or just play?

Corrine

Thanks Corinne! It did take some planning, but that gave me something to focus on this winter. :)

My boy actually planted just about every single seed that went into the garden. It has been great fun watching everything grow with him, and he loved picking the snow peas and eating them right in the garden. Strangely enough, he did the same thing with the broccoli- he would pull off a bit and eat it right where he was standing!

It has been a really strange spring/summer here too. We have gotten a random day or two of hot weather sprinkeled in with very cool temps. It makes sense that the veggie gardeners on the veggie forum say this is actually the start of June in terms of growing. I'm just now harvesting the sugar snap peas, so I guess that puts us about a month behind.

I have lots of flowers intermixed in my beds, but everything is just green right now. I figure it must flower at some point, right?

Congratulations on the establishment of your potager!
You have worked hard and so has your son - wow! it's great that he's interested. He has caught the gardening bug too!

Your raised beds look good, and I love the way you used the uprights/grids at the back to support the veggies.
Ingenuity is one of the qualities I most admire about the people who post on this forum, and when they put their ingenuity to use it makes their gardens unique, like yours.

Enjoy your summer and all the veggies and fun time with your son!

That's awesome he eats the veggies out there. My brother was probably around 10 or so when used to take the salt shaker outside when he was suppose to be weeding or picking veggies, but ate so many tomatoes that he'd have a chin rash as proof he ate them though he'd try to deny it saying there were only 3 ripe ones today...

If you take a bowl or clean harvest bucket (not used for compost or anything else & kept in the house) outside to fill with water you can do the dunk rinse then eat. Works great for strawberries! I don't use chemicals, but still want us to wash first; though I'm guilty of nibbling things without washing. I just make sure I don't have any strawberry marks on my face when I bring in a small bowl as the harvest. :o) I figure the gardener gets firsts as a reward for labors!

Beautiful garden! I am liking the supports you used in your boxes. They look like they make assembly much easier!
I have raised bed boxes too, made out of wood (more kitchen garden there like you). In that area, most of my flowers are around the fence line. I like to cram the veggies in so this arrangement with boxes just makes it easier for me. We have a differently shaped area, and I find it easier to be more creative with the flowers there.

Looks like you did a lot of hard work. Thanks for sharing pictures of your beautiful garden.

Thanks for the kind words everyone!

I have to admit, I can not take any credit for building the raised beds or using those metal brackets. When I was planning the garden out this winter, I started asking around for scrap lumber. It just so happened that my father-in-law had those contraptions left over from shipping containers that get built on top of pallets. So we got a huge stack of them for free! All I had to do was unfold them and plop them on the ground. :)

I am not sure I love all of the combos of veggies and flowers I put together this year, but in general I am happy. It gives me something to do in the evening, to sit in the garden with my notebook and plan what I might do differently with each bed next spring.

So far I have a billion tomatoes growing of each type, but have only gotten 2 red cherry tomatoes- both of which my son promptly ate! Lots of cucumber flowers, but no fruits yet. Baby pumpkins and watermelons growing up the trellises. No little canteloupes yet, but many flowers. About to harvest the last of the sugar peas and plant pole beans. Already ripped out the spring broccoli and cauliflower, and have lots of little brussels sprouts growing on their stalks.

All in all, I am very happy with my little garden. The flowers are starting to bloom too- except for 2 varieties of nasturtiums. The peach melba have flowers, but the Alaska and other variety have lots of leaves but no flowers. I wonder if the soil is too rich for them? I planted it as living groundcover, so I'm bummed there are no flowers.

Last night I saw a gold finch perched on a zinnia, eating right from the flower. Too cool! Can't wait to see what other exciting things come our way! Happy gardening everyone!

Oh my! What a wonderful garden plan! Love the sand box!!! When I was a very little girl I spent sooo much time with my dad in the garden, the same yard I am gardening in today. He built a swing set and sandbox for my brother and I just off the end of the main vegetable garden. I remember to this day, almost 50 years later, the smell of the garden, the bon fires in the fall, and the most delicious first garden vegie meal mom cooked every year for many years. My daughter and grandaughters feel the same way now in my garden. Such a heart warming memory and a time tested experience. May you collect the memories and treasure them, pass them on, and relive them many times over with your family as I have. :)