When I want to enhance my vegetable garden' look, I go to my picture file. First three pictures were taken at the Northwest Flower and Garden Show '08.
This is a part of the Lucca Statuary' display.
This is a part of the Lucca Statuary' display.
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Click the pictures to see details
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Vegetables' colorful foliage helps to creat beautiful borders:
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Next pictures were taken during the garden tours on the Kitsap Peninsula.
Elements of a knot garden: The owners of this lot decided to introduce them after visiting several European gardens.
Elements of a knot garden: The owners of this lot decided to introduce them after visiting several European gardens.
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Garden Tour picture
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Knot garden: comes down to us from Elizabethan England. The English and the French loved their knot gardens and usually patterned them after a rug or tapestry in their home. The main ingredients consisted of intricate geometric patterns, dwarf hedges of evergreen herbs, and/or paths. There were the closed knot gardens with no access and compartments, containing colored sand or gravel. Then there were the open knots with paths forming part of the patterns and compartments filled with sweet-smelling plants such as rosemary, hyssop, sage, and lavender. Traditionally, the planting schemes were sparse with the emphasis on the individual species. For instance, all the hedges were of boxwood, and knots were made in groups of four. These gardens demanded time and care as the hedges needed constant and careful trimming to maintain their appearance http://www.superbherbs.net/design5.htm.
Next: Mixing vegetables with flowering plants. I also like the bamboo cage around the container with the tomato plant:
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Garden Tour picture
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Garden Tour picture
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I like the idea of having an interesting focal point in the middle of a vegetable garden. On the picture below, a mosaic urn makes a big difference!
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Garden Tour picture
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Triangle raised beds look good:
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I like the idea of having an interesting focal point in the middle of a vegetable garden. On the picture below, a mosaic urn makes a big difference!
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Garden Tour picture
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Triangle raised beds look good:
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Garden Tour picture
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These are my modest attempts to spruce up my own vegetable garden:
Perennial/ Vegetable bed:
Perennial/ Vegetable bed:
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My garden picture
My garden picture
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Here, I put little boxwoods around small kitchen garden:
My garden picture
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P.S. Second part can be seen here: Sprucing Up A Vegetable Garden - 2 (posted in January 2011).
***Copyright TatyanaS
Tatyana your garden is so lovely and your vegetable beds look so neat. I guess if you have the veg growing in the garden it has to look tidier than when it's on an allotment. Your blog is lovely :)
ReplyDeletehave a great week-end
I think it looks fantastic. I'm wanting to do a vegetable garden this year and this is exactly the way I'd like to do it.
ReplyDeleteYour veg patch is looking good!great photos of Seattle and those Giant Bulbs look like aliens, I have never seen anything like them.
ReplyDeleteMaureen, thanks! I'm glad you like it.
ReplyDeletePhillip, thank you! Will wait for your veg garden pictures!
Peggy, that is why I bought them, I agree - they are huge! Thanks for stopping by.
I love knot gardens--and your vegetable garden is lovely. Some day when I have oodles of time on my hands...
ReplyDeleteYour garden is beautiful. I may steal a few design ideas.
ReplyDeleteDonna, I like knot gardens, too. My kitchen garden is pretty small now, but I am thinking about adding one or two sections to it and reducing a lawn that gets covered by moss, anyway..
ReplyDeleteAuntDebbi, steal them, steal them!!! Thanks for visiting!
What do you mean "modest" Tatyana?
ReplyDeleteYour garden is beautiful. The urn and the poppy, the ornamental grasses, the way sunlight illuminates the scene...all gorgeous.
Have you heard of English garden writer Margery Fish? She authored several books circa 1920s. The best gardening tip I've ever gotten came from her. She said she used Lonicera nitida or sweet box for her potager/parterre hedges. It's as easy as breaking off a nine-inch or so stem, inserting it into the ground and voila. As long as the soil stays moist, it will take root. I have used this method and have achieved my border hedges much quicker and cheaper than with boxwood. Just a thought.... I still love boxwood though and these pictures are outstanding.
You are so right- wonderful inspiration! I think your garden is great too. I am really intrigued by knot gardens. I may have to play with one soon.
ReplyDelete~Heather
Tatyana, your's is a lovely garden. And it is so nice to meet a kindred spirit - last year I started working on my own potager. Nothing much to show yet, but it is lovely to experiment with colourful leaf vegetables - some of them are too showy to eat. Good luck with your kitchen garden :) Rasa
ReplyDeleteThank you for the inspiration. I grow many veggies in my flower beds and I think I will add more this coming season.
ReplyDeleteI do want to spruce up my gardens this year. They need attention!
So nice to meet you and your gardnes.
I am coming to Oregon in a couple of weeks. I hope to see Spring!
Sherry
Hi Tatyana, I love your garden, I guess it reminds me of mine :-)
ReplyDeleteNo but seriously the way you have strict order yet a little bit wild. I like that and also to mix flowers and vegetables, that is the way I like it.
Very nice post Tatyana!
I wish you a great and sunny weekend in your little paradise.
xoxo Tyra
What a beautiful, well thought out and planned garden you have! Very grown up! You must be so proud! Im very envious!!! Lucky thing!!! You have given me loads to aspire to this summer - thank you!
ReplyDeleteLinzi x x
I really like your vegetable garden,
ReplyDeletelooks very pretty, so are the garden photos.
Grace, thanks for your comment! I need to read at least one of her books. I love the idea of growing hedges using cuttings, who wouldn't?
ReplyDeleteHeather, don't forget to show us the pictures when you create it, O.K.,?
Rasa, thank you! I need to make my kitchen garden bigger. From nowhere, a potato plants started to grow there and take a lot of space!
Sherry, thank you! Have a great time in Oregon!
Tyra, yes, a bit wild - well said!
Linzi, you are very kind! Thank you! Actually, I need to do more planning. Things just fell in place by themselves. I do make mistakes often. Good thing is it's easy to move plants.
Cathy, I'm glad you like it! Thank you!
Well hello Tatyana, It's lovely to get some responses from new people. I have added a couple of new posts recently and although I should be posting more regularly I'm thrilled to hear from you and will respond soon.
ReplyDeleteCheers Gillian