Design

The front perennial beds and the raised beds with herbs and vegetables are looking great.  It's so nice to have the front of the house softened by green, a welcome change from its previous mulched condition (see below). early July, 2011 Here's a photo of our new gardening assistant looking out the door! when there was just mulch (not to mention the gravel driveway, now covered with mulch and raised beds)

Now there are lots of camellia flowers out the kitchen window . A couple of years ago, I set up what I call the 'satellite' garden. Originally meant as an experimental (uh, I'm not really expanding my beds, I said to myself) sort of plot, I decided to incorporate them into permanent beds to expand my (rudimentary) rotation scheme. Also, as the holly hedge near my main vegetable garden has gotten larger, my main vegetable garden is even more shaded in the winter than it used to be. It's a great summer plot, OK in fall, but only gets several hours of sun in the late afternoon, even now, in early March. So, to have a sunnier space for late winter and early spring crops, my satellite garden is great. Last spring, a hungry young woodchuck was a nemesis, and was relocated, but a relative has now appeared, and I'm determined to find a better place for him/her (the Havahart trap is set). The unseasonably mild weather has made preparing beds for carrots, beets, chard, and...

In the raised bed garden that's the 'main vegetable garden,' I try to practice intensive raised-bed gardening, loosely based on the square-foot method. I'm afraid I'm not methodical enough to be precise about planting -- frankly, I like to play with my garden, but I do try to rotate vegetables as I can. We eat as much as we can from the garden, but having it look nice is important, too. The garden is right out the kitchen door, so I think about it as a perennial vegetable/flower bed, even if it's made up of annuals. I want it to be pleasing throughout the year. Rotating out plants, reseeding, and routinely adding more compost and amendments; all of these things are part of my gardening year.