Wednesday, April 1, 2009

The New Veggie Garden

We are fortunate to live in a place that has access to lots of fresh, organic produce. One of the largest organic farms in Orange County is within walking distance and there are various farmer markets in every city on different days of the week. Because of that I have only grown a few fresh vegetables in my gardens, usually intermixed in my flower beds.
This year I decided to put in a dedicated vegetable garden for a change in SJC. I choose an area that used to be the cutting flower garden and moved all of those plants to areas in the back yard to replace lawn. (Okay, I didn't do it, but I supervised!)
After having read five or six books on vegetable growing I designed a plot with raised beds and added some large containers I had that weren't in use. I found the trellises on sale for $25 each and plan to paint them. I have unabashedly copied the birdbath circle from Rosalind Creasy's 'Edible Garden' books. I know that I will spend more time there (which is a requirement for vegetable gardens) if it is a lovely place, so the overall design and ultimate beauty of the space is important to me. It seems like it is taking forever to get the structure finished, but it will be done any day now.

13 comments:

Nikki said...

Wow. You have so much room for fun things like this! The bird bath is so lovely and your beds look really well constructed. Are you going to do "lasagna" gardening in your beds?

Anonymous said...

This looks very exciting! I especially can't wait to see your bird bath garden!

Anonymous said...

I love the design of the new veggie garden around the birdbath. Good design to copy in my opinion. Can't wait to see it when it's all planted up. :)

Tatyana@MySecretGarden said...

Sheila, it looks very good! I like
the birdbath circle and trllises. Will wait for the summer pictures of your vegetable garden. And, is that a German Shepherd tail there on the upper picture?

Sheila said...

Nikki, I have done lasagna beds in the past in other parts of the yard, but I don't have enough materials to do it here. I have a a large amount of compost from my own compost pile and plan to mix it with some I get in bulk from a green waste facility near the house. I am also going to mix in some vermiculite.

Sheila said...

Tatyana, yes that is a German Shepard you see in the picture. We have two!

Pat said...

Just perfect !!
We use raised beds for my DHs tomatoes plus some other stuff.
Really nice design. Very cool!

Catherine@AGardenerinProgress said...

It looks great already. I really like the trellises. I've been looking for something like that for a long time and can never find them anywhere.

Stephanie said...

Hi Sheila! Very good use of your gardening space. I like the trellis and its colour. Good choice!

Stephanie said...

Hi Sheila! Very good use of your gardening space. I like the trellis and its colour. Good choice!

Gardeness said...

What a great deal on the trellises. The area looks wonderful already. Good for you! Look forward to seeing it develop.

Unknown said...

Good luck with your veggie garden!

Everything looks great, congrats for a job well done!

David said...

Great! I have a birdbath and I did not know quite what to do with it. Now I have an idea.
You will love your vegetables.