Over the weekend I tackled more prep work in the vegetable garden. I’ve already planted several things in the raised beds including onions, potatoes, lettuce, and spinach but planting wasn’t the main weekend task. One of the things I really didn’t like about my vegetable garden is now officially a thing of the past – the grass! In each of my garden layouts I’ve had issues with a grass pathway down the middle of the garden.  It required me to bring in the mower each week to cut the grass down to walkable heights and I decided that this year I would make things easier in the long run. I laid down pieces of cardboard over the grass and covered them with mulch to completely smother the grass that was still present underneath. Hauling all that mulch into the vegetable garden wasn’t fun but the overall time and work involved will be much less in the future.

As I can I’ll convert the mulch pathway to either stepping stones, bricks, or a combination of both. Only two things stand in the way of that: money and time. When you have the money you don’t have the time and when you have the time you don’t have the money! Mulch was the cheapest option even though it will need replaced eventually. Ultimately I’d like to see a steppable ground cover like elfin thyme in between paving stone cracks. We’ll see, I might change my mind again!

Hopefully the vegetable garden layout I have planned will be very efficient and allow me much more room for growing vegetables. I’ve noticed that each year my vegetable garden ideas get bigger and bigger and my allotted garden space hasn’t. That means that my vegetable garden must grow! That’s a given isn’t it? I may need to expand the garden back another 8 feet to allow for more raised beds, or at least some in ground vegetable beds that could house corn or beans.

You may have noticed some randomly shaped paving stones in the picture. Those are broken remains from another project. They work pretty good as paving stones which gave me the idea to randomly add more and more stones as I could to form the walkway through the vegetable garden. I hope to replace the beds on the right and left with larger beds made from stone or concrete blocks. Not the gray cinder block kind but something nicer, like what you would use for a patio or retaining wall project. When the garden is 100% finished (yeah right) I want it to be a feature of my yard that draws the eye.

The long raised bed to the left of the picture is where the potatoes are this year. Carrots and bush beans will make excellent companion plantings for the potato plants. The raised bed to the left only has garlic and cilantro in it right now but will most likely end up with a tomato or two planted there. I’m toying with the idea of a trellis to go over the walkway from the second raised bed to its twin across the pathway. Cucumbers would cover the trellis.

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The other day I posted about the next evolution of my garden on its way to becoming a more formalized vegetable garden. Today I’ll show you the layout of what I hope the vegetable garden will eventually become. There are some distinct advantages to the layout changes that I am planning on making that I’ll share with you below the diagram of the vegetable garden layout.

First a Short Description of the Vegetable Garden:
I want to divide the garden into 4 main sections that curve around a center circle bed. Each bed will be lined with retaining wall blocks (most likely cast concrete) to define the beds and keep the soil inside. The central path and circle path in the middle will be approximately 4 feet wide. The pathways to the left and right will end with a couple of large pots filled with herbs as an edible exhibit. The corner beds will be 12 feet long on the outside edges and about 6 feet long along the straight edges of the pathway. Stepping stones will be placed inside each garden bed to allow easy access to the areas hard to reach from the pathway.

Vegetable Garden Layout in Parterre Style

The Advantages of this Layout:

• It divides the garden into four main beds which is ideal for organizational purposes when you are considering crop rotation. 
• The 4 ft. wide pathways give easy access to wheel barrows and equipment and make maneuvering around the garden a piece of cake. 
• The stone edged beds won’t rot like my wooden beds have. They can also be stacked higher to make deeper raised beds. My plan is to begin with one layer and add more height over time as needed.
• Stone borders will also heat up faster and retain heat over the night hours which may improve the length of the growing season some. In the summer the stones will be shielded by the foliage and won’t absorb as much heat.

The Implementation of My Scheme (Scheme sounds a bit more dramatic than “plan” doesn’t it?):
Rome wasn’t built in a day neither will this garden be. Over time I can add the stone borders for the raised beds. The first step will be to make the circle bed in the middle and mulch the remaining grass area.  That stone is already resting in the vegetable garden waiting for the gardener to get with it! Fortunately (for the garden but not our budget) we just had to replace our refrigerator and I saved the box for use as a weed blocker in the vegetable garden. I’ll lay the cardboard down and mulch over the top which should be all I need to get rid of the grass. The cardboard will last through this season and maybe some of 2012 before it completely disintegrates into the soil. I may sneak some newspapers underneath it for good measure and to recycle the newspaper – we sure have enough of it stored in the garage!

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A few years ago I drew a rough drawing of a garden area for my in-laws.  They had just built their new house and were excited to fill the landscaping in with something they would enjoy. What I came up with was a sitting garden. Essentially an area where they could go outside and relax while watching the garden or just enjoying the outdoors. I put two elements into the plan that I think are necessary in every garden: an observation point (in this case a spot to sit) and a pathway. I think when you have those elements in mind you can build the garden around it. In the beginning what they had as an aggregate sidewalk that stretched form the driveway to their front steps which subdivided this are from the rest of the yard and made for a perfect region for a garden.

The site had a couple major issues. The first issue was the soil itself. The ground (as it is in many areas of Tennessee) was all clay and limestone and caused the second issue drainage. The clay held the water in the area and the sidewalk created a dam that prevented the rainwater runoff from the house to escape. Eventually they had to remove an area of the sidewalk and install a drainage pipe underneath which helped out immensely. The only thing that can be done with clay soil is amend. Over the last few years mulch has been added which eventually breaks down and improves the soil. Things are much better now but still mostly clay and limestone!

As of this past June here’s how the sitting garden looks.

A river pebble walkway with stepping stones leads you to the sitting area. As you walk the pathway two yuccas flank the sitting area entry. The walkway is bordered with natural stone from the area.

The white metal bench stands out underneath two crape myrtle trees. The crape myrtles were planted to provide fast growing shade for the sitting area. The holly to the left and foundation plantings along the house were part of the general landscaping the builder put together. 

A ‘Jane’ Magnolia brightens up the area in the spring. Daylilies do the job in summer. The perennial area in front hasn’t quite filled in yet but will over time. Once the drainage issues were solved it made the area much better for planting.

The dwarf boxwood hedge has come a long way from its initial installation. Inside the hedge is lavender, daylilies, Shasta daisies, and coreopsis.

Here’s a quick view of the front garden area from the stairs.

When I designed the area I made a general plan and offered some planting suggestions but other things have been added and replaced over the years. The garden changes to suit its owners, just as it should!

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Each year I’ve posted about the projects I hope to accomplish in the New Year. They aren’t resolutions, just goals or ideas. I may not even get half of the projects accomplished but I find that if I get some ideas before the garden season starts in earnest I can be pretty motivated to get it worked on before the fall freeze comes along!

Here are 11 Garden Projects for 2011!*

*(These are in no particular order)

1) Build the vegetable garden fence! This has been on my list for two years without much progress. Alright, without any progress! The deer have invaded my vegetable garden multiple times which means there needs to be a way to prevent future incursions tied in with whatever fence build.

2) Finish the new garden beds. I have three areas in our front yard that need mulching and filling in with plants. One area is around our Yoshino Cherry tree and is filled in with a bunch of plants already including irises, coneflower, dwarf crape myrtles,  daisies, and a few other plants. Another area is halfway mulched but I stopped when I discovered a nest of ground wasps. I need to figure out how to get rid of them! The third area is a garden on a slope that will be filled with Russian sage, catmint, salvia and several other favorites that are easy to propagate!

3) Make more stepping stones for our side walkway area. I made a few last year and I need enough to connect the area around the arbor to the backyard.

4) Repair a couple raised beds. My beds are made with untreated lumber and after 3 years in the weather a couple of them are falling apart. My plan is to move four 2′x4′ raised beds and place them together in the location of the 4′x8′ raised bed that is falling apart.

5) Build a central circle raised bed in the vegetable garden. The four beds I’m planning on moving for the previous project will leave a gaping hole in the center of the garden. I have about 17 concrete retaining wall blocks laying around that should make a great central circle.

6) Gradually adjust the vegetable garden into a parterre vegetable garden. Parterre layouts are very cool and are both decorative and functional. In the process I’ll eliminate any grass pathways in the garden and replace them with mulch – no mowing in the vegetable garden!

7) Build another arbor. I’ve collected all the materials for a nice arbor to be build near the garden shed. It will be wide enough for the riding mower to easily run under and will get covered with a Sweet Autumn Clematis that will be relocated from my deck – those things need places to roam!

Fix the deck. I’m not sure what I can do here yet but one rail on our deck has warped to the point where the whole rail needs replaced. Hopefully I can enhance the deck in some way during the repair process.

9) Build the garden bridge! I’m really want to get my reclaimed deck lumber used for this project and soon. A nice oriental style garden bridge is just what my garden needs – well not really “needs” but the garden does want it…

10) Finish the patio walkway to the driveway. I built the patio two years ago expecting to add the walkway last year but that got away from me. This year for sure!

11) Finish the garden shed. I’d like to paint the inside a nice reflective light color to increase the light. I’d also like to enclose the roof rafters in some way to improve the heat retention.

Those 11 tasks are a starting point! I know of a couple other things that I could put on the list that will come up in the future but I’ll share those when the time comes. What projects are you getting into this year?

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You often hear people mention the phrase the “bones of the garden.” It’s basically used to refer to the garden elements that provide some sort of structure. Many people refer to evergreen plantings as the bones since they add structure and don’t lose their leaves when the weather changes. Structures like arbors and garden shed could also be bones of the garden since they are more permanent fixtures that you can build the garden around. One other element that I like to think of as part of the bones of the garden is stone. Stone can do all kinds of things from building walls to creating patios or simply outline a garden border as in the picture below.

My stone border in the sideyard does two things:

1. It defines the garden space between my yard and my neighbor’s yard (the border).
2. It separates the grass pathway from the garden.

The stone is an element that is always there, doesn’t change, and won’t float away in any May floods!

Stone is often used for surfaces to walk on like in these stepping stones.  They aren’t set into the ground yet but will be soon once the weather warms up a tad! I like to add stepping stones into the grassy areas to allow people to walk through the yard without getting their feet wet in the morning dew (that’s usually just me though!) It also helps to formalize the pathways.

Stone bones can also be used as decorative elements in statues, water features, or in a plain ole rock stuck in a garden bed! What bones are in your garden?

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If you want your garden to provide a sense of peace and tranquility, adding some simple Japanese style landscaping ideas will make your goal easy to accomplish. Whether you have a small patio garden or a huge landscape, you can incorporate Japanese style elements into your garden.

In general, Japanese style gardens do not contains a huge variety of plants or a rainbow of color. They are not perfectly symmetrical, nor lavish. They are, however, elegant and timeless and bring a welcomed break from the hustle and bustle of daily life in the modern world. They are places for meditation, contemplation, and thought. This style of garden is enclosed or screened from the outside world through the use of plants, fences, or berms.

Scale And Perspective

Look at the space you wish to use for your Japanese style garden. Scale and perspective are the main techniques used to create a sense of size, space and distance in the garden. You can achieve this through illusion, adding a false sense of perspective, by planting gradually smaller trees or plants farther from the focal point of the garden. If you have water features in your garden, choose the largest for the foreground. Water fountains or a water fall can be a very affordable way to add a peaceful sound to your Japanese style garden.

Add Japanese lanterns and pagodas to your garden, but be sure they are in proportion to the plants and other elements surrounding them.

Rocks in a Japanese style garden take on special meaning. They aren’t simply rocks or boulders but can be the backbone of your garden, around which other elements will fall into place. They represent islands, mountains, and holy places. A boulder can be partially buried to add mass, height, and a feeling of stability to the Japanese garden. Small stones can be used as the borders for pathways or to create the bottoms of water features. They can be used as stepping stones to actually create a path or to cross a small stream. If used to define a pathway, allow the path to wander rather than going in a straight line.

Sentinel Stone

Another use of stone in the [Japanese] style garden is the sentinel stone. This standing stone is used to symbolize warriors, deities, heroes and guardians. It is usually found at the entrance to a Japanese garden or at a major focal point where its presence will enhance the garden’s atmosphere. This type of stone can even be used in an otherwise flat Japanese landscape.

Choose a few Japanese style elements to include in your garden landscape to provide a peaceful place to sit and relax. An austere garden can easily be converted into a Japanese style garden with very low cost and a huge payoff in enjoyment

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