Show Us Your Vegetable Garden Long Views

I have been gleaning info from these threads for a while now and thought it would be fun, as well as interesting and informative, for everyone to show off how they have set up their vegetable gardens.

The idea is to post a panoramic or wide shot of everything, giving a feel for the lay of the land, as well as the plan of the patch.

Here's a shot of my VERY small, suburban vegetable patch(es), standing East of the gardens facing West.

I believe the railroad ties are about 9 foot in length to give you an idea of scale.

I would be very interested to see how you set up your vegetable areas!

WNYwillieB - Your garden looks so nice and neat - great photo.

I ordered a camera yesterday, it's supposed to be here the beginning of August. I hope to be able to share photos then.

Your garden is beautiful. Mine is a brown dead mess, mostly. Last week the heat index was in the triple digits and the whole of June has been very hot. All I have right now is Southern peas, okra, peppers and a few half dead late planted tomatoes. My last plantings of squash and cukes only bore for about 10 days and gave up. No big expectations for me until September.

Here is our garden...

Lookin' good, Qinx. How's them zucchini coming along?

We've been eating yellow squash for weeks. And only 1 zuke so far, but there's a couple growing as I type this!

Here's my garden taken a few weeks ago; I think it would be hard to see the pattern now because some of the plants are so large. This is the left side of the garden; there are raspberries and asparagus in the front left which weren't included in the photo, but then you can see the zucchini, peppers and eggplant (with the little cup rims), the tomato tripods, beans, and way in the back some peas:

And then here's the other side, to the right of the greenhouse, with raab in the foreground, a fennel and flower row, some salsify, ad on the other side of the brick walk there's spinach, lettuce, onions, and in the back, strawberries. A little orchard is on the other side of the fence, with geese and chickens barely visible. In the foreground out of the photo are beets, chard, arugula, celery, carrots (which didn't come up) and blackberries.

You can see the overview of the garden here - this was taken even earlier, but the rows are more evident. It's about 70' x 80', including the greenhouse - and the little orchard, I think. There's a pond in the foreground and to the right is a grape arbor.

This message was edited Jun 30, 2009 5:37 PM

Just gorgeous and so inviting. I'd love to just sit on that bench and admire it all with the chickens singing and clucking in the background.

Thanks, Dorothy! But from the bench by the pond, and even from the metal bistro set and love seat where the brick walks form a patio next to the greenhouse, you really don't much hear the chickens. What you do hear are bluebirds, Baltimore orioles, house wrens, cardinals, the occasional osprey flying overhead and the zzzzzz of hummingbirds drinking from raspberry flowers. It's a wonderful place to be, with a glass of wine. Food for the soul! But we've lived here over 35 years and it took a lo-o-o-ong time to get it like this.

Leslie

This message was edited Jun 30, 2009 6:15 PM

Here's the overview of the whole yard. We have 5 beds. Four of them are 10' long x 3' wide. One smaller bed is about 4'x4'.

Here's bed #1 with peppers, okra, and jalapeno. There may also be some onions in this pic.

Bed #2 has watermelons, squash and maters.

Bed #3 has beans (pole & bush) and cantaloupe. Earlier in the season it also had peas.

Stephanie, your setup looks really nice. It's fun to see people's layouts!

Everyone's looking great! Thanks, all, for showing it off!

Does everyone start from saved seeds, or buy already growing? I started all these these from seeds the Northeast Forum sent around in a Round Robin Seed Exchange this past fall/winter.

Can't wait to see what you are doing, over there, HoneyBeeNC!

Twiggybuds, we'll look for your show in Sept., then!! I feel bad, sometimes, posting my veggies in the NorthEast Forum, as much of the NE has been rained out! Seems like I am one of the few gardens actually doing well.

Qinx, you have so much space!! Are you starting an orchard?? We have only been getting swiss chard out of the garden, yet. I was late planting beans and peas, so they aren't even up yet!! The zucchini here is just forming fruits, the biggest about 4 or 5 inches, just. I see you are square foot gardening!! How is that producing for you? Have you been doing that long??

35 years is sure showing off well, Greenhouse_Gal!! Looks awesome! I am envious of how much space everyone has! What's growing in the "Little Orchard??" I have tried asparagus, but I don't think the soil is right for it. I should dig out a pit and fill it with mostly sandy soil, I was told. What a great place you have to sit and sip a cold beverage on a hot day!

Stephanie, your setup DOES look really nice! I am finding it interesting to see so many raised beds. I also like the screened in sunporch you have there! My cantaloupe is just starting to take off.

I discovered that the pumpkin I didn't get to bake last winter and placed out in the backyard to sit and wait until I could get it into the compost pile and promptly forgot about, got covered in oak leaves and look! I now have a pumpkin patch! I SO hate to have to pinch any out .... there must be 200 plants starting now!

Here's a shot of the Pumpkin Mama! Back at Thanksgiving, showing off the pies I made for the feast! The big pumpkin in the center back is the one responsible for today's pumpkin patch! There's a creamy Dutch apple pie, a pumpkin pie, and a cranberry-pear tart with a gingerbread crust. Mmmmmm.



This message was edited Jul 1, 2009 9:15 AM

WNYwillieB, I save some seeds and buy others. Many of my tomatoes and all of my beans and peas are from French seeds, and they're hard to get here so I save some every year for the following spring's sowing. A friend sometimes gives me lettuce, onion and celery plants, but mostly I grow from seed. Our little orchard has dwarf fruit trees; we had a larger orchard just past that area that never really produced. Without spraying intensively it's hard to grow tree fruit in our hot and humid climate. Last year DH sprayed the peach trees with some sulfur and we got a good harvest, although we still lost some to brown rot. Our pears did wonderfully and look like they'll be good again this year, but so far our apples are a dud.

We have the perfect soil for asparagus because we're in the Pine Barrens. It's very sandy loam, improved, of course, by lots of compost. Our asparagus does really well. But we also have some plants growing wild down by the river, where the soil is much muckier, so I don't know that you really need a pit of sandy soil to grow them.

French seed? What's the draw there, if I may be so bold?

Good for you, to save them and start for the next year's crops! I am going to do that this year with what I can. I do have some F1 Hybrids growing, but in general, I avoid anything F1ed or GMOed like the plague!!

I am going to try asparagus again, but might not be next year, but the year after that .... I think I want to focus on getting the pond and stream finished properly.

I am lucky to have a greenhouse attached to the house, in which I can start my seeds! 32 x 10 foot off the south side of the house. Raised the roof on the second floor of the house to attach it through, so you can look down into it from the upstairs rooms. I start the seeds on the second floor where it is always cozy warm.

Here's a shot looking down into the GH, last fall, as I started to bring the plants back in for the winter. Of course, all strictly supervised by Queen Boudicca!

WillieB, those are some fine looking pies! They look like the work of a professional baker. Maybe you'd like to share the recipes with photo over on the recipe forum. I'd be interested in the pear with gingerbread crust particularly. Nice garden also!

The bed space utilized is about 350sq. ft. The beds are various sizes of 4x4,4x10,4x12 & 4x14's. The paths in between are approx 2ft wide.

The area for the whole garden, paths, etc. is about 32x18 I think.

Thanks, roseone! I posted this over in the NE forum this past Thanksgiving. I can't remember if I posted them in the recipe forum, or not.

I think this is a commonly reproduced recipe I found on google searching CRANBERRY PEAR GINGERBREAD.

I believe this is the actual recipe I used, but I see there are several sites with this exact recipe on it.

http://www.epicurious.com/recipes/food/views/Cranberry-Pear-Tart-with-Gingerbread-Crust-10946

Looks like that area gets a lot of sun, Qinx! Wide open space.

I have tall, old oak trees all around my garden area, but the veggie spot seems to get just enough direct overhead sunlight.

It's a new development less than 2 years old. The trees behind us are to the south, so when the sun rises, we basically get sunshine from sunrise to sunset on the back yard. For now we get sun till about 5pm as the sun's path goes behind the neighbors house about then, so we get light, but not full sun after 5.

This is our first year growing veggies, and it's been a learning experience for sure. I've already told DH we need to double our size for next year! LOL (I don't think he liked that idea.) We originally went with the raised beds because our soil is such horrible heavy clay, even with loads of amendments added. Also, we both have back problems and having them raised up really helps. The width of the beds makes it easy to reach across the entire bed from either side. However, we soon ran out of wood to make the 18" high beds, so two of the beds are only 8" tall. They actually do better than the taller ones and we think it's because they have a lot of native soil mixed in with them instead of the "premium growing mix" we purchased from a local organic compost and soil mix company.

Most of the things we planted this year were transplants because we didn't know what we were doing and we got a late start. We did grow peas and beans from seed, though, and some Moon & Stars watermelon. For the fall, we'll grow more things from seed and then definitely next spring, we'll start from seed. I know we'll start our tomatoes from seed in early January.

Stephanie, just start a sheet and record all the TONS of fresh produce you get out and then at the end of the season add up all the $$$ you didn't spend at the grocer, that HE can now spend on ??? ....... I think he'll come around ..... quickly!

Plus, bonus ... you don't have to mow veggie gardens every other day. I seem to remember mowing an ant hill or two when I lived in Houston!! No Fun!

WillieB, your greenhouse looks really neat! What a great idea, and it can also help to warm the house if you have it set up that way. We thought of doing that at one point, but we would have lost a lot of our river view so we decided against it. Our greenhouse is just an 8x8 Rion; we start seeds indoors and then once their first true leaves appear we move them out to the greenhouse.

French seeds - because I've been growing veggies for a long time and it was fun to try varieties that were different. Plus we have spent time in France over the last few years and I love their potagers and the lovely way they arrange them. Every house seems to have a tremendously productive garden tucked into some space in the yard.

LOL Willie! Oh he knows about the saving money part, he just doesn't want to be the manual laborer! LOL Actually, I've just about got him convinced, but being the beginning of July, he won't be out there doing any digging. It's been 103º 3 of the past 5 days.

Your gardens all look so wonder ful, and so wonderfully kept. WNYwillieB I love your green house and what a wonderful idea to have it built so you could look into it from above. It looks like the most fun place to be. Is it hard to keep from getting too hot in the summer? I won't post a picture of my garden this year, though I love the set-up. I'm afraid it's drowning in weeds. I spent April sick and have landed in a wheel chair for the last two months so can't tend to it at all. Hubby is salvaging the tomatoes, but the rest I'll have to wait 'til next year for. I've really enjoyed seeing all your nice pictures though. Thank you for posting them. Maybe I can join in in a year.

Kathy

Zuchini and yellow squash here are sold at a nice size, but... Three in a pack are from three to four dollars.

If I could get those buggars to grow, I'd be rich! Every bug, blight, mold and anything else gets the plants here. Booo! I'm beinning to think squash is a gourmet dish!! A dollar each, pffft.

But then I have three mango trees, and am suffering Death by Mango. Nice way to go!

Molamola---You are funny. Death by Mango---WOW. You should see the price of those babies in our supermarkets!
About the zucchini---Wouldn't it be easier to plant seeds and much less expensive? Do you have a time of year when it isn't so humid? Maybe that's the key. Don't know 'cause I've never been there. Good luck with your squash if you haven't given up.

Like I said, if I could grow them, I sure would. I won't go on with zuchini woes here, let's just say you cannot get them past the onslaught of everything and more that gets zooks. The local Cushaw pumpkins can take it here, but not the Yankee Dog Squashes.

I have a row! Three Acai palms in my living room! They're the kind of palm that has gotten so much attention for the healthy berries they produce. But they are native of the Amazon Jungles, 100 degrees and 100% humidity, all the time. Much cooler and dryer here, 87 degrees and 60% humidity. Brrr! say the little trees. 80 degrees at night.

Things simple refuse to grow if they need a longer cooler night. Sunset right now is 7pm, and sunrise is about 5.

OK, back to rows! Long rows of squash!!

Melissa

It aint much and it looks pretty ragged but here it is.I've been getting tons of zuchini, okra, and cucumbers. I tried strawbale gardening this year for the first time and I love it. I won't do tomatos in them next year but squash and cucumbers and beans do great in them.

Hello everyone,

I have small garden spots at home, and am also gardening on a larger plot that a friend lent to me. Here's a photo of my "borrowed" plot, showing most of the space. She has flowers along the fences and an asparagus bed along the back fence. In order, left to right:
Squash, then melons, two half-rows of beans and three half-rows of okra, with corn behind. Used to be peas and now a volunteer melon in the blank space behind the swiss chard to the right of the okra and corn, then tomatos along the right.

The chard is hers and is left-over from last year's planting. It survived the winter and is still producing nicely. A full row of beets are not visible but they run from the front to back right along the left side of the beans and corn.

Tina

Here's another picture, a little more close-up.

Tina

I received an email to say my camera is on its way, and should arrive next week. YAY! As soon as I have all the bells and whistles worked out, I'll share photos.

Hmm... guess I should ask y'all how to do that? I have an account with Photobucket, so I can upload to here from there, but maybe someone can let me know the steps.

Thanks :)

Tina, your borrowed garden looks really productive! Very nice!

Honeybee, you can upload photos here directly from your computer. If they're digital, you can load them right onto your computer for handy access. I use Photoshop to resize mine and make them web-ready, but your camera may come with its own software to accomplish that. Right below the window we type into there's a button that says "Choose file" and that's how you select what you want to show here. Only one photo can be uploaded per message.

Here is a photo of one garden, taken yesterday. The tomatoes have been bearing since February! The garden is 120 ft long. We just added another garden beside this one. It has a 6ft isle down the center. The planting areas are 35 ft wide.

Thanks, everyone. The greenhouse is a luxury I am thankful everyday I have.

It sure does keep the entire house cozy warm in the wintertime. Keeping it cool in the summer is a little bit of a challenge, but not impossible to control. A well placed mulberry tree shades it well, that was until I trimmed it back, this year. I am thinking of getting a shade cloth to put over it, but so far, it has not been too bad. I do have exhaust fans, and heavy thermal curtains (on the second floor) to help keep the heat from the house.

My favorite place to visit, so far, has been Amsterdam. Somehow Dutch seeds does not sound as exotic as French seeds.

Only 103ºF, Stephanie?? ^_^ Ah, fond memories of Houston living! Remember Alicia?? Wasn't she a fun one? That was about the time I was living down there.

It sure is fun to look out of, or down into the GH from the rooms upstairs, for sure, Willow! Sorry to hear you have taken ill for a spell, sure hope you are up and around soon. I can only imagine how hard it must be to watch the garden grow and not be jumping all around it.

My zucchini is just starting to take off. Lots of little zukelums coming on, MolaMola!! Maybe I can have some airlifted to you, once they have matured and ripened!! We can make a killing on the market!!! How much profit would it eat airlifting them to the Islands, I wonder ^_^ Might be able to pick some next week, already!! See Photo Showing Plants on June 27. You should sell the Acai berries to those diet pill companies, bet those get a pretty penny!

Fremar! NO such thing as an ugly garden!! Yours looks VERY healthy, and I bet VERY productive. I just read a DG article on how keeping some weeds is actually very beneficial to the garden plants. One way is that their roots dive deep and bring up water for the shallow rooted plants to utilize! I never thought of it that way, but capillary action works great with something as tenacious as water!

Your Fence-Row of Pines looks awesome, too .... very nice. Tell us more about your experiences with the straw bail gardening. Would like to hear your take on what's been working and what hasn't been working.

Same thing with the Square Foot Gardening, Qinx!! What's been good & bad 'bout it!??!

Tina, I am soooo jealous!! Where do I find friends who will let me have their yard to work??!!?? How great is that!?! I would love to grow corn, but it would take up my entire veggie area to make it just big enough to become productive! Everything there looks like it is very happy!

Your soil looks awesome, Calalily! And the gardens, too!! So huge! The surrounding setting looks beautiful. What a great situation you have over there! I am just starting to have fruit on my tomato vines. I started the seeds for everything in the greenhouse around March 1, 2009.

Can't wait until HoneyBee posts some pictures here!! Glad to hear that the camera is on its way so soon!

Here is that shot of the Zucchini from a few days ago. Of course, they are twice this size already!! Today should be clear, so I can get some more shots. Been raining off and on for the past week. EVERYthing has been growing like gang busters, here! Keeping my fingers crossed that the bugs, blight and mildew stay away. So far, so good!!