So here's a question, folks:
My dream garden is definitely cottage. On the other hand, raised beds - I'm talking waist height - are a whole lot more accessible to me. The dilemma is that I'm having trouble picturing the mix of flowers and veggies and fruits and nuts and berries and blossoms in swathes of color, being contained! "Contained" has never been the description that's come to mind when I see the gardens that I most love, lol.
I'm pretty much getting to start from scratch, WITS sunny yellow lawn, with a couple of stands of roses and two giant conifers, so that's good, (mostly!), but now what?
Have any of you got ideas to share on this? I'll listen to anything, crazy though it may sound. Thank you!
I can garden from my knees, but that's kind of like going to the city for the day, I guess that'd be the city of ants. Anyway it's a serious endeavor requiring planning, none of this wandering through the garden picking rosebuds stuff. Or tomatoes and blackberries. Which means it happens less often, and I love my gardens too much to want the less-often kind!
Turtle
Raised cottages?
If you allow some of the plants near the edges to "spill" over a bit you can soften the feel of the raised bed container. This will help it to feel more a part of the landscape rather then contained and separate.
The placement of the waist high raised beds can also help.
If you are thinking of more then 1 raised bed you can copy a pattern similar to a formal garden bed when placing your containers and then use a central accent of decorative art like a gazing ball or sundial. The contrast between formal edges and plants casually spilling is delightful.
Fullness, close spacing, also will give it a more cottage garden effect. A multitude of plants is how you'll want it to feel.
Or use shrubs around them at ground level but of course not obstructing your access.
Look at some of the books that show potagers or creative vegetable gardening, you'll see lots of different garden layouts and the use of flowers and vegetables together in those.
You can grow some sort of small vine planted in the ground at the corner and up one of the legs of the contained box. If there are no legs to your container add a small trellis near one edge and grow the vine that way, also a vine spilling over the edge and back to earth would work just as well.
Anything that makes your layout feel part of the landscape not separate from it will help.
What an interesting problem! I know I'll be thinking about this as I fall asleep. The one thing that popped into my head was a very narrow box of low growing shrubs in front of the beds. Narrow enough so you could reach the front without much trouble, but do most of your tending from the back. I'm afraid I can't recommend anything except to say I've seen very small lines of shrubs in knot gardens. Boxwood??? Dunno. Anyway, have the shrubs planted by someone else and then treat them with Preen or the organic equivalent regularly so you don't have to get down and deal with them. It would soften the look of the raised beds.
And yes, definitely, lots of trailing stuff.
Thank you both. Your thoughts have helped me imagine past the conundrum that was stifling new thoughts. It's really helped! Yay!
LAS & Semper pretty much covered the ideas I had instantly when I read your post. I LOVE the bright green sweet potato vine and Wave petunias for spilling out. Alysumm is cheap and easy and self seeds. Another thing that would help is if you make the raised beds walls thick enough, with a cement edge or rock so it can double as bench seating. Maybe placing an arch trellis bridging the planters with a pot at each base, again that would anchor the look to the ground.
Will you need cement paths between them to make it more accessible for you? There are several gardeners on DG that garden from a wheelchair and I'm sure they could share some good ideas.
I can't wait to hear what you decide and see PICTURES as it progresses!
Thanks Pat. I too cannot wait to see pictures! lol right now the pictures are all in my head, and they're pretty danged fuzzy.
First have to figure out what I'm going to do about the soil.
See, just finished my spring gardening tasks, so that I can put fall tasks in motion, so I can start dreaming about hardscape/bedscape, so to speak. Maybe by fall 2014 my seasons and Earth's seasons will come out even!
I would love a good Gardening and Landscaping computer program. It would entertain me for HOURS!!!!
We are house hunting and every house presents a new and different challenge. One house is SHADE and BIG pine trees in front etc.... One is full sun back yard and NO grass, just rock and paths etc. Still house hunting so who knows what I'll get but whatever it is, I'll make it my own with lots of garden art and FLOWERS.
Goodness yes! Another way to play when there's too much swamp outside!
I totally lucked into my house, had never ever thought I'd own one. And it's likely to be our forever home, so I'm (more or less) okay with proceeding slowly. As long as I have all my big pots to play in. Maybe next year spring won't take til September to be finished with!
I hope you find a house with grounds so exciting to you that the house itself is an afterthought. But totally adequate of course. Will you still be in WA?
Yes, I have moved back "home" to tri-cities. I was born & raised here but have been gone a few years. When I remarried my husband was in Boise Idaho, then when he got disabled, we moved to Othello where I got a much better paying job. Now, we're moving back to Tri-cities.
This almost looks as though I already have what I'm hoping for, so I just keep looking at the photos instead of the hard "landscape" all around.
I see I'll have to learn about DG and the portrait/landscape photo trick. Sorry; I was doing well just to get any photos to show up.
Turtle
That's really coming along nicely!! Those dahlias in the pot are almost misleading... looks like you got TAAALLLL dahlias unless you can see the pot peeking out!! LOL
Really looking nice. Good job!
Lol!
Actually they're behind the pot, but yes, in a raised bed. Those two beds are all I've got besides my pots.
But thanks!
Hey, we all get "there" (whereever our definition of THERE is) a little at a time unless we're blessed with money, time, great health and strength and LOTS of help!!!