Gardens through the seasons

7 Jan '07 3:39 am

Hi Gordonf,

Wow,we must have a lot in common. I love your gate structure, which is more complicated than mine. I also love your path outside the gate. It looks very similar to the paths I have put bordering all my gardens. We have actually built two of these gates now; one connecting the meditation garden to the front garden (where my new rose berms reside), and a second that leads to the side paddock from the back yard and between the end of my vege garden and the end of the adjacent mixed border.

I would love to see some more pictures of your vege garden.

7 Jan '07 3:54 pm

Hi, Faith S!

Here are a couple more pictures of my gate. One shows it right after completion about 3 years ago. The other shows it more like it looks in the summer now. Of course, just now it's winter, so there's nothing on it but a few dead-looking stems!

As for the veg. garden, it has become more of a nursery bed for my seedling perennials, as I grow a lot each year from seed. All I usually have now are snow peas, Miners' Lettuce, and, in the cold frame, peppers, zucchinis and lettuce during the winter. I also have a lot of strawberries while on the outside of the boundary fence are raspberries and tayberries. I grow them as much for the little neighbourhood kids as for me, as they get such a thrill out of "stealing" berries!! I told them it's all right as long as they leave some for me, and they seem to cooperate very well! I also have a young quince tree and an even younger pear tree with 3 varieties grafted on it.

Unfortunately, the pear was hit by the night-time vandal last year just after I planted it, so I don't know how it'll turn out this year. So were all the raspberries, but after dying back completely and losing the complete crop, they grew back about a foot from the roots last year, so maybe I'll get a few this year.

I hope you enjoy the pics.

-gordonf

7 Jan '07 6:14 pm

The photos caused a wee smile here - great how REAL gardeners think the same ! Smile

-I do like the effect of the gate -that style of gate has a name ,hasn't it ? (I can't think of it at the moment .)And the hoses casually part of the scene make it 'home'
Dixie.

7 Jan '07 6:28 pm

Hi, Dixie- I don't know if that kind of gate has a name - the roof over it was sort of Japanese-inspired, for me at least, and I just figured out about the 2 little gates with the bar across both of them as a closure. I didn't have space for one big gate!

And, you're right - gardeners DO think alike!! Very Happy

-gordonf

8 Jan '07 3:39 am

To Gordonf, thanks for posting the pictures of your vege garden. Even if you use it mostly for a nursery bed now, I still love seeing how others lay out their potagers (French for a garden for both edible and ornamental plants). I also have strawberries and some dwarf blueberry bushes, herbs and flowers in my food garden. I am thinking of planting more fruits although we have the beginning of a small orchard in another location. At present, my garden holds only leeks, a couple of broccoli, carrots, cabbage, mustard and collard greens. Soon I will plant spring lettuce and sweet peas. In the summer months I grow a variety of peppers, tomatoes, cucumbers, squash, okra (a must for all southern gardens), beets, carrots, melons and sweet potatoes.

To Dixie, I agree that gardeners often think alike. That's because we are wired differently from other folks. Who else would look at a big mess of dead foliage and think - black gold/compost!

8 Jan '07 3:59 am

Hi Faith, I'm way behind time but I'm so glad to have caught up with this thread now. Actually, I have been looking forward very much to see your autumn colours remembering seeing pics of your impressive huge trees in a row earlier in this thread. I love autumn colours and those shots of your trees blazing with autumn colours and sandwiched between the deep blue sky and green lawn is just fantastic. Love also your other pictures of the horses and the crane and your lovely experience with the hummingbird! You're so blessed to be so in touch with nature at its best, dear friend and I recall too that beautiful shot you've posted as Christmas greeting was truly breath-taking!! Thanks so much for sharing and giving me much pleasure! Very Happy

GordonF: Thanks to you too for sharing those delightful pics of your lovely gate and surrouding area as well as your veg garden! Smile

8 Jan '07 3:40 pm

Hi, folks-

Here's another (better, I hope) picture of my veg. garden, taken 2 seasons ago. Now, it's mostly a nursery bed for flowers, but in the foreground you can see where my strawberries and parsnips still grow.

Also in the foreground, just outside the short fence, is where I have my favourite mauve delphinium as well as a Shasta daisy that a friend gave me just before she suddenly committed suicide a few years ago. I think of her each year when it blooms! Also along this fence is a tall, mauve astilbe that another friend gave me and a tall helenium. Covering the long border fence is a Virginia Creeper vine that turns deep burgundy in fall.

Cheers,

gordonf

9 Jan '07 3:26 am

Hello to Jacqueline again and to Gordonf. It was so nice to hear from you Jacqueline and thanks for the wonderful comments. My experience with the hummingbird was extroadinary. I am afraid he has moved along in his migration because I haven't been able to spot him in the last couple of days.

And to Gordonf, thanks for the pictures of your vege garden. It is so beautiful in summer foliage. I especially loved your mauve delphinium. I would love to try delphiniums in my garden, but haven't so far because I am afraid they would not do well in my mixed border. In my area we have wet winters and hot (sometimes dry) summers. My mixed border is just too wet in winter for many plants that I have tried. I am gradually trying to raise the level of the soil to make a raised bed so that there will be better drainage and less loss during winter. I have some very large clumps of daylilys that would look fantastic with blue or mauve delphiniums growing alongside. I may get brave and try some delphiniums this year in the dryest end.

I have finally, after several years of trying, managed to get some foxgloves to re-seed. Time will tell if they survive the first year and last to bloom next year.

9 Jan '07 5:55 am

Gordonf, your last pic of your vege garden looks like pure heaven! I love vege gardens as much as the rose and perennial ones Very Happy

with the benefit of being able to munch your way around it while tending to it Wink

oh, and I love the gate!

Faith, your garden is just amazing and your horses are magnificent! Two of my favourite things Cool

9 Jan '07 6:55 pm

Hi, Faith-

Go ahead and try a delphinium! Where I live, we don't call it the west coast, but rather the "wet coast"! It rains nearly constantly all winter, and we usually have at least one 6-week drought in the summer, when it's quite hot (not as bad as in Alabama, though) in the day and cool at night. Your idea of improving the drainage isn't a bad one, though. Would you be able to water a bit in summer? If not, try putting a mulch of lawn clippings about 4 or 5 inches deep once the plants are well up. That works here.

-gordonf

Gardens through the seasons

Like Minds

Garden Gate

Great pictures

Gates

Gardener's are wired differntly than others

More Veg. Garden!

Vege gardens

Heaven!

Delphiniums in the Rain