Sorry I couldn't find a way to edit my original post, but I left out that I'm looking to put together something that will match a small ranch style house with a tall redwood fence that completely surrounds it.

Thanks again!

kayan, please start by posting a couple pictures of the yard if you have a digital camera. seeing the space is a must for any relevant comments. In the meantime, think of your Needs and Wants. do you just need to put it back so it looks finished? or do you want to take the opportunity to remodel the entire front yard? What items do you want to change? What elements do you want to create? i.e.: cutting garden, fountain, seating area, shade, etc.

Here is a link that might be useful: landscape design that helps you find your way if you are lost

Thanks for the tip, John. The garden is a mess now so I have some older pictures to share. Both pictures were taken from the porch.

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I do want to completely re-do the garden area, and finish landscaping around the deck. Landscaping actually needs to be completely re-done around the house, to be honest, so the garden is my starting point. I've gotten as far as deciding that I might want to set a bird bath as my focal point and a circular meandering path. As far as plants, I would like to mix my veggies with flowers and shrubs. Right now I have no perennials and they scare me. And I definitely want cut flowers.

Thanks for the link as well. I'm going to sign up for that e-course right now. :)

I'm new to gardening myself, but have you thought of looking on the potager forum? With your idea to have a fountain as a focal point and wanting to combine vegetables with flowers (and maybe herbs and fruit?), it sounds like it might be something you would enjoy. You can mix in rose bushes, peonies, raspberries, other shrubs, even espaliered fruit trees, along the outside edges, which would be against your fence.

I'm planning one right now and I've decided to plant roses along one side to help screen some sheds and purple raspberries on another side. You might want to check out the potager forum and look through some pictures. If there's nothing there to inspire you, try Jennifer Bartley's book on the American Potager. It's on Amazon and most of her garden is pictured on the cover. Hope this helps :)

Oh thanks you, Lavender! Potager gardening looks exactly like what I'm aiming for!

Kayan- You are so lucky to be in such a warm zone. I would imagine you can garden almost all year round :)

You might want to look on the cottage garden forum (here on the GW) under French Cottage Garden. It's right at the top and if you scroll down, there's a link to a BHG website. It shows a really nice picture of a fountain in the middle of a small garden, which might give you some good ideas.

There are also many nice pictures of potagers on the potager forum. There are all different styles, ranging from formal to informal. I based my design on Jennifer Bartley's potager, just scaled down a bit. I plan to put a two tiered fountain in the middle of the garden, but since I have no electricity out there, I want to plant petunias on both tiers. They do great in our area and this way I don't have to mow around them :) I'm using grass paths, but brick, gravel, stone, bark, even dirt can make nice paths depending on your area.

One thing I've noticed is that a lot of the potager books recommend planting perennials away from the annuals. Often the perennials will be in the perimeter beds (against the fence) and the inside beds will be for annual flowers, herbs and vegetables. This makes it easier to replant the veggies without disturbing the perennials.

Have fun with your garden design :)

Lavender- I think I'm able to keep root vegetables and lettuces going in the dead of the winter here but I'm not too sure. DH and I moved in last November and I don't think I started planting until January. I grew up in apartments in San Francisco, so the concept of snow is pretty foreign to me- as are "acres". LOL I can't believe how much land some of the people who post here have.

That said, I did visit the potager forum and looked at photos and skimmed through some threads. It sounds perfect because that's the kind of gardener I am- veggies and fruits first, then flowers. But I need to be able to adapt the method so that my only garden/yard isn't just the potager. Really all I have is a total of 23' x 17' to work with (and along the fence and around the deck).

I love the cottage style but I'm not sure if it would add to or take away from my house's non-existent curb appeal. (In short I have no idea what to do with it.) LOL It's already a dull-looking Ranch style house that has a short porch and that tall wooden fence around it which pretty much hides all but the roof. I don't know why but people on this street seem to like surrounding their property completely. I'm planning on making it look pre-determined by putting climbing plants on trellises along the fence inside and out.

I love your idea of the two-tiered fountain with the petunias and grass paths sound so pretty. I'm debating what to use for my paths. I have three dogs, so grass is probably out of the question. I've been using bark nuggets but they decompose so quickly and they're so ugly when they're dull (like in my photo). I've got red bricks and stone tiles at my disposal but I definitely don't want anything paved because I want to keep things informal.

The annuals vs. perennials recommendation makes sense- I never thought about that.

The forums seem to be so dead right now. I was hoping to have ideas to bounce around. :( Oh well, thanks for your input so far. The more I read the better my ideas form. :)

It is kind of slow right now, but the cottage garden forum is a little more active than some. Everyone over there is really nice and I'm sure they'd be happy to give you some ideas. Do you have any pictures of the front of your house? It sounds like cottage garden style might be perfect, depending on what you like to grow. The one advantage of cottage garden is that you can still mix in veggies and fruit with the flowers. The main difference between cottage garden and potager seems to be potagers are more formal in layout (usually) and emphasize vegetables first. Cottage gardens are more informal (usually) and emphasize flowers first. That doesn't mean you can't tuck in an eggplant or some garlic around the roses :)

Good luck with your garden. You're so lucky to be able to plant so many things against the fence. I'll bet you can grow almost any climbing rose, jasmine, bouganvilla, etc. I would love to have jasmine, but right now star jasmine (as an annual) is the best I can do, but it does smell good.

Kayan, the picture of the raised planters gives me a good idea of the spaces you have to work with. Based on the above posts, I suggest making a list of all the different plants (veges, flowers, perennials) that you are considering based on preferences for flower/bloom color, food, etc. Make columns to list them by type: ornamental shrubs, flower (annuals like petunias, etc.),vining (climbing roses, jasmine, climbing veges like cucumber, peas, beans). Make a column for perennial (year around) vs. annual, height x width (how much room they need as they mature), by color if thats important, by food type and then by season, i.e. winter veges vs. summer.Make sure they all grow in your USDA Plant Zone.

The plants will be your major elements so arranging them will be the most important and since there is alot of variety, the important thing would be to not allow it to get messy or unplanned. These types of gardens tend to look hodge-podge, cluttered and wild. Some people like this 'look' and call it 'informal' or cottage style. The ones you see in picture books are well planned and well maintained, so knowing how things grow is very important before planting.

Decide on the structure of the space formal vs. informal. Formal with either straight lines or based on circular, symetrical shapes can be very space efficient which is a plus in a small space like yours. I like the bird bath focal point because its simple. I have your yard designed in my mind as I'm writing this, funny, if you were a client, I would just sketch it out in front of you.

Paths and flooring could use those bricks you mentioned, spaced about 6' apart neatly though with creeping Thyme planted in between (grow from seed). Plant vining plants that need support or a trellis along the fence with a few perennials to break them up like dwarf Pomegranite or Butterfly bush (Buddelia)

I would have a 3 foot path around the perimeter to access the vines on one side and the veges, flowers on the other which would be in raised beds. You can get creative with the raised containers and not make them so boring with squares and rectangles. Maybe make them into a 'cross' which would be two elongated rectanles that intersect in the middle. then in this center you could place a glazing globe,bird bath, sundial, etc.

Next step is to draw the space out to scale and start sketching some ideas on paper or just use a white board, chalk board, etc. but try to do it to scale since you have a small space, scale is important when considering the width of the plants.

Hope that helps get you going where you want to go.

P.S. Use caution with Lady Banks Rose or Bouganvillea as they will get overgrown and overwhelm the space.

Here is a link that might be useful: garden design ideas that give more meaning than simply the style of a garden