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Vegetable Gardening

Showing off my garden too

10 years ago

I am loving looking at everyones garden picture posts. I am further behind than most of you. This is my 4th year and I keep building more beds and expanding every year - though I think this is mostly going to be it in terms of size.

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Comments (13)

fern1knits
10 years ago
Very pretty, I really like your trellises and that archway. Your garden looks so much nicer and better organized than mine!
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AiliDeSpain
10 years ago
I love the arches too, very nice.
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hey vicki...i'm not sure what live forever is, most probably my grandmother called them that, then my mom, and now me lol. i love your tipsy pots and love the little frogs hanging out...especially the one hanging on, he is adorable, has quite a grip =). hi linda! it's a funny thing about stray kats they just seem to stay right on your heels lol, never knew if you caught that later post or not. when she said i had broken every design element rule...first thing i thought was good for me lol. when you posted that you hang out over here and this forum would probably be telling me to add more things to my garden...i thought hmmmmmmmm probably the place for me =). goldenpond thanks it is bricked on the front only...i like it but would like it better sitting in the country on about 10 acres! Then i would have a whole new slate to start gardening, as it is now most of my beds are pretty established but at the point now i can add to and take away from so that is kind of fun in itself. but a whole new blank canvas would be nice too. nonacook thanks for the kind welcome! i will check out the conversation area as well...i've already seen quite a few things i have spoke to my mom about...she is like me in her garden all the time, guess that's where i get it. thanks again to all for such a nice welcome =) and hope everyone had a fantastic mothers day!
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Comments (19)
Ok, a couple of more pictures as soon as it get light enough to take them - then I'll add them to the web page. I'll keep the web page too, as I don't like how the images are going away on the system storage site. Someone asked me over the weekend where this all came from? I have no idea! I was cruising the web one day and ran into Tuck. I kept putting him off as his cost was like a luxury car payment - and the cost of the deck screws (let alone the material for the deck) has thrown me into shock at times. Ended up getting a really good deal on him from a wonderful company on the web. (Best service and nicest people I have ever dealt with and I own a retail catalog type company with what I think is good old fashion ma & pa kind of service. Some of you might be too young to know what I am rambling on about.) There are only a couple more turtle shots and a couple of 'grog' pictures. Other than cleaning up - maybe a few more bags of marble - this garden is 'mature'. To he honest, I am not seeing a lot of turtle statues that I already don't have :-) And, Mimi is serious about me expanding it, I believe. Beside, I promised the deck by the end of summer just past - so I am late - so it is going to take priority. I have to have it done by the time Oscar and Jake-Dude are ready to play on it in the spring. If anyone is bored and wants to spend a couple of days with me drilling and screwing a couple of few thousand (minimum) screws, is welcome to visit! Thank all of you for all the compliments! It really has been a fun project. I think when it is finally done I will break out the easle, canvas, oils and brushes and bring back a hobby I kind of stopped doing about 20 years ago. I am teaching Oscar to draw and paint and that is refreshing the old urges of creativity. This is an aspect of me that my wife has never seen creativity (other than inventing and/or bring specialty products to the market) from me. Hope she doesn't get scared when I turn a bedroom into a hobby room. Oscar and I sing a lot together. Some in our family think we should do a video and submit it to America's Funniest! My step-daughter (her mom) works for me and I "force" them to bring her to work for me to play with everyday so that she does not go to day care yet. I think it is very important for her to know that she has someone 'else' that loves her for whatever she is or is going to be, and will be there for her no-matter-what. I know her parent are absolutely there for her this way, but I hope I take care of some potential gap that might be in life in case her parents 'limit' or 'scare' her from having no secrets. She is a very advanced, but socialable, 2.75 year old. We are learning some Japanese together. As a Pappy I could blabber on as much as any grandfather, but I'll try to restrain a bit. Suffice to say that she is the most important thing in my life. Period!!! Finally, I have heard from a couple of people that turtles are a symbol of luck, though I can not affirm it. Does anyone know a little (or lot) about turtle culture or a place to go? I don't care whether it's a box or water or whatever - I care about what the historical culture is. Thanks! Sure am glad this site exists and the members are so wonderful!
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I wonder if the cedar fence smells like the cedar mulch when you put it down? I love that smell! But like a Christmas tree, it sort of fades over time I suppose. I think you made the right choice to go with the four foot height. When you have a smaller property the higher fence can make it feel too closed in I think. I put up a four foot picket fence on one corner of our property with a gate and I find I go in and out of that gate more than I do the other side of the house that has an 8ft fence. The back of our property faces two properties whose back lot line intersect in the middle of mine, so that expands my view some and gives me a lot more privacy. So I used a post and rail fence there to increase the sense of space. Sometimes that's been a good thing and sometimes not, like when a neighbor parked an old truck on the back of his property for a couple of years. (g) It's gone now thankfully. And adding that arbor will give you a little more privacy but still allow you to view what is beyond the fence. Ingenious. I can't think of a better design decision for that space. No, I meant, in general, if you live in the city, where would you garden, meaning that would be a reason I would like living in the city less, because the gardening opportunities are smaller. I think I knew you were in the Chicago area, are you on a suburban size lot or a city lot? I know it's small. We're on a suburban lot but it's smaller than most in our town. About a 1/4 of an acre I think. Sometimes I think even that is too big for me to keep up with. (g) Alaska, huh? Well, I can see the attraction, but at my age, I don't think I could cope with the unique challenges. When I was younger, I would have very much liked a 'pioneer' experience. I suppose Alaska is not that as much as it used to be though. GORGEOUS part of the country though! I've never been, but would like to go some day.
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Showing off? They're doing the same thing my cats do when I come home after vacation, "How could you possibly leave us? Look how awesome we are!"
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newyorkrita
10 years ago
That is so nice, neat and organised. You have done a fabulous job. I love your garden setup.
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Kevin Reilly
10 years ago
Very cool! Thanks for sharing...
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woohooman San Diego CA zone 10a
10 years ago
I don't like your pics -- they make my garden look ghetto. :P

Beautiful Mandolls! Are you a Virgo by any chance?

Kevin
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mandolls
Original Author
10 years ago
Thanks for the hurrahs. Most of the time I have felt like it looks like a construction site, because I have been building and expanding every year. This year it is starting to come together. When the arches are covered with cukes and beans they will be really nice. I also planted vining nasturtium (12 footers) on each arch that should add some color. The pots of peas at the entrance arch are obviously inspired by Rita's posts (thanks Rita)

woohoo - I'm a Libra, also an artist, it was important to me that it feel more like a Garden than "crops". And honestly, I dont get as much sun in my yard as I really need, therefore my harvests are not great, so it better at least look good.

This is a pic from the first year.
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michelliot
10 years ago
Another neat freak. Are you related to Shermthewerm floating around here. You guys should find a garden magazine having a contest and send them some images.

Hope you have a bench to admire the "fruit of you labor" (lol) as well..................elliot
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shermthewerm
10 years ago
I love this garden & I've been watching your progress over the last few years--it looks beautiful. I'm actually wanting to use your cow panel idea. I keep showing it to my husband, "Look how cool that is!", hoping he'll just make me one. I guess I'm actually going to have to ASK for it.

Funny, michelliot!
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woohooman San Diego CA zone 10a
10 years ago
LOL at shermthewerm... once again a woman thinking that a MAN should be able to read her mind.

Mandolls: well, you must have some Virgo influencing you -- they're the true beat freaks. Anyways, your garden has definitely allowed your creative side to shine. Quite a transformation from one year to the next.

Kevin
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njitgrad
10 years ago
Nice job, love the neatness. If I had that much real estate my wife would never see me LOL.
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mandolls
Original Author
10 years ago
Elliot & Kevin - I am really not a neat freak - maybe a bit of a control freak and definitely interested in making it as beautiful as I can. But when taking photos its easy to frame out the messes. The folks with the really formal Potager gardens - they are the neat freaks.

Sherm - Thanks and I sure don't take credit for inventing the cattle panel arches - I saw those here on GW a few years ago. They are really easy to put up. You cant see them all in the pics but I have 6 of them, one front and back, and two on each side. They frame the whole garden.

njit - My whole lot is less than 1/2 an acre, I just dont have much lawn.
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lkzz
10 years ago
Beautiful! So much creativity.
What is planted next to the lettuce (?) - is that borage? I love not having to bend over for everything too. I just put mounds and mounds of compost around my many tomato and pepper plants this morning...a little stiff I am.
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mandolls
Original Author
10 years ago
LKZZ - thank you - I assume you are referring to the bottom pic in the original post?

Thats actually not lettuce, it is napa cabbage, and purple cabbage in front of the peas. The blue flowers are lobelia, and there are petunias and zinnia squeezed in here and there. There are a few borage around the garden that seeded themselves from last years plants, but I didnt plant any this year because they got eaten up by bugs last year and looked pretty ratty.

The first week or two of gardening season I am always stiff and hurting. But its good hurt usually :)
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