The basic plan: The area I've set aside for the garden is 80'x80'. This is my dream plan, right now, subject to change and horribly out of scale: I am going to start in the southeastern corner (east--drop off, south--neighbor). I'm going to straighten the old deer netting posts and put deer netting back up and I'm going to add 4' of chicken wire below, 3' up with 1' on the ground. I can get to the backside of the fence by climbing the slope from a trail that goes down to the bottoms. In front of the fence in the part that curves the farthest before it drops off will go some Shasta doublefile viburnums, for looks and to secure the edge. I'm also leaving the trees I cut there as pollards--they will do well in that form. At the most southeast corner, diagonal to the garden, will go the compost piles (partially recessed into the earth) and the lawn tractor shed. The compost piles will probably come this year. The shed will not. Then, I'm going to shoot straight up the property for 36' feet along the east side with a 2' wide bed. This is the expensive bed, as I'm planning on using PT lumber to make it 2' high, with dividers every 3', and with landscaping fabric in the bottom--for raspberries! This, I will fill with the topsoil I already bought and absurd amounts of compost, as the topsoil is mostly crap. The back (east) side of the raspberry will be smothered and mulched. The front will be mulched or will have the cheapest pavers put in, depending on how rich I feel. A temporary chickenwire fence will go around the garden space, with 1 or 2 wireless deer fence stakes stuck along the only side the deer can come up. It will be adjusted as the garden grows. Then, I'm going to start at the south side. First will be a 2' wide bed 16' long for my first blueberries (if it's a bit shady) or espaliered apple trees (if it turns out to be the sunnier than the S end when I'm done removing trees). Then will be a 2' walkway and rows of 16'x4' east/west running beds. There will be room for 5 beds and change along the raspberry bed. The reason I'm putting tall things in a narrow bed up front is to deter deer. The tallish bushes/trees will seem to form a second fence behind the surrounding fence and will discourage them from jumping. There will be a 2' space between the fence and the first beds, minimum. I will be able to put my permanent fence (inexpensive black metal fencing), with chicken wire discreetly attached to it, along the south side as I build it. All other sides will be just chicken wire, and the back side along the dropoff will never be anything except deer netting and chicken wire. In front of the fence will go the deer-resistant varieties for my perennial cutting garden, with deer stakes among them. The beds will be edged with 2x4 PT lumber, just to define the edges and keep them neat. Each bed will be first dug as deeply as I can--for the first and last time. After this, 2" tilling will be my max. A cubic yard of compost will be incorporated--or, more likely, half a cubic yard of composted manure and four cubic yards of mulch. A couple of inches of topsoil from the 2' walkways will be added to the beds, too. Then I'll sow with a covercrop and move on to the next bed. In the future, I'll VERY shallowly till in the cover crop plus about an inch of compost before I plant anything each year. If I finish 5 beds this year, then I'll do the second half of the length of the garden--36' feet of blackberries in 2' beds, then another 6 4'x16' beds. Then along the north side will be the the beginning of the north end of my living "double fence". Then I'll move on to the second row of 4'x16' beds--probably next year or the year after, I fear! Rinse and repeat. There will be a 3' aisle between each set of 11 beds. All in all, I'll have a 2' bed surrounding the entire space, with 44 4'x16' beds, if I decide to do it. Or, if I decide it's too much work and I have more than enough veggies, I can stop at 11 beds, or 22, or 33. The first bed I'll put in will be my main herb bed. Many things there will be perennial. The second will be my strawberry bed--part June-bearing, part alpine, part day-neutral. And bed #11 in the first set will be asparagus, while bed 8 or so will have other perennial veggies like artichoke and rhubarb. In my dreams, I'll also build a pretty double shed--a potting shed and a tool shed. If I get ALL the lawn and garden equipment out of the garage, maybe I'll actually have room for my woodworking tools. Right now, it's like the game Rush Hour whenever I want to do anything in the garage. And, of course, since I'm dreaming, I'll have a greenhouse. Who doesn't want a greenhouse? Here is a link that might be useful: This is what my garage is like....

did you forget how to edit pix size??? i am surprised imageshack wont do it automatically on upload??? are those poison ivy vines??? for the kids sake.. if so .. i cut them at ground level.. apply generic roundup .. and then cut them at about 6 feet ... so that there was nothing left for the kids to play with ... and then reapplied the round up two or three times per year [or every time i saw that it regenerated green tissue] .. until it finally died ... and dont burn the waste.. let me know if i need explain ken

Hi Carol! Those pictures of the pokeweed look great. The contrast between it and the other variegated plants makes for a nice grouping. Do your neighbors know its a pokeWEED? My neighbors would probably smile nicely and then walk away and talk about all the weeds I have later. I would love seeds though. I think you know I have a weakness for variegated plants. Thanks for the suggestions and I'm sorry I didn't give enough info about the location. It's going to sound stupid, but I'm not totally sure if it is a moist area or not.... I've only been here since late June and there's been enough rain to keep all areas well watered. But I THINK it's a moist area. It seems the solid shale construction fill that sits just a few inches below the clayish topsoil fill of my yard(my soil needs help)funnels alot of the rain towards this area. There's some Jewelweed nearby but not in this particular area, so I think it's borderline moist. I do have some goldenrod that seeded in and I think I'll keep it(but keep an eye on it)... and I also like the culvers root and coneflowers... I think my biggest concern is that the plants will be able to hold their own against the pokeweed and goldenrod. But I will be watching, and I think I can coddle the cardinal flower a bunch since I always wanted to have a spot of it! I'm going to try and take a few pictures so you can see what's growing there now and get a feel for the area (its a fairly small area actually)and hopefully keep me from ripping out anything that I should keep. But.. it might be a few days before I get the pictures (painting rooms, company is coming Friday and there's a christening Sunday!) so don't give up on me. Oh and it's mostly an eastern exposure Sue! It should be a perfect spot for alot of things, right? Wait until you see the pictures. It is a mess right now with the invasives and I'm in coal country, so none of this ground is undisturbed, but I think I can make it a little more productive for wildlife!

Connect with your local land trust for plant id.and volunteer opportunities. It's a great way to learn and meet the experts. If you don't know which one is on your area, check with Gathering Waters, the umbrella organization for Wisconsin land trusts. www.gatheringwaters.org The Ozaukee Washington Land Trust has experts in plant identification and management of native systems. www.owlt.org