I posted the photos in the "Gallery" part of this forum, otherwise it would clog up the loading time on this post. They are listed under "Potager ideas." I love this style of garden but pretty much had to give it up in my small urban yard as the local vermin trash almost anything I plant. The bunnies even decimated my small blueberry bush. I am relegated to pots around the house that I can keep an eye on. Herbs are ok though, they don't mess with those. The squirrels bury nuts in the far away pots and throw dirt all over the paths, so I have even given up those! I envy you with the awesome fence! Check out information on companion planting, that will give you some ideas of what herbs and flowers and vegetables go together. There is lots about it on the Web and in books. There's little scientific evidence behind it, but it is the result of lots of people sharing some tried and true combinations that have worked for them. I have two books that I like on the garden design subject, one is "The Edible Garden" which is a Sunset book. The other is "Theme Gardens" by Barbara Damrosch. It has a layout for a children's garden in it that looks similar to what you have. But I am sure there are gads of cool picture books you could check out at the library or bookstore to give you ideas. In zone 6 you have a LOT of options!

Go check out the photo section of the Square Foot Gardening website Here is a link that might be useful: Square Foot Gardening

Glenda, I used bamboo stakes for my pole beans last year too. I didn't have much success with them though. First of all they weren't tall enough and the beans began to reach out and grab everything else in the garden. I took additional bamboo stakes and connected them from one teepee to the next to give them more vining room. Then they grew so massively that the weight of them actually toppled the teepees over. All in all I did get a bumper crop of beans though and we still have plenty in the freezer. Next year I will can them since I have a better handle on canning now. I've been thinking that I can make a hoop house to fit over one or two of the raised beds I'm building this year using rebar and PVC. I have seen on a few of the greenhouse websites that you can buy just the heavier plastic from them so that is likely what I'll do. I'd like to try some winter sowing under a hoop house and see how that goes. As for potatoes we just cut up regular potatoes and planted the eyes the first time we tried them. We dug trenches about 12 inches deep with the tractor, layed in the eyes, covered them with about 6-8 inches of straw and watered well. When the vines came up through the straw we layed in 6-8 inches more straw. You continue in this manner until harvest. They were growing beautifully and the special thing about this method is supposed to be the fact that you don't have to dig them from the dirt you just lift all the straw with a fork and there they are. I never got to find out because as I said the potato bugs defoliated them completely. I'm going to do it again this year in stacked tires. I'll let you know how it goes. Thanks for all the info. MeMo

Echoes- Thank you for posting, such a pretty potager! I'm just heading out to work in my garden...but I will be looking through this tonight! :) Here's the link. Here is a link that might be useful: Debbie's potager link