Thanks guys for the kind words. You can all be counted on to say something nice. We wanted to paint the fence, but it was laying in my backyard all last year, and I finally said just put it up as is and we will go for the rustic look. If I wait for everything to be perfect it will never happen. My thought was that any fence was better than no fence and no garden:) So far we haven't had any problems with animals. Except the cat can jump the fence:) Skip put a thin wire fence all the way around on the inside, and outside he put chicken wire about 5 inches up, then put a thin layer of mulch around too. Works so far. We have tons of groundhogs, rabbits, so I didn't want them to dig under. The deer have eaten all of my lily tops except one in the back. I am going to move them up closer to the house later in the summer.

Those are just 2" by 12" pine lumber like you would get at Home Depot. I went with the cheapest I could get, thinking by the time it had to be replaced I could replace it with something more permanent, like stone. So far it has lasted pretty well. The wood for the small 2' by 2' beds at either end is two years old. The longer beds are made mostly from lumber I bought last year. I think I will probably get at least a couple more years out of these boards, if not more. Here's an updated pic. I went ahead with the planting even though I don't have the arbor or gate done, and the center bed is still in progress. I have sweet potato slips arriving next week, and plan to plant them in that bed. I'm trying to be patient but its hard because I know it would look a lot better if I could just find the time and energy to carry out the rest of my plans. I'm grateful for all the rain this spring, as last year's drought was terrible, but it seems to always come on the weekends, which keeps me inside looking out longingly into the back yard lol! I really need a higher fence and a proper gate though, as my son's Jack Russell terrorist is driving me crazy! Somehow she has figured out how to get in despite my efforts. I think she must be leaping over it, which means I need a four foot fence I guess.

Glad you like it! I did all the work myself - except for making the raised beds, my dad did that for me. I have a little of everything - onions, garlic, tomatoes, peppers, eggplants, potatos, lettuce, carrots, swiss chard, beets, radishes, summer squash, broccoli, cabbage, cauliflower, peas, beans... This is my backyard - I was sick of mowing and you can't eat grass! I have some flowers mixed in, but mostly the flower section and the veggie section are separated. I had everything mixed last year (following the square foot garden method), but I found it was very hard to keep say onions next to flowers. At a certain point the onions need to dry and you can't water them, but the flowers need water, so it was frustrating. This year I separated everything and organized. It can get over grown REALLY fast. I drew out a map for the placement of the beds and then I stuck to it. It helped a lot! Good luck with your garden!

Flowerlady, I always visited the Cottage Gardens too. It was my intent to continue creating such and they have so many beautiful gardens. But with a small yard (100X60 in back) and an abundance of trees, I kept trying to find a place for the veggie garden. Ended up planting it among all my flowers wherever the sun was best. I've always loved seeing your pics of all.