Enclosing A Potager - How Strict an Interpretation?

13 years ago

Hi all,

I've been reading and enjoying the posts lately, very interesting (and helpful) what people are talking about and the photos are great.

I was very preoccupied with my daughter's high school graduation (my youngest!) and my potager has been a little bit neglected...but I'm back now and need to get recharged, so I am working on adding another side to my garden.

The thing is, the west side is our white picket fence, and the north end is a panel of three vertical trellises, connected, on which the pole beans are growing. I'm hoping to post a picture this week.

Is such a panel configuration enough of a "side" to my potager? I would like to put a similar panel at the south end of the garden, behind an existing day lily bed. Then a sidewalk which runs across in front of the lily bed would be inside the potager and I could have some fun with that.

Do these panels sound like they can serve as "sides" to the garden? I hope so. The east side will have to wait for the budget to allow and I'm thinking about hedges etc. for that in the fall or next spring.

Thanks for your thinking about this -

Donna

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Comments (6)

Donna
13 years ago
I don't see why this wouldn't work. I have toyed with a similar idea myself, since I don't have room for a fence on one long side of my potager. I saw some nice wrought iron trellises at Lowe's that are about 4'wide x 6'high that I think would give the impression of a fence without actually being one. I don't think I would even try to make a solid wall, but rather space two or three panels down the side leaving spaces between them, maybe for walkways. Anything that stops the eye is going to give the impression of a wall. Just keep in mind that you don't want too much shade on your beds.
ali-b
13 years ago
Sounds neat to me! Doing it on both sides would add symmetry and structure. Who says you need a fence? Although if I didn't have a fence, I'd have no garden.
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chickadeemelrose
Original Author
13 years ago
Thank you SO MUCH for your enthusiasm and feedback! I feel more confident about this idea now.

What it would end up looking like is this - in the way back of the scene on the south side is our house foundation (ugly grey), with a large bed of orange daylilies in front of it, about 10 feet long. The bed has large rocks in front along it, and a paver walkway in front of that, and the rest of the potager is on the other side of the walkway. I love the lily bed and the sidewalk and would like to incorporate them into the potager, but nothing behind that.

The three framed lattice panels are 6' tall and 3' wide (square lattice, not diagonal). I would place these three panels about a foot apart, lined up behind the day lilies and opposite the three same type of panels at the north end of the potager (where the beans are growing). The new trio of panels would be a background for the lilies and camouflage the foundation, and hopefully also serve as the south end of the potager.

With the three panels we put up for the beans my husband and I braced the three with a 2' x 4' behind them, screwed in. Then hubby attached the brace to the nearby picket fence, out of view. I hope to do the same at the other end of the garden.

I'm sharing these details in case somehow this solution might help someone else with a similar problem to solve (several different features to incorporate into side of a potager).

I still welcome thoughts on this! :) And thank you!
chickadeemelrose
Original Author
13 years ago
Well this morning (between water breaks, it's really hot in MA today!)I'm putting up the three-part lattice panel at the south end of my potager; ali-b and donnabaskets, your encouragement really helped me decide on this. Even as I am putting up the panels new ideas are occurring to me on how to make this even prettier.

It always feels empowering to use tools and build something new. I decided to go ahead and put up this panel myself while my husband is at work.

In the process of preparing the area I smashed quite a few daylilies, but they'll grow back. At least there haven't been any large snakes so far. (I'll never be hired as a professional landscaper!:)) Anyone watching me would say "How can she drill anything when she keeps looking at the ground?"

I will send pictures soon! Thanks again -

Donna
lavender_lass
13 years ago
You have snakes in Massachusetts? I didn't know that...but it would make building anything a little more difficult!

Your enclosure sounds wonderful and I'm sure your potager is going to look even prettier. Can't wait to see pics :)
chickadeemelrose
Original Author
13 years ago
Thanks! I will post pics as soon as I can. I did get the trellises up today, the toughest thing was getting them in the ground to be the same height and bracing them so they were even.

Yes, we have snakes in Massachusetts, but the only dangerous ones are rattlesnakes in the mountains here.
The ones here are harmless but they make me jump a mile!! :)

Donna

Enclosing A Potager - How Strict an Interpretation?

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Enclosing A Potager - How Strict an Interpretation?

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