This is an easy one that looks great. I see it on a side street I take sometimes, so I haven't stopped for a picture. Maybe this year. Echinacea--Magnus, or even the old reliable Shasta Daisy Becky A small hosta with green and yellow-green leaves and short stalks of closely spaced, darker-than-usual, lavender/purple flowers. The bloom times mesh nicely and all the plants are very easy care. I am working on getting a stand of this going in my yard. The spot I tried is too overrun with maple roots (outside the drip line but thick with those roots nonetheless) so nothing but the daisies really succeeded there. Hard to believe, but the hostas are sulking in that spot. For a few years, I had a nice grouping of orange oriental poppies, Alaska daisies, and purple dutch iris. They all petered out, but one day I may try that again. Steve, I love your yarrow, russian sage and lychnis. I have all of those, I should just get them more chummy so I can enjoy that beautiful look. Everyone's photos are so inspiring. Much better than looking at the plant catalogs. Hepatica

Well, I guess I will add my two cents worth, though ha' penny's worth might be more accurate. I don't really like the terms that are used most often because of misconceptions people have. Many people think square foot gardening is little square plots with diverse things in it and the plots have to be arranged all in neat rows. It doesn't have to be that mundane. Several responses here have said that, and I have to add my "that's right!" to it. I prefer small space gardening as a term. I also like layer gardening rather than lasagna gardening because there is a misconception that lasagna gardening is a set method of preparation that requires a sort of recipe approach. That all being said, small space gardening is what it is. There are basic principles that make it work well. Combining it with layer gardening, however, is a little tricky. One of the problems you run into is your layers. Some of us who have started gardening from scratch have no green stuff to put into a garden layer. In a new house inside a new subdivision? Yeah, I am. No trees! Where am I going to get brown stuff to put into a garden layer? And, if you do find the ingredients, the layers are not bioavailable and do nothing but act as mulch for a year or two. The added difficulty is planting things in those layers, or through the layers to the untreated soil beneath (which is what you are really doing that first year). The truth is that this method takes way too much time anyway. If you want to start fast and then add greens and browns to keep going, here is a good way I have used again and again. And this method actually speeds things up and adds a wonderful treat to your garden. Step one: become a grass murderer! Sorry, but you have to. Kill the grass in the bed you want to make. Removal is best, but back breaking, and if you have that hated weed, Bermuda grass, you will just get invaded from anything you missed. For that reason, you want to put down something that will choke the grass out well enough not to leave any behind. I like using a combination of newspaper and cardboard in the winter. Next put up your bed walls to contain your bed, being sure that you have the walls a little smaller than your newspaper and cardboard prep. This is because one of the most annoying things is to build your bed walls first and have grass survive at the very inside edge of your bed, sending runners all through your bed in early spring. Next layer the bed. I use the following, but the trick is to come up with your own that works for you. You will notice that I use a little more wood much than you would expect, but wait for it! There is a good reason. Starting with the deepest layers: Composted humus and manure sand wood mulch composted humus and manure top soil wood mulch Now, this can be planted as soon as spring hits (or immediately if you are growing some cool season crops). Now you need to do something that will break down all that wood mulch (remember I used two layers). I like to use King Stropharia mushroom spawn and put it in the garden. Okay, I know that sounds crazy, but it will make sense in a minute. King Stropharia is an edible mushroom and decomposer that works wonders. As it breaks down the wood, it releases nutrients to the soil and attracts earthworms. It also preys on nematodes. After your first season of gardening, you can cut all the dead stuff and put it in the garden. Throw in some more wood chips or wood mulch (hardwood works best in my experience) and the mushrooms will keep digesting and composting the soil. You then plant again the next year, leaving the layer of debris and mulch from the previous year on top and harvesting your mushrooms. The result is that you now have an active, living compost pile right in your garden that you can layer things on to your heart is content. If where you live is warm enough to grow the mushroom, I definitely say you should try it. I have heard that phoenix oyster mushrooms work equally well for setting up a space saving garden with layering.

I've been working on shade beds now for 30 years and finally feel as though I have a handle on it. I agree strongly with those who recommend mixing shrubs in with the perennials for structure. They can be things as small and dainty as variegated kerria or as big a viburnums, Annabelle hydrangea, mountain laurel or even a clump forming small tree such as Sweet Bay Magnolia or a Service Berry. Winter holly gives good form and the berries hold on through most of the winter. I've become addicted to new leaf forms and colors to contrast with all the ferns, hostas and low growing perennials I use. Ligularias in purples, Rogersia, hydrangeas with reddish leaves or variegated leaves and this year I'm trying Japanese anemonies for the back of a border between Viburnums and a Serviceberry. In the front, I often let native wildflowers such as the white violets run among things like Astilbe pumilla, Dicentra formosa in white or pink and in the wilder part of the yard I let Mayapples grow in the spring and by fall the wild asters take over. I find it hard to cultivate every single inch of a 3/4 acre yard with much of it under large oaks and maples, so let nature help me landscape it. I'll try to go out and take some pictures to show some of the good, the bad and and ugly so you can get some ideas of what you might like vs. what you don't!

I planted them in Miracle Grow potting soil. I believe I planted them around the 3rd week in April. Just last week I gave them some more fertilizer. I used Vigoro Tomato and Vegetable fertilizer with Calcium. It's in a smaller size pouch and is granular. The plants in the ground have not been planted that long and they are not looking as good, not producing many blooms either. I knew that the dirt in that area was not the best quality and needed work is why I did not plant all of them in the ground, surgery really limited me....As for watering, it's sporadic. I live in Oklahoma around the area where all the tornado's have been. We have had a lot of rain and cool weather. I just dig in the soil a little and if they are dry, I water. Once this rainy weather clears up and the heat is on I am sure it will take more then I've been giving them. There are several drain holes drilled in the bottom outside edges of the buckets. I wanted to be able to see the water drain out, so I would know I wasn't drowning them and thought it would run out more freely with the holes drilled into the sides of the buckets rather then the bottom. In this area of the yard they do not get full sunlight. They get it from about mid morning till 6pm maybe. As you can probably see in the pictures I did not cage them, even tho they are determinate's they still need a little support so I tore old sheets into strips and fasten the strips to the fence, that's handy. The plants in the ground are Interminate's. I am thinking the fence might come in handy in mid summer it the sun is too brutal, I can fasten some cheese cloth to shade them with. I do not have one single secret to share, these are truly just an experiment..... I could not stand to go without fresh tomatoes this summer and did a lot of research on growing them in containers. Some people have great luck with them, some do not. Thought I didn't have much to lose by trying and it seems to be working....