Your garden is perfectly charming!! And you said you're a beginning gardener? Very impressive. It looks so inviting. Thank you for sharing it with us. Becky

LOL memo - I have a SERIOUS before picture available! Soon as I can I will go get new pics and post em up... Basically this is how we got the place. Construction unfinished and front is a parking spot and turn around for all the neighbors - not something I was too thrilled about - which was the main reason for throwing the garden in ASAP. That's my littlest baby boy smiling at you, he's a cheeseball to the extreme. The grey roof to the right is one of our neighbors. Very nice people, with a couple of very cool dogs, a chain link fence seperates us. Those two white posts with the wierd green at the bottom now have clematis on them since it was the only way I could think of to hide them! The old shower and the doors are gone. The two arched windows in the patio roof are history. Gosh this was almost a year ago! VERY VERY "BEFORE." Here's the area I'm starting to work on now, around the side of the house. It will be divided in two - a woodland garden with pond and play area for kids (will occupy the from somewhere off the left of the pic to about level with the basement door), and another area (everything to the right)that has a fairy village/garden and a butterfly/hummingbird garden, and a large lawn and patio for entertaining. That purple leaf plum was planted within a few months of signing papers - it was my way of staking my claim to the property. Nothing was growing there and I decided that HAD to change immediately. It has since been moved and replaced with a redbud and numerous tulips.

I have one Jack that just finished bloomin and one that is starting to bloom. Astilbe chinensis pumila is coming into bloom and a couple others are still hanging on. Several Campanula are blooming as well as several Geraniums. Hostas, of course and the long-blooming Corydalis lutea and C. ochreleuca. There are a few flowers yet on my chrysogonum and Meconopsis is reflowering. Just coming into bloom is Kirengeshoma and the Japanese anemones. Then there is my monstrous sun flower(?) six foot plus with large opposite leaves and yellow petalled flowers ( I think I got it from Ellen Hornig of Seneca Hills. My Acteae rubra berries are brilliant just now.

Ann, I'm no expert, but how many plants are there in the pole bean planters? How big is the pot (diameter)? I grew 4 plants per container in square kitty litter buckets (cleaned of course). I think they are about 2 gallons, maybe 10" square. So...if your pots are large, you may be able to save 6-10 plants per pot. It would break my heart to cut them off, but the others are right. No point in watering them for weeks and only getting a handful of beans. I would suggest a flat type trellis and let the beans spread out as they climb. My yellow wax bush beans are in a raised bed, 4 feet by 8 feet. I have 2 rows planted 6" apart the full 8'. Each seed within the row is about 3" apart (clear as mud??). I'd leave the bush beans alone. You'll have to trim a few leaves off your squash and if they are a vining type (acorn, butternut), train to the outside of the bed and let them crawl beside it. The vines can get 10' or longer!! If they are summer squash, they spread out by adding more "stalks" around the center. You can trim off any big ol' leaves that shade something else (sparingly, of course). Broccoli can get big, but it depends on the variety. Mine isabout 18' high now and hasn't even started to head. Never grown cauliflower or eggplant. The peas will get 36" tall or better. Will they shade other plants? Which way does your raised bed sit? East/West or North/South? Or somewhere between?? Looks like you're going to be in pesto heaven!! Wish I liked the stuff..... I use a little basil in sauces, but don't really care for it otherwise. My daughter gave me a plant for Mother's Day called Red Rubin Basil. Looks like this (photo from web, not mine): Deanna