So you think YOU have a cool garden?

[MiddleFingerMom]

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[GoCubsGo]

1. Nice!

I am often tempted to dig up what's left of my front lawn and replace it with something like that. If I didn't think the people in my neighborhood would swipe everything, I just might.

[Baitball Blogger]

2. More than one person is working that garden.

I suspect the hands of illegal aliens are at play here.

[riderinthestorm]

8. Yup. I agree. Or the owner is OCD and spends a lot of time out there nt

[noamnety]

10. not necessarily.

It follows the basic "square foot gardening" plan, which is to use boxes that are 4x4 feet - which limits your stretch in any direction to a comfortable 2 feet for weeding and harvesting. The book has a guide for plant spacing, and the deal is you put three foot wide paths between the boxes to make walking, kneeling, wheelbarrowing, etc. nice and easy. If the paths are lined with weedblock, you almost never need to weed them, and if the boxes are also lined, weeds are super limited since they don't come up from below. It takes next to no work to pull the weeds that do sprout if your soil is the recommended mix of peat, manure, top soil and vermiculite.

This was my initial setting up after reading the book:


I cut some corners based on the wood I could scavenge off craigslist, I wasn't interested in investing a lot of money. But you can see the basic premise still being followed. The plan is based on having to do the least amount of maintenance possible, even though it might look like a maintenance nightmare on the surface.

[Baitball Blogger]

11. Tell me about those arches. I have an area where I want to grow vines.

Nice photo, btw.

[noamnety]

13. Ooooh, the arches of shame.

They are pvc bent and slid over 4 pieces of rebar pounded into the ground. My thought was I could throw clear plastic over them to warm the plants during the day and protect them from frost at night. The husband argued that it wouldn't provide them any frost protection. In the end he had me lying on my back in the plastic dome using a radiometer to prove his point.

He's always right, which is a good quality in an engineer and a bad quality in a husband.

[Baitball Blogger]

14. That's weird.

Plastic is okay for the night in Florida, but they recommend you remove it before the sun bakes whatever is inside them during the day.

[sad sally]

3. oh my gosh, i have never seen plants sooo lined up and cooperative - nary a one out of place

bee-u-ti-ful!

p.s. is it yours?

[MiddleFingerMom]

4. It's not -- it makes me think of a Japanese garden.

[applegrove]

5. Here is the only picture I could find of the cottage garden. My favourite place in the world.

[IMG][/IMG]

[The Velveteen Ocelot]

6. I do have a cool garden. It's just a lot messier.

[stuntcat]

7. ooo very cool yes!

mine's even messier, such a mess I can't even get a good angle on it to take a picture lol

The one in the OP is beautiful too, I'd love that to be my yard!

[Baitball Blogger]

15. Beautiful!

[HopeHoops]

9. Looks like a LOT of work. I've got about the same amount of space total, but...

... a good chunk of it is the perennial bed and that doesn't take much maintenance anymore. It was a ROYAL pain for the first two years. The previous owner had put in something that looks like morning glory but absolutely chokes out everything. It grows from tubers and even a 1/4" piece is enough to create a whole new plant - and it sends out really long runners underground so it took forever to get rid of it (and we still find shoots).

[Tsiyu]

12. See, in Tsiyu's world

This would be the norm.


I prefer a more "natural (messy)" garden, but I admire this one.

Yummie and pretty.

Happy Fourth MSM

[Jasonsgirl_2010]

16. I would love to learn how you did this

This is awesome and I would love some tips on how to do this .

[MiddleFingerMom]

18. It's not mine - I just found the cool pic. My guess is that it's professionally designed and built.

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But here's a pretty cool and informative website.
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Try Googling "neat vegetable gardens".
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http://www.no-dig-vegetablegarden.com/
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[Scuba]

20. Welcome to DU!

[4th law of robotics]

23. Google "square foot gardening"

it looks like that's what this person is doing.

[Tuesday Afternoon]

17. just.too.too.perfect.

[canonfodder]

19. I like it.

I've contemplated about doing something along that line.
Not to that extreme, just something to provide fresh goods.
Maybe I need to get off my lazy ass, and get to work.

[turtlerescue1]

21. WOW! I couldn't imagine mine looking so pretty.

Absolutely gorgeous, so easy to care for...ohhhhhh I am so jealous.

I've vines growing everywhere, the tomatoes refuse to just stay within their cages, and the prolonged heat has things just saying "that's IT, I quit" and just curling up like they've never had a drop of water and dying.

BUT right now I'm sure getting a ton of yellow, beeksteak and roma tomatoes.

Since I'm scared Romney could be elected, am doing something weird for me, am saving seeds from the veggies.

[4th law of robotics]

22. Nice. I kinda think as food prices go up

and water and there are more restrictions on pesticides/fertilizers we will start to see a shift over towards having productive lawns rather than essentially useless ones that require constant upkeep (and were intended for certain parts of england, not most of the US).

I intend to do something like this (probably not as cool though) if I ever end up owning a piece of property.