What's your style?

[redbrick]

Hi, I'm from Dutch Country in southeastern PA. I'm primarily a fruit and vegetable gardener who's trying to get a handle on flowers. My garden is about 600 square feet of planting space in six raised beds. I grow all the usual suspects (tomatoes, peppers, beans, etc.), mostly heirloom and open-pollinated. Every thing is done organically, from composting and mulching for fertilizer to hanging Wren houses and glass fly traps for pest control.

I try to keep everything looking as rustic as possible, like gourd birdhouses, sapling tomato trellises, and rough board bed framing. My nickname for the garden is "Little Williamsburg", after the Colonial gardens of Williamsburg VA. The only concession is a metal sign on the garden gate, which reads: "Danger, Men Gardening".

Outside the garden, there's a new grape arbor on two sections of split-rail fence, several dwarf apple and pear trees that I grafted, and currants and gooseberries from cuttings. The latest project is an espalier of two pear trees and a gooseberry bush on the back of my storage shed.

There always seems to be another project! In fact, I like to tell people that I always have something on the grow!

Who's next?

[terrianne]

My style?....well I moved in and the yard was nearly barren of color. I called a local man who had a rototiller to till me a garden plot and then had him till the entire perimeter (about 4 feet wide) and this was the beginning....I have a corner lot...so everyone passes by my place...and many stop to take pictures and ask about the flowers. I have a reputation to keep :) The lawn has shrunk over the years...and the gardens are taking over.

I have subdivided the yard...front, middle and back. The front is like an English cottage garden...the middle is in progress....the back is the vegetable garden...

I work nearly full time away from home...I don't fuss with anything that needs too much attention. If it grows...great. I mulch the garden beds..I have very sandy soil which I am still working on by adding organic material (I rake leaves right into the garden. I stopped tilling and just loosen the soil now to plant.

I whole heartedly believe in seed saving and heirlooms. Gathering seeds are very much part of the harvest.

[lovetogarden]

My front yard gardens are made to look elegant(Well, I'm trying)-roses,peonies,etc.

I plant native Mo flowers on both sides of my house.
http://www.mowildflowers.net/
These wild flowers attrack a lot of bees and hummingbirds. A plus for my veggie garden.

My back yard is designed to be functional, not pretty. I have fifteen 6 feet long raised beds where I grow veggies to eat and to save the seeds.

[PhilosopherStorm]

I live in central Texas, on the edge of the Hill Country, which means that we are on a limestone base and have little soil, little water, and just to make matters worse, the lot is full of mature oak trees so I get little sun. I have two garden areas, in the two areas that get any sun at all, one just enough for vegetables, the other very questionable fed more by hope than by sun..

I am experimenting with various crops including the expected tomatoes, peppers, squash, etc. in an effort to discover which varities and vegetables are easies to grow, produce well, and are free of pests with the idea in mind of near self-sufficiency in a few years when I purchase a new plot of land. I have a horseradish plant that has come down through the family for generations that I do not harvest, but simply try to propagate so that we can continue to keep it in the family.

[basicsunchild]

I live in Warsaw, Indiana, just three blocks east of the courthouse. In this old residential neighborhood the yards are teeny-tiny. I have five 8-foot by 4-foot raised beds for gardening and a 20 foot by five foot flower bed at the front of the house for pretty.

This is the first time I've ordered from Baker's Creek and I ordered the Northern Garden Package that came with a host of seeds for nearly every edible I could imagine.

Why order so much when I have so little? My husband's company sponsored a community garden space -- nearly five acres -- with access to water -- for employees. There were no limitations on the number of lots we could garden. We had a successful year last year and I planned to expand this year. Well! The company has a planned expansion, too, and no more community garden!

I still have a home for my seeds, though, as my parents have decided to get back into the grow after a five year hiatus. Whew! Although they live several miles away, I'll still have a place to "spread out."

I certainly enjoy my raised beds in the yard, though, where the Baker's Creek Pink Beauty Radishes are already ready and so sweet and delicious! The first succession of beans are in as well as the tomatoes.

[leafmulchy]

I live in the hills in California, on decomposing granite, and my "style" is green. Since the surrounding natural landscape is dry, with sage brush, oaks, a few scattered pines, and 6 months of summer drought, green is a challenge. Adding leaf mulch, more leaves, and trying to loosen up the hard soil is pretty much what must be done before things actually can grow.

Slowly, I've been planting assorted drought tolerant species for shrubs and ground cover (although they sure take a lot of water in this fast draining, but barely diggable, soil).

Summers get extremely hot here, but winters freeze, and there is a breeze most of the time.... I have planted a dozen fruit trees and have a couple small garden beds that feed the gophers....

Mostly I have perennials and shrubs so I have year round green. Right now, the yard is a mass of green, with things putting out a last bit of growth before the heat sets things back.

[Jodi]

My style?
Experimental. There is always something new growing, almost like test gardening. What is something new I can grow? How far can I push it into the next growing season? How much earlier can I start it than traditional thinking? Is what I prefer to change about this plant something I can help make the change, or is a characteristic bred into the plant? Does it have color? Can I use it for people and the animals? And of course, anything that might be left is healthy enough to be put into the compost pile or fed to the livestock, which in the long run ends up there anytway.

But of course there has to have rhynm and reason too. Order is important and neatness. I want it to be clean and orderly but not so formal to not be inviting to any guest. . .except the pests!

Eventually to be able to not have to rely on anybody or store for the food on my table. That is except the good advice that you all are so willing to share--thanks for the help!

Gardening and country living is just one gaint ADVENTURE! :o)
have you had your adventure today?
Jodi

[pirategirljack]

i'm fond of growing things because i can-- if i have to be stuck in a place where it's summer 80% of the year, i'm going to make use of it! i'm confined to pots because of living in an appartment, but i've got lots of stuff growing-- herbs and strawberries and nasturtiums that are flowering all over the place and tons of new rare and exotic plants i've got going this season. i don't use chemicals, only plantfood, and when the bugs come i pick them off, but i haven't had much trouble with them this year (knock on wood). i like being able to eat what i grow, and i don't mind that things grown in pots fruit small because i'm small too!
i have a tendancy to grow trees; one day i'll have a house with land and i'll put them into the ground and then i'll know my own house is real.

~:)

[Dirt Diver]

How Dee Everybody! I've been gardening for a few years now, plowing up the ground, composting and the like to produce edibles with a good return, but not equal for all the labor that I've put into it. I am now progressing into raised bed gardening. I started a few this year with strawberries and a tomato plant. I am impressed with the size and crop so far. I used cow candy, second hand straw, wood mulch and compost. Now onto the building of more boxes about 30, 3x8's. I am using the boards from the old barn on the homestead. Great grandpa built the barn around WW I of white oak which is still standing, but reaching for the eastern sun. Well anyway now that I've intro'd myself and the weather has changed from blasted hot to back to work cool its out the door for me, till later.

[miller]

3 years ago, I became the Produce Manager where I work, at Wegmans, it's an upscale grocery store chain based in Rochester, NY. Since we partner with local vegetable growers each year for our "Homegrown" program, and sell their goods, I was able to tour a lot of farms and bacame friendly with a lot of farmers. So two years ago, I had a 10'x15' weedfest in my backyard, just basic transplants I picked up at the local nursery.

That fall, I studied up. Last spring, I started over 200 plants indoors the end of March, 150 tomatoes (all heirlooms), peppers, eggplant, etc. My weedfest grew to a 1200 square foot mini-farm, raised beds, black plastic mulch, drip irrigation. I became friends with a local Menonite grower that gave me a lot of tips.

This year I have the same size garden. 8 30' long double rows, 100 heirloom tomato plants (35 varieties), 6 varieties of heirloom eggplant, 6 varieties of heirloom peppers (5 plants each). Also squash, carrots, cukes, also trying melons this year.

I basically do it all for fun, though family and friends have an abundance of veggies every summer. They say your friends come around when you win the lottery, mine do when it's nearing harvest time...

[40lb farmer]

i've recently refocused part of my planter garden into growing varieties of citrus that are nearly extinct. my two favourites are Bearss Lemon, which has characteristics of Valencia oranges and common lemons; and a kind of tiny orange which is sized like qumquat but is more like a key lime in size and shape. it's flavour is strong. plus two varieties of mangos; figs; plantain.

I still like the russian tomates and watermelons and will continue to grow them.

i have some seed for a variety of watermelon that looks like a citron melon but produces salmon pink sweet flesh and tiny seeds. anybody know of this variety?

[lovetogarden]

Have you contacted Logees Greenhouse with this question? They sell a lot of unusual fruit, including citrus.

[HilltopDaisy]

I've grown a vegetable garden for personal use for 30 years. Last year I decided that since I had a lot more land to play with, I would try my hand at a market garden. I work fulltime so it's difficult for me to attend the farmers market on any regular basis. I decided to see if my coworkers might be interested in fresh vegetables, and WOW! It really worked! (I work in a hospital, lots of staff). I sell brown eggs and honey, too. What started as a whim looks to have tremendous potential. I have many raised beds, 4'x8', and plowed areas for larger plantings such as potatoes, winter squash and sweet corn. I ordered from Baker Creek last year for the first time and was extremely happy with them!

[scakya]

Wow, what a great reading. Here on my 25 acres we're just getting started. When we first moved here we had 4' of weeds to clear from the yard and tons of trash to collect and haul. The soil was severely overgrazed, even the mesquite and prickly pear were grazed down to their roots. Fortunately, the former owner also left huge piles of old horse manure and oak fence boards in plentitude.
The soil here is primarily sandy, but has a lot of decomposing rock and in some places it's just a few inches below the soil. The rock varies from sandstone, granite to marl with lots of gravel in the soil. That's why I continue building raised beds as it will be a while before the soil is returned to good health.
I collect leaves and use them as part of my bed mix. That and a plentitude of decomposed rock, horse manure, and a mix of poultry litter and goat pellets.
When I have old alafalfa available, which the goats help out with, I use it as a mulch. A few handfulls of humate and we are good to go.
Much of what I've done is for growing this coming year. The beds are ready to plant with heirloom plants started in the house. I grow the usual stuff like tomatoes, peppers, squash, pumpkins, sweet corn, flour corn,potatoes, garlic, lettuces mixes, the usual greens and a fair amount of berries. I grow seasonally and often have fresh when most folks don't think it possible.
I've already planted a few dwarf fruit trees and will be adding another few this year in an edible forest garden being creating in my west yard. The garden itself will be about a half acre and is ammended with all my left over piles not used in the raised beds. Hopefully I'll get a chance to plant a cover crop in February and turn it under the last day of April. Then I'll have the black plastic out with drip and season extenders for early planting.
My growing list is somewhat limited for now but as time goes by it will expand. My style, primarily sustainable with a fair amount of permaculture thrown in.
scakya

[SelfSufficientOne]

My style. . . I don't think I have one. We grow things for food mainly. We have a very small place here(about an acre) but are doing the best we can with it. Working with the red clay is no fun and I basically use a shovel to dig with but slowly we are getting ahead of the clay, learning what will grow here and getting some food out of the garden.

[scakya]

SelfSufficientOne,
You can work with red clay, but it does take time. I did it for years before moving to New Mexico and ended up with a lovely rich loam. You should be very glad you have red clay soil as if you met New Mexico's celiche clay, you would know how lucky you are. It can make gardening a challenge for a novice and drive a so called "expert darn near crazy. Count your blessings!!! ) Just give yourself time and keep at it, as that is what it takes.
scakya

[SelfSufficientOne]

Don't have any choice in the matter, it is what I have to work with, lol. One of the gardens that I have had 5 years now is really starting to grow things, the other one is only a couple years old so it grows greens well but didn't do a thing with the tomatoes this year. Of course this year was a bad example anyway-too wet here.

[Pharmerphil]

Our style: Organic
Focus: food production, you won't see a bunch of 'design' features
How 'into it': Ummmm 6.250 sq. feet into it.
Activities: (garden related) raise Giant pumpkins for competition..organically!

[GrannieB]

I believe the polite word for my style would be eclectic :D . I own and operate a small perennial nursery. Started selling wholesale,on small scale this past year to local independant nurseries and put up another greenhouse so my own yard suffers from what I call the "Plunkit Syndrome"(sp?). I still love to buy and trade for unique plants for myself but because of my schedule,they usually spend a while in their pots until I decide to "plunk it" somewhere.So I guess if I had to asign a style to it...it'd be country cottage.

Hub's use to be the primary veggie gardener but he's not real good on follow up work once the seeds in the ground :( ....so this year,after we bought the property next door and the new greenhouse went up for retail sales,I had space out back for a small veggie garden. I only had a chance to plant about a 1/3 of it this year and did some really intensive planting.I planted everything real close with no problems and harvested tomatoes,green beans,squash,cukes,peppers,okra and a small variety of cutting flowers.

A couple years ago,hub's brought home some flat french drains they had removed from along a road they were re-building. Lot of it. I stood some on it's side and made one heck of a great raised bed. I started tossing in composting material in the first one I sat up simply because I had no were else to put the stuff. By the next year,it had composted some so I tossed compost from our recycling compost center as well as buckets of soiless mix from the greenhouses(plants that didn't make it)then planted strawberries in it. The strawberries have done better than any I've raised before so I put up two more raised beds from the drain pipe. Instead of waiting for materials to decompose,I did lasanga(sp?)beds so I could use them as soon as they were full enough and raised okra in one that got HUGE :eek: and had volunteer cukes come up with them that I harvest more off than the ones I intentionaly planted. The third one I planted in turnips and salad greens.

I hope to plan out my veggie garden better for 2006 to include herbs and more cut flowers so I can stay organic as possible. :p

[flowerpower]

I like Cottage Gardening too. You can have a huge variety of plants over the season. I have mostly perennials in the beds. And when weeds pop up, you can just call them wildflowers.

[Sandbar]

I am new to the heirloom market and only planted a few heirlooms this year and am striving to convert more of my vegetables, fruits and flowers to heirlooms this year. I do raise all my crops organically, too.

I recently changed careers to become a Christian school principal, which has allowed me to have most of the summer off. Last year, my garden was expermental and sized at 40x90 (in vegetables) and I started a strawberry patch, too. This year, I am adding a second plot approximately 200x150 and a 20x48 greenhouse.

I will raise crops for sale to the local farmer's market (vegetables, flowers and some fruits). This will be my primary income for the summer.

The greenhouse will be a free-standing, moveable house. It will be used to house transplants early in the year, and give me a jump on my competition with earlier tomatoes/cukes, etc. and extend the growing season in the fall. After I experiment with the use of the greenhouse this year, I will probably expand to more greenhouses as space and funds permit.

Gardening is therapy ... I've found principals needs lots of it by the end of the year ... :)

[poltergiest233]

I am 14 and live in Hermann MO. I love to grow melons.See my post in trading bazzar for info on how to help me get started in my new favorite hobby!

[redbrick]

Okay, everybody! You can stop making me jealous any time now (LOL!) Boy, it sounds like you have some great setups out there! I've been put on notice by DW: No new expansions until the kids are grown! Anyway, this is some great reading.

[Silent]

My style? It has to be at least dual-purpose and it has to look good......otherwise I don't have much of a style. The only exceptions are my fruit and nut trees, and the soft fruits. Even they have to look good; i.e.: neat and tidy. I live in town, in an older residential neighborhood, and we hope to re-sell in a few years (so I can have my place in the country) so while I want to produce most of our fruits and veggies it has to look good enough to appeal to a buyer in the future. Other than that I don't really have a 'style'.

[JulieB]

Oh, man, I love Wegman's! We drive most of the way across New York State and come to your store about 4 times a year!

Any way we could get one nearer Saratoga, New York?

My style is cottage/convent garden, with raised beds with chips and mulch in between.

We try to grow the most tasty, bizarre, wonderful plants we can.

If you had to choose the most tasty/step back and stare melons which ones would you choose?

Some of our overwhelming hits were the Yugoslavian Finger Fruit as a spaghetti squash, the Ananas Noire tomatoes, the Indian Bride multi color sweet corn, the Sucrine du Berry winter squash, the scallop squashes, I could have sold ten times more than I could have planted.

JulieB

[tashak]

Haphazard appearance (due to large rocks I can't pry up from underground, plots tend to be small basin plots and scattered) and overwintering under frostnetting.
I'm fortunate that a neighbor on adjoining acre to mine has a few horses and welcomes my removing horse manure for composting.
Front yard is mostly veggie plots and fruit trees I've put in and trees that came with the place. The two sides are slowly becoming more veggie and fruit tree plots; middle and back is my trailer, fowl kennel, dog kennel, storage shed, storage camper, trees and clothesline, and horizontal 8" adjoining back neighbor's fence basically unused due to rocks except for a small iris plot. I'm envious of all the space the driveway takes!
A small flower plot in front, occasional hollyhocks, flowerbulbs, and sunflowers here and there.
I keep adding new little plots for myself and local foodbank, and would like to become Certified Naturally Grown and perhaps one day add more plots for a small 1-5 member CSA. (I'd like to CSA-earn enough to pay for seed and the minimum monthly water bill--no huge dreams here!)

[zebraman]

I use a combination of French intensive/Bio dynamic .I have virtually no bugs but the next door neighbors plants have so mant aphids their plants look like Alien life forms.I also pinch the lower leaf stems on ALL of my Tomato plants(just hard enough to bruise them)which causes the plant to prduce an enzyme,Don't remember the name but it is lethal to Hornworms.They do hatch and do minor damage but never make it to adulthood.

[tabitha]

we have recently moved to a homestead. the house was falling into the ground and the ground was over run with weeds, trash, and scrub trees. we fixed up the house--mostly (livable conditions). tore out the old fences, built new fences, reclaimed the pasture, dug up several trees and made a little garden plot (30' by 70'). we hope to sustain our family of four and stay far away from monsanto, GMOs, pesticides, herbicides, processed foods, grocery stores and especially anything that is not organic. Seed saving will be a way of life for us. we have tons to learn and appreciate this fourm since the internet is our main information service.

omelays.blolgspot.com is our adventure in action (my side of the story anyway)

karl

[toby55]

My style? Organic intensive, I guess. I have a very small garden in a small backyard -- only about 400 square feet, but it's amazing how much food can be produced in that small area.

I grow "up" whenever I can -- tomatoes, cukes, pole beans (which I find much more tasty and productive than bush beans).

This year I'm going to try cantaloupe, winter squash and icebox watermelon on trellises. Should be interesting!

I also have a perennial border on one side of my yard which has native wildflowers and shrubs. This spring I have to do much dividing and replanting of that bed!

[deb65802]

My Style?? hm well after giving it some thought I would have to say urban homesteader with recycling emphasis. In other words I have to be cheap as we are spending every penny we have cleaning up this fixer upper. We havea medium sized lot that I plan to get rid of most of the grass and plant beds everywhere. We are going to build a large deck in the back which will be the main living area with the garden occupying the last third of the lot. This year I will be doing hay bale gardening. I was given 75 bales which will last most of this year. I feed 7 people most meals and need every square inch planted I can get. I intend to grow food most of the year around and buy as little in the store as I can. I have abut thirty new herbs I will be trying in the front yard. I have a large flower bed with nothing in it right now. I am growing 5 new tomato varities. Which will be fun.

[bluewatercreek]

Well, I guess my "style" is called "early-just-getting-started" LOL. I just bought this 5 acres last summer and had a little double-wide put on it. It had been an old, grazed down alfalfa field. The soil is mostly silt, and it becomes nastily sticky when wet.

I built a chicken coop and a goose pen last year, and started getting my garden-to-be ready for this spring's planting. Been putting chicken poo on it all winter, and will get it turned under by the first of April. Won't be planting anything in there until May first, since we will still be geting snow and freezing nighttime temps all month.

I did put in a few lavender plants, some foundation shrubs, a walkway to the back yard, and a couple of baby trees. I just read about how one subscriber will be using split rail fence for his grapes. What a great idea! I have several split rail rails, and plan on putting in some hardy grapes this year, as well as some heritage apples from St Lawrence Nurseries in upstate NY.

Hopefully over the next few years, I can get a little organization going on my place to pull all of these things together! :p

-Barb in Montana

[mrtomatoexpres]

hi you people are so lucky were you live iam from brooklyn,ny. th city. i wish i could live in heaven like you folks do. my organic garden is about 40feet long and 7feet wide. a little more than half is cement the rest is soil. i have 2 raised beds 12 feet long 14 inches wide,1 6feet long and14 inches wide,1 is like a upside down goalpost about 8feet long and 14 inches wide. on the cement i use earthboxes,blackplastic containers the ones from the trees in the nursery and anything anyone throws out that i can grow veggies in. i also go around were they are building anything and take the plywood,i make flower boxes and give them away. i have 7 for me and my friend were i garden. thank god for my friend tony he's like a father to me. i painted the backs of the garages,the half wall about 30 feet long.from around the corner. the back of there property face us.i grow morningglorys,moonflowers and some other flowers in the boxes. i have fun but my favorite thing is when i give people the veggies and they come back and say how great they taste. :D :) :p ;) its a great thrapy for me.

[dirtundernails]

Well, Mrtomatoexpres, I think you have your own little heaven. Interesting how much you receive when you give, eh?
Have you seen the miniature fruit trees that can be grown in pots? If you are permanant enough, that might be nice for you.

The just getting started style is ours, too. We have 20 acres of old cow pasture, which helps. I will only complain about the rocks, but not much. They are SO pretty! In SD, from where we just moved (anyone see on the news about 5 feet of snow there? that's the exact spot) we had a small experimental garden where many mistakes were eaten anyway. I always complained about my nails being too clean, as moving here was our dream, which is how dirtundernails came about when my hubby (HOD) registered me for this forum.
Gotta go play in the dirt - bye!

dun

[mrtomatoexpres]

:) thanks dirt it made me happy. :D :D

[redbrick]

Just thought I'd bump this one up since we have some newer members.

[Grass Hopper]

I grew up on napalm in the morning as my dad was a competitive rose grower. By my teens I was working in the local garden center, and we had become a horticultural snobs with all the latest viburnums and maples before it was cool. In college I stared designing in the inner city, and learned my chops in annuals and perennials and honed my knowledge of woodies, but also managed to sneak in some urban vegetables into my ornamental beds.

After twenty years of gardening and designing for rich peoples' egos we left the city for the mountains and I became all about sustainability. Of course know I prefer the term "Livable Gardens" I am into natural restoration and preservation of our natural areas, but like to inject homesteading into our living spaces. Our horticultural influence sneaks into the borders if it isn't detrimental to the woods, and of course around the foundation. We also have about a quarter acre for our poultry and goats, and another quarter acre for mostly heirloom vegetable production. We try to stay organic when we can. The only time we like the chem out is on invasive exotics, but we drink responsibly.

We market, we can, and we try to live off our land as much as possible. Of course land is so **** expensive we have to bus our buts at work and still struggle a bit to pay for it, but we keep our groceries to a minimum, because we produce most of them ourselves. In then end I would say our style is somewhat hybridized, but really it is an example of Darwinism at its best. We have grown and adapted over time to do as much as we can with what we have got. The design quotient I tell my clients most is if you do more for a plant to keep it alive than it does for you... get rid of it. In that regard, we cease to be less of the obsessive gardener, and more of the "Livable Landscapers".

[babygarden]

I'd like to say my style is a cross between Redbrick and Zebraman, I like to plant as much as I can in whatever space I have at the moment, I like raised beds and also love the look and function of a garden that uses natural elements as much as possible (everthing is wood, twigs, rocks, etc. whenever possible). I also grow "up" when possible but want to eventually be able to use only other plants or wood to do it. At present I do not own my property so I am confined to a small cottage garden for flowers for my daughter and a biointensive vegetable patch at a community garden. We hope to buy a house this year, so hopefully I will be able to finally do what I really want next season. Everything we grow is for eating/medicinal use and all is produced organically.

[herb girl]

I guess my style is "bloom where you are planted". We move about every 5 years so I do what I can with where I am, plant a few fruit trees, make raised beds, and always an herb and flower bed. Then when things just get going and are pretty........we move.

BUT if I could garden as I like, it would have the "cottage" look. A happy, organic, slightly chaotic garden. My Mom is a master gardener, but she mostly loves flowers. I'm more like grandma and I love veggies. My 17 yr. old daughter is just like my Mom and loves flower gardening......

And someday my ultimate garden will include a white picket fence! When I get that I am staying put!

[Hairy Moose Knuckles]

I garden organically/naturally, mostly vegetables. Anything that good to eat and a few flowers throughout the garden. I have all the space I need with 50 acres, but I only garden in about3/4 of an acre total. I seperate/isolate the things that I want to save seed from. I like growing beans the best. I also like to grow seeds that came from people that have grown them for "forever." This year, I'm growing several beans that aren't available commercially, they are family heirlooms that people have given me.

[springfever]

I don't think I have a style yet. I am just getting used to the idea that I can have big plants, flowers, etc.
When we lived in the city, everything was on a small scale, now we are in the country and I forget that if I plant little flowers they just get lost , so this year I want to start trying to grow big , tall, .
Trying something different. I am going to turn my garden over to beans and peas and squash and a little corn.
I'll put my tomatoes and peppers in containers. I think I have a smaller scale than most here.
I have a garden that is about the size of a small room, maybe 12 x12 and another that is about 8x8 and a little raised bed about 3 by 6 and some large containers.

[Bird]

My garden style is probably cottage style. I primarily started with flowers at my first home since, it was in the city. My mom always grew the vegetables at her place so I helped her there. After a few moves I returned to my childhood home and bought it from my parents. I quickly added growing veggies to my list of gardens. I keep saying I won't add more gardens but, I do every year. I have a very large veggie garden at least 50x50 ft. and a water garden 20x10 ft.), lots of flower gardens, herb garden, fruit trees, and soon to add a raised bed garden for smaller veggies like salad greens etc.., and I have inherited about 150 ft. or more of concord grapes( I 've been trying to slowly get them in shape), berry bushes and all this is on 3 acres.