My "front yard" is still kind of wild.
I can get away with a bit less formal structure in my front yard roadside vegetable garden. The split rail fence does give a sense of enclosure. The unmowed wildflower meadow that surrounds it also screens the vegetable garden from view at road level, at least this early in the season.
The tee pee for the pole beans mimics the telephone pole and wires. Repetition of form is an element of good landscape design.
When people drive by they have a choice of looking at the mowed to the nub hillside of grass on one side with a fancy gate or the rickety wooden fence backed by a sparkling display of thousands of flowers. It is a major contrast of taste and style.
I think my style lies some where in the middle.
The vegetables are quite happy in their neat rows, mulched with wood chips and surrounded by wildness. A new kind squash is getting big. The tag wandered off. I know it is a winter squash, one that stores well, maybe Hubbard?
'Painted Lady' pole beans replaced the early radishes.
I couldn't help myself and I planted another row of sweet corn on the 4th of July between the rows of cucumbers. Ninety two days from seed, the package said. That puts harvest around the first of October. It's possible. Down the road, one farmer just seeded his corn last week. If the coons or the cold don't get the corn, I might.
The plants look bigger in the garden than from across the road and up the hill. So far we have eaten, a few radish before they bolted, three kind lettuce, two kind spinach, sugar snap peas, yellow squash, banana pepper and cucumber.
That's just the beginning.
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10 comments:
Okay, the tee pee tie in with the utility pole is classic, it should go down in the record books of design statements. Your veggie garden surrounded by wildflower meadow ain't bad either. Well done. It is raining.
I haven't thought of incorporating the telephone lines etc into garden design. I usually ignore them.
It will be interesting to see if you get your second planting of corn.
What do they say, "form follows function"? I don't know, I skipped all the design classes in school, it is all about the plants for me. Your garden is coming along nicely, and I do hope you get some corn in the fall, even an ear or two would be good. I am patiently awaiting my first squash, if it would just warm up and stop raining for a few days!
Carol, May Dreams Gardens
Have you ever seen Mr. Jefferson's vegetable garden at Monticello? If not, you should take a road trip.
Les
Put up more tee-pees! That would really make a statement. Love the connection to the telephone pole.
The telephone pole and guide wires are pretty hideous. Only when you are directly under it does it disappear. The only thing to do is mock it.
The pillaging has begun. Two corn stalks were chewed/ripped off at the base this morning. Tasted and rejected. Since I have been so sternly warned about the poor chances of getting corn, I figured it was best to have a backup!
Carol, not even some yellow squash yet? My mystery squash has now been identified as Delicata. It sounds yummy.
Les, it is typical that I go places and do things more often when I have company. Monticello has been on my mind.
More tee pees you say. The tomatoes are already outgrowing their cages. More tee pees is a thought. I'd still like to get some luminescent paint so they would glow in the dark.
Bzzttt. The power went out for a second and scared me.
What I need for the roadside vegetable garden to give it some good bones is a Scarecrow, an outrageous Scarecrow. I must think on this.
Christopher,
I'm glad to see repetition in your garden !
Fun!
The road side veggie garden looks beautifully sited in its wild and wooly rural location.
The rustic split rail fence feels so authentically at home , especially with the surrounding wild flowers nipping at the rails.
This is really a lovely garden.
Well thanks Michelle. It's pretty good for the first year. Only time will tell what kind of design improvements may get added. The gate for my driveway I want to add someday will change the whole feel and likely call for other improvements. The wildness is growing on me though. I'd prefer to use that aspect than snuff it out.
Bravo! Looks great, and I think glow-in-the-dark teepees sound very cool. If you're concerned about the look of the gate, you could always site it a little down the driveway, maybe past that first little hill. It would be less noticeable and maybe more blend-able. :)
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