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The makings of a veggie garden

April 27, 2009

For the first time in my life I’m going to try my hand at vegetable gardening. Well, not the first time. When I was a kid my mom gave my brother and I some space in her veggie garden to grow things that are satisfying for kids to grow. In our case it was radishes. I detest radishes, but fortunately my dad liked them, so I would merrily pick a radish and hand it to him, waiting to watch him eat it and compliment me on how good it was.

I’ve also grown a lot of tomatoes (although technically I suppose that would be fruit gardening). It was actually the tomatoes that led me down this path. A few years ago I created what I call the Circle Garden. It’s not a circle, but it’s round so let’s not get too technical about it.


It’s one of my many gardens that is still under construction (although, aren’t they all?). In one segment of it I planted rhubarb and tomatoes. Well that was great. For three years. And then last year my tomatoes were not doing well at all. I had yellow leaves, not a lot of fruit, and, generally, they were unhappy. I realized that the problem with the circle garden is that it doesn’t allow anywhere for me to rotate where I place the tomatoes (the rest is planted with perennials and then herbs, a climbing rose and a clematis in the middle). So, last year I started thinking about a veggie garden somewhere, but where? I didn’t want it too close to the house (come on, they are NOT pretty, at least not to me), but there wasn’t a lot of sun elsewhere.

So we ended up putting it on the opposite side of the property (I’ll explain more some other time), after cutting down a few huge pine trees. But the inspiration for this garden—the thing that REALLY made it happen—was lunch at the Kumeu River Vineyard in Auckland, New Zealand. It was there where I saw this raised veggie garden.

The problem there was the birds, but without the top netting I thought this kind of garden would work perfectly to combat the deer and bunny issues we have. So my dear husband set to work and built me something like it. This is the first bed completed.I’ll have post more on the veggie garden soon. I’m really excited. Now if those veggies would just hurry up and grow (oh yeah … have to plant them first.)

circle garden raised beds tomatoes vegetables
by Erin @ The Impatient Gardener 
7 Comments

About Erin @ The Impatient Gardener

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Comments

  1. Rachel O'Brien says: May 10, 2009 at 3:07 pm

    Erin, your circle garden is amazing. I love it! It sounds like it’s a flower garden? Do you have an herb garden hiding somewhere?

    Reply
  2. Erin Schanen says: May 10, 2009 at 9:02 pm

    Thanks Rachel. Unfortunately in subsequent years I learned that I had to put a fence around it which made it slightly less charming. But it’s one of those wicker ones so it’s at least tolerable. In the inner circle there’s a clematis and a climbing rose and then I plant herbs around it: thyme, parsley (curly and Italian), sage, chives, rosemary. And this year I’ll plant basil in the new veggie garden instead of in pots. Love that basil!

    Reply
  3. Ellen says: May 30, 2009 at 4:26 pm

    I love your blog and thanks for visiting mine. Question, how do you get the comments to show up. I don’t seem to be able to do that.

    Reply
  4. Erin Schanen says: May 30, 2009 at 7:46 pm

    I think it all depends on how a blog is set up. Mine is set up (I think) to show the comments if you click on the comments link at the bottom of a post or if you go directly to a specific post. Sorry I’m not much help!

    Reply
  5. Meredith says: June 10, 2009 at 10:02 pm

    What a beautiful circle garden — I look forward to hearing more about your new raised veggie garden!

    Reply
  6. Erin Schanen says: June 10, 2009 at 11:49 pm

    You know, Meredith, now that a few things are growing in the raised garden, maybe I should do a little virtual tour of it! I LOVE it. My only regret is that it's not bigger. I might feel differently about that by the end of the summer, though.

    Reply

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The Impatient Gardener

Do you love gardening? Me too! I'm Erin and I garden in Southeastern Wisconsin, zone 5. The Impatient Gardener is all about real-life gardening: the good parts, the bad bits and even the funny stuff. It's part information, part inspiration and a little bit commiseration. Thanks for visiting.

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Erin Schanen 🌿 The Impatient Gardener
In a few days ‘Rosy Teacups’ dogwood is going In a few days ‘Rosy Teacups’ dogwood is going to be absolutely spectacular. There are so many bracts!
I just love doubledile viburnums that present thei I just love doubledile viburnums that present their flowers on a serving plate all neat and orderly. This is ‘Shoshani,’ which I got from Classic Virburbums.
When choosing plants for a container I think it’ When choosing plants for a container I think it’s best to start with one “hero” plant. It can fill any role in the container, but it should be the one that’s non-negotiable in your mind. The one you love the most. Then work from there to decide what plants you need to make the design work. For me, and in particular when it comes to this urn in the middle of my patio garden bed, which is a riot of color and texture that borders on chaotic, texture is the key. So I designed this container with an out-of-box hero plant (Lemony Lace elderberry) and then chose a few other plants to create a simple but bold design that will stand out from everything happening around it. See the whole design and how I chose the plants in my video today (easy link in stories).
On the far edge of the property there is an only l On the far edge of the property there is an only lilac that in our 20 years here has done nothing more than produce a few sporadic blooms. The other night I looked out and saw it full of blooms (well, more than it’s ever had) and immediately made myself a bouquet. To be honest they are almost too fragrant. I need to have a window open to have them inside or it’s full-on Yankee candle (an apt description borrowed from a friend). I absolutely love them in this mustard vase from @wakefield_handmade
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