Hi Guys,
Am new to this site. Have dabbled for years in perrenials/annuals, fruit trees, and a few veggies. Now I want to make a beautiful potager garden. I have the book, "Designing the New Vegetable Garden" by Jennifer Bartley. I was wondering though if anyone else, especially in zone 6a, has done this and would be willing to share photos and their experiences.
Wanted potager experienced gardeners
You may get the chance to teach me on this. I have herbs and veggies but they aren't arranged beautifully. Maybe you can show us what you do. My garden wasn't designed. It was just planted chaotically.
I have space 20' x 80'. It's not an ideal shape but will have to do. So far I have list of each vegetable and varieties I want to plant. I have drawn the beds and made tentative vegetable assignments. I'd like to make raised beds and possibly use brick/stone for walkways. There are several areas I feel like I'm stumbling in.
I'd like to make or buy tomato cages, pole bean supports that have a formal feeling. Any source suggestions would be appreciated.
Also, the timing of the vegetables is driving me crazy! I usually do only hot weather crops. I would like to plant some cool weather crops before hot weather ones but feel unsure that there will be enough time to plant one, harvest, and plant another. Am afraid I'll make dh help me with all backbreaking work and miss harvesting both because of miscalculating planting timing LOL. For example, if I plant peas March 15 (rec planting date for central MO by Missouri Ag Extension), can I plant another crop after June 1st? I think there's not enough time to actually get a good crop of peas? Could I plant peas earlier? What if I used cold frame &/or soil heating cables? Another example, if I wanted to plant cabbage for a fall crop (Mo Ag Ext rec July 20th-August 5th planting) what is a good crop to precede it?
I am afraid I can't help you too much with the succession planting. Such as: I do it by the eyeball method -- looks like the peas are finished, I guess I'll put some lettuce there. As you can see I am not much of a planner. For tomato cages and vining plants, you can use bamboo arrangements with cross pieces lashed with twine. They can be made to look rather elegant. Bamboo and lashing twine can be had at Gardeners' Supply ( on the internet and in catalogs) and no doubt many other places. You can by fancy wrought iron towers and fencing but it is pretty expensive. Of course, it lasts for years. Gardeners' Supply and many others have that as well. I have a few pieces of low wrought iron fencing that I haul all over the garden to convince people not to walk where they aren't wanted. It is only about 18 inches high but looks very nice and I have been using it for years with no sign of wear.
This message was edited Feb 11, 2007 12:12 AM