Traditionally, vegetables are planted in the garden. But in an ordinary garden with this, many people are depressed: I want something unusual, beautiful, and not boring monotonous hills. But the garden is too different! Yes, not every option is suitable for growing a large crop, but not everyone needs a large crop! So, let’s see how you can decorate your garden.
Popular ornamental gardens are not an invention of our day. Beautifully planted vegetables began a long time ago-this tradition dates back to the monastery and apothecary gardens. Today, the decorative French gardens of Villandry Castle serve as a classic example of high garden art.
Actually, we are talking about the arrangement of flowerbeds in a regular style. With the right approach, they will require time, effort and money, mainly at the first stage — when all this needs to be carefully planned, laid, decorated. But such a garden can be placed in the front yard — so it will be attractive.
The regular style is characterized by clean lines, balanced geometric shapes and, of course, impeccable accuracy. Therefore, the paths in this garden are either paved or covered with fine gravel, sand, and similar materials. The flower beds themselves can be plowed with the surface of the soil or rise above it. In the second case, these are lines that played a decorative role and at the same time allowed the soil to crumble. Thanks to the beautiful border, the raised flower beds look elegant and original.
This layout is ideal for a vegetable garden – it is a small plot of spices and medicinal herbs. They are very convenient for small gardens and in order to place such beauty next to the kitchen and next to the entertainment area, so that the greenery, for the barbecue is always at hand.
For those who want to design a grass garden in a more natural style, the option of spiral flower beds resembling a rockery is suitable. When creating it, it is important to correctly position the plants so that they are comfortable in such conditions, because at different levels of soil moisture in the garden and light conditions will be different.
Now the main step, the garden, which is not only beautiful, but also comfortable. In order to take care of the plants on them, do not sink low, pay great attention to this. But there are also disadvantages the soil on high raised beds dries faster than usual, so they need to be watered more often. In hot, dry weather, this is not the best option for garden construction. But in low-lying areas, where the water often becomes stagnant and the soil is fertile, a high garden can be a real salvation.
Tall gardens often make so-called warm flower plants. This is not just a box with a lot of soil in it-it is a complex system, a kind of” layer cake”, the” filling ” of which is a source of food and heat for plants.
A warm garden is built on the surface of the soil, not buried in it, or with a depression. In the first case, sometimes they do not even remove the turf, laying flower beds in layers directly on the wet soil. Secondly, dig a small hole the size of a vegetable garden and put the first layers of fuel in it. This option is suitable if the site is not flooded in the spring, but the groundwater is deep enough.
However, the recommended number of layers may vary. It is important that there is a rough, voluminous, long-decomposing material, which, among other things, serves as a drainage layer. Then put shredded paper, cardboard, on top of which you can put food waste, and plant residues. On top, be sure to sprinkle the “filling” of mature compost and garden soil, on which the plants have already been planted.
This garden has not required special care for several years. But it is advisable to prepare it in the fall, covering it with a winter mulch made of straw or non-woven material. At the bottom of the box (or pit, if the garden is sunken), it is advisable to put a wire metal mesh, so that there are no mice or other rodents inside.
A warm vegetable garden can be made not only in the form of boxes, but also in the form of a slide — in this case, vegetables are planted in rows across the entire surface of the earth. This allows you to increase the planting area-the garden slides contain more vegetable crops than the garden boxes. In general, the garden does not necessarily have a rectangular shape. It can be, for example, like this:
And finally, examples of round gardens. This is the case when the form can play a purely decorative and purely practical role.
Round gardens are less suitable than square or rectangular ones, that is, the planted area will decrease. But there are many advantages, such as originality and decorativeness, like this one:
Here’s an interesting idea around warm gardens. It’s not difficult. To do this, take a plastic film. On the prepared area, a circle is outlined, the diameter of which corresponds to the size of the film. Place a stick in the center with a height of up to 180-200 cm (6-6.5 ft) (depending on which plant you want to grow). Along the circumference of the pegs, low supports are attached, on which the lower part of the film is stretched. Then the resulting bed is filled with organic raw materials and soil. After planting, the vegetables are softened and the film is fixed on top with a stick to form a greenhouse-tent.
For those who have small plots, vertical gardens of various designs may be interesting. And here, too, practicality and decorativeness are combined: vertical beds are very original and beautiful, especially with a successful selection of crops for them, and plants on their site are more suitable than on the same flat ground.
But, as in the case of tall gardens, it should be borne in mind that the soil in these structures (especially if we are talking about small containers) dries very quickly. It is necessary to use drip irrigation or the water-holding capacity of the litter, for example, hydrogel, which is mixed with the soil for planting.
For a small vertical garden, such unexpected buildings are also suitable:
Simple vegetable borders made of lettuce, parsley, carrots are easy to plant on any garden plot, and they look very original and elegant. Well, if you want something more complex, here’s another example:
I’ve seen that drawer idea a few times on gardening blogs and I really like it! I’m tempted to take some furniture from the house to do it as I don’t really have any junk furniture.