To Add More Gardens or Not???

I am really in need of a new area for vegetables. For years, I’ve struggled with too many plants in a too small of a place. But, I also don’t have a good spot for adding more vegetable gardens, either due to too much shade or existing plants in the way. So I am contemplating putting 2 new raised beds off the back of the patio in a space that used to house the kids swing set.

View from my patio looking straight out

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Right now, this looks out onto half dead red-twig dogwoods that are unfortunately succumbing to some kind of canker. To try and help the dogwoods, we’ve tried to cut back all the old wood, clean up the leaves and last spring did some rejuvenation pruning removing about a third of the branches. No more have died and I’ll do another rejuvenation pruning in the late winter. We’ll see how much longer they last.

But, back to the vegetables. I have been following the sun pattern for most of the summer, and I think this spot will work out. It’s not full sun, but gets good morning and mid-day sun, which is the best I can hope for. I am trying to decide if I should add some trellis work in front to shield it, but in talking to my landscaper, he confirmed my fears that while it will look nice, it will make the area quite shady.  Maybe some other kind of less dense fence will work?

So now the question is, can I make this look pretty by adding some flowers, grasses or other interesting features to the area, or will it just turn into another messy vegetable garden? What have you done to “hide” the vegetable garden or do you think they are pretty?  I think what my mom has done with her gardens is pretty.

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4 thoughts on “To Add More Gardens or Not???

  1. Add the raised beds! There are so many things you can do to screen them. Mexican Sunflowers or mid-height annual sunflowers are my favorite. I have a vegetable bed in the front yard. Between it and the street is a crabapple tree. Also, on the north side of the bed I grow tomatoes up a trellises. This makes a screen which is perfectly attractive without shading the other vegetables, since they all lie south of the trellises.

    1. Thanks! I like your ideas. The more I’ve mulled it over, I think I will add them and I can definitely shield them with something pretty rather then some type of fencing. Sunflowers are a great idea. Grasses in front might add winter interest as well.

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